SHANGHAI (AP) — Sun Yang of China took an early lead and powered to victory in the non-Olympic men’s 800 meters at the world swimming championships.
With the large crowd at the Oriental Sports Center cheering him, Sun increased his lead to almost 2 seconds with a lap to go to finish Wednesday in 7 minutes, 38.57 seconds.
Canada’s Ryan Cochrane, who stayed close through the first 600 meters, won the silver in 7:41.86. Gergo Kis of Hungary took the bronze in 7:44.94.
World record holder Zhang Lin of China didn’t defend the title he won two years ago in Rome because team officials said he is out of shape. He failed in November to win an individual gold at the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China.
