On the first morning-final swim meet in China, Wu finished third in 53.50 seconds in the men's 100 meters butterfly, 0.30 seconds below his personal best while sprinter¹ Zhou Jiawei defended his title in 52.87, 0.01 second shy of the Olympic Games standard A.

Wu, runner-up at the world championships in Melbourne last March, said: "I had a short break after the worlds and have not trained effectively these days because we have tried a new training timetable in early morning."

"I felt tired at the last 25 meters where I always make strong comeback. That means I need more training. The results is acceptable," said Wu, who will also compete in the 200m and 400m freestyle.

As a birthday gift, Wu said the bronze is OK. "I am not strong in the 100m distance and I am used to celebrate my birthday at the competitions. My mother sent me a cake yesterday. That is all."

"My birthday wish is to stand up on the medal podium at the Beijing Olympic Games," Wu said.

In other finals, Pang² Jiaying claimed victory in the women's 200m freestyle in 2:00.31, Jiao Liuyang won a gold in the women's 100m butterfly in 59.48, Liu Weijia touched home first in the men's 200m individual medley³ in 4:18.97.

Shanghai dominated⁴ in the women's 4X100m medley relay⁵ in 4:07.59.

The seven-day national meet set 32 events on stake⁶ and is being held in an outdoor pool.