China's Zige smashes women's 200m butterfly record

Olympic champion Liu Zige demolished the women's 200m butterfly world record at China's National Games on Wednesday, shaving almost two seconds off the previous mark.

The official Xinhua news agency said Liu touched in 2:01.81, shattering Australian Jessica Schipper's previous mark of 2:03.41 set at the world championships in Rome in July.

Liu, who won Olympic gold in a world record time in Beijing last year, finished almost four seconds clear of her long-time arch rival Jiao Liuyang, runner-up at the Olympics.

The 22-year-old warned she could improve on Wednesday's time.

"I don't think the result today is fast enough for me, and there is still room for me to better the record in the future," she was quoted as saying.

"Every tiny progress could make a new world record, which is very common in the pool."

It was the first swimming world record at the Chinese National Games being held in Jinan, in eastern Shandong province. BEIJING, AFP

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Previous women's 200m butterfly world records

2:09.87: Andrea Pollak (GDR)

2:09.87: Tracy Caulkins (USA)

2:09.77: Mary Meagher (USA)

2:08.41: Mary Meagher (USA)

2:07.01: Mary Meagher (USA)

2:06.37: Mary Meagher (USA)

2:05.96: Mary Meagher (USA)

2:05.81: Susie O'Neill (AUS)

2:05.78: Otylia Jedrzejczak (POL)

2:04.18: Liu Zige (CHN)

2:03.41: Jessicah Schipper (AUS)

2:01.81: Liu Zige (CHN)