2012 Olympic champion Ye Shiwen set a new personal best in the women's 200-meter breaststroke to take victory over the distance at China's National Swimming Championships in Hangzhou here on Friday.

Ye, 27, led all the way and timed two minutes 22.44 seconds to grab her first gold medal of these championships. That time would have brought her a silver medal at last year's World Championships. Zhu Leiju came second, almost five seconds behind.

"All my efforts paid off," said Ye. "I didn't expect such a good result. It's my best level in breaststroke."

Ye stunned the world at the 2012 London Olympic Games where she swept the 200m and 400m individual medley golds at just 16.

In stark contrast, fellow veteran Wu Peng suffered a blow in his comeback as he ranked only fifth in the men's 50m butterfly.

"I was not satisfied with my result," said the 35-year-old Wu, who had retired in 2013 and resumed training last year. "My rhythm was not right in the competition. It might be the last event in my career, but I don't want to say goodbye yet."

Sun Jiajun and Wang Changhao both touched first in 23.41. Chen Juner came third in 23.70.

2020 Olympic champion Wang Shun ended all his competitions at the National Championships on Friday with four golds and a silver medal. The 29-year-old helped Zhejiang to win the men's 4x100m freestyle relay in 3:15.53 with teammates Hong Jinquan, Fei Liwei and Pan Zhanle, the 100m and 200m freestyle winner.

Fei, winner of the men's 1500m freestyle, also dominated the 800m freestyle in 7:49.97.

In the men's 200m breaststroke, Qin Haiyang, who broke the men's 100m breaststroke Asian record on Tuesday, timed 2:07.55 to snatch the gold, while in the women's 50m freestyle, Cheng Yujie stormed to gold with 24.53. Hebei won the women's 4x200m freestyle relay in 7:52.49.

Running from May 1 to 6, the National Championships also serve as a qualification event for the World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan in July and the Hangzhou Asian Games.