JINAN, China, October 17. DURING the first day of long course meter competition at the Chinese National Games, an Asian and Chinese record fell by the wayside.
Li Xuanxu, 15, clocked a time of 4:30.43 in the women's 400 IM to break the Asian record of 4:34.79 set by Chen Yan back in 1997. Li's time also came within a second of Stephanie Rice's world record of 4:29.45 set at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The 4:30.43 also moved Li to fourth all time behind Rice, Kirsty Coventry (4:29.89) and Katinka Hosszu (4:30.31).
Meanwhile, Huang Chaosheng broke the men's 400 IM Chinese record with a time of 4:12.53, just missing the Asian record of 4:12.41 set by Ken Takakuwa earlier this year. Liu Weijia held the previous Chinese mark with a time of 4:15.16 set in April 2009. Liu, notably, finished just behind Huang with a time of 4:12.67.
Zhang Lin also wound up winning the men's 400 free in 3:44.29.