Sun Yang of China celebrates after winning the men's 400m freestyle swimming final at FINA World Championships in Kazan, Russia, Aug. 2, 2015. Sun Yang claimed the title of the event in a time of 3 minutes and 42.58 seconds. (Xinhua/Dai Tianfang)

KAZAN, Aug. 3 -- China's swimming star Sun Yang eased into the men's 200-meter freestyle semifinals at the Kazan World Championships here on Monday.

Sun led the overall rankings of the preliminary with one minute 46.00 seconds, 0.1 second faster than British Jame Guy, who trailed him to take a silver in the 400m free final on Monday. German Olympic champion Paul Biedermann came third in 1:46.20.

The semifinals will be held later on Monday.

China's Fu Yuanhui and Chen Jie made the women's 100m backstroke semis, while the preliminary was led by Hungary's Katinka Hosszu in 58.78.

Russia's Yuliya Efimova ranked first in the women's 100m breaststroke heats with 1:06.31, and China's Shi Jinglin was second in 1:06.45.