Zhang Jian, China's top marathon swimmer, completed the world's longest single crossing of a freshwater lake on August 8-9. He swam 69 km without a break to cross the Xingkai Lake in northeast China.

The Xingkai Lake is a boundary lake between China and Russia. Zhang's record-making attempt, lasting 36 hours and 30 minutes, was carried out in waters on the Chinese side.

Zhang, 46, is a teacher at the Beijing Sports University. He began engaging in open water marathon swimming in 1988, when he swam across the 29.5-km Qiongzhou Strait between the Chinese mainland and southern Hainan Island in about 9 hours and 20 minutes. From then on, he has taken on more challenges in this field. His crossing of the 123-km Bohai Strait, off China's northeastern coast, in August 2000 set a marathon swimming record for China. Then in July 2001, he made history by becoming the first Chinese to swim across the English Channel.