Ventura College freshman Henry Chung, attempting to qualify for this summer's London Olympics in his native country, broke the Hong Kong national record in the 100-meter backstroke Saturday at the 55th annual Hong Kong Olympic Time Trials.

Fighting the flu and fatigue from a delayed 16-hour flight from LAX, Chung swam the 100 backstroke in 57.49 seconds during the preliminaries, finishing less than a second short of the 56.59 mark needed to qualify for this summer's Games.

Chung missed the event finals with a fever, which prompted a trip to the hospital. But the 19-year-old return to swim a personal best 23.37 in the 50-meter freestyle, which is less than a half second short of both the national record and Olympic qualifying standard.

"What he did in the 100 back was remarkable," said Ventura coach Larry Baratte, who coached Chung via text message from Ventura. "He'll have a few more opportunities (to qualify) in May and June and the conditions should be much more favorable."

Chung returned to Ventura Sunday to train for this weekend's Western State Conference championships and the California Community College championships later this month.