Li Bingjie Swims 4:02 400 Freestyle at Chinese Spring Championships
As the Chinese Spring Championships continued, Li Bingjie put together a strong performance in the 400 freestyle that sets her up for a strong summer coming up. Li, the 21-year-old Olympic bronze medalist in the 400 free and since November the short course world-record holder in the event, swam a time of 4:02.67. For some comparison, Katie Ledecky owns a 2023 best time of 4:00.20 from the TYR Pro Swim Series in January in Knoxville, Tenn. Li had previously won the 200 free and 1500 free.
Meanwhile, multi-time Short Course World Championships medalist Qin Haiyang recorded a quick time of 58.66 in the 100 breaststroke. That time would have finished just a tenth off the podium at last year’s World Championships, an even where China’s only representative was Yan Zibei. As for 200 IM Olympic gold medalist Wang Shun, he added a win in the 400 IM to his previous triumphs in the 200 IM and 100 backstroke. Wang clocked 4:14.23 in the longer medley. The last men’s event of the day was the 1500 free, where Fei Liwei got to the wall more than 21 seconds clear of the field in 14:59.83.
In the women’s 100 free, Cheng Yujie swam a time of 53.85 to take the win, with Ai Yanhan and Yu Yiting both swimming in the 54-mid range. In a strong performance in the 200 back, Liu Yaxin swam a time of 2:07.35 to beat Peng Xuwei (2:08.33) by almost a second.
Note: A special thanks to the Chinese Swimming News & Results Twitter feed for publishing results.