Li Bingjie Ties Asian Record In 400 Free, Fei Liwei Scores 14:46.59 1500 Free

2023 CHINESE NATIONALS

• May 1st – May 8th
• LCM (50m)
• World Championships Qualifier
• Results via Asian Media
• Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap

While competing on day three of Chinese Nationals, 21-year-old Li Bingjie tied her own national and Asian record in the women’s 400m free.

Li touched the wall in a time of 4:01.08, a mark that equals her best-ever result logged at the 2020 Olympic Games. There in Tokyo, her 4:01.08 garnered her the bronze medal.

Tonight, Li grabbed the gold with Ma Yonghui securing silver in a time of 4:05.92 while Yang Peiqi also landed on the podium in 4:05.98 for bronze.

Li’s gold medal-worthy result represents the ace’s 3rd title of these championships. She already topped the women’s 1500m free field in a time of 15:51.21 and snagged the top spot in the 200m free in 1:55.62.

Li’s 400m free performance sliced well over a second off her previous season-best of 4:02.87 from the Chinese Spring Championships in March. She remains ranked 5th in the world this season.

中国水泳選手権（全国游泳冠军赛）
女子400Fr
李氷潔(Li Binjie) 4:01.08 =AR Tie

短水路400Fr李氷潔が自身が東京五輪で泳いだアジア記録と同タイムで優勝！世界水泳福岡でマッキントッシュ、レデッキー、ティトマスの牙城を崩せるか。
また上位3人も自己ベスト。 pic.twitter.com/8l0IZukdXH

— 競泳NEWS (@swimcoverage) May 3, 2023

Following up his monster 1:55.55 200m IM performance from day one, Olympic champion Wang Shun scored the win in the 400m IM.

Wang hit a time of 4:13.96 to handily defeat the field, beating the 4:14.23 he produced in March. He now ranks 15th in the world on the season.

Peng Xuwei put on a show in the women’s 200m back, stopping the clock in a time of 2:07.11 as the only female under 2:10 in the final.

Her time checks in as a lifetime best, getting under her previous PB of 2:07.27 produced nearly 5 years ago. She remains the 2nd fastest Chinese woman in history, with only national record holder Zhao Jing ahead of her with the national record of 2:06.46 from 2010.

Peng is now the 4th fastest woman in the world thus far this season.

Also cracking the season’s world rankings was Fei Liwei in the men’s 1500m freestyle.

The 20-year-old fired off a winning effort of 14:46.59 as the sole swimmer to delve under the 15:00 threshold this evening. His time obliterated the 14:59.83 he registered at the Chinese Spring Championships this past March, bumping himself up to become China’s 3rd fastest man in history.

Top 5 Chinese Men’s LCM 1500 Freestyle Performers

1. Sun Yang – 14:31.02, 2012
2. Zhang Lin – 14:45.84, 2008
3. Fei Liwei – 14:46.59, 2023
4. Wang Shun – 14:56.92, 2011
5. Yang Zhixian – 14:58.09, 2013

He’s now the 6th quickest man in the world this season in an event that has seen some immense competition over the past couple of months.

Germany’s Florian Wellbrock leads the way with his new German national record of 14:34.89 while Daniel Wiffen also fired off a new Irish record of 14:34.91 to sit right behind him in the rankings.

Cheng Yujie topped the women’s 100m free podium in a time of 53.26, leading a trio of sub-54 second swimmers.

Behind Cheng for silver this evening was Yang Junxuan who posted 53.87 while Zhang Yufei rounded out the top 3 in 53.95.

Finally, there were some head-turning splits on the men’s medley relay, headed up by Olympic medalist Xu Jiayu.

Xu clocked an opening back split of 52.26, beating the 52.47 he registered to take the individual event on day two of these championships. He was already ranked #1 in the world but his medley split further separates him from the rest of the pack.

Yan Zibei logged a breaststroke split of 58.41 while Shen Jiaho hit a fly leg of 51.78 and the newly-minted Asian record holder the men’s 100m free, Pan Zhanle, posted an anchor of 48.88 on the relay.