Li Bingjie is a Chinese National swimmer. She is a 2020 Olympian, world champion, and Asian champion.
At the Chinese National Championships on April 1, 2017, Bingjie won the 400m free with a then World Leading time of 4:02.52.
See race video of Bingjie’s 4:02.52 performance here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Td3roAKyuk
2017 World Championships
Bingjie finished third in the 400m Free behind the two Americans, Katie Ledecky and Leah Smith. Her time of 4:03.25 was well behind second place finisher, Leah Smith, and off her time from the Chinese Nationals.
Bingjie swam the anchor on China’s 4x200m Free Relay to help them win the silver medal, splitting a time of 1:55.46, fastest split on the Chinese team.
Day seven Bingjie won silver in the women’s 800m freestyle final. She dropped an impressive swim, 8:15.46, crushing her Asian record.
2018 Asian Games
Bingjie pulled her biggest international medal haul to date in Jakarta, scoring 5 medals over the course of the meet. She won her first international 200 free title (1:56.74) as well as led off China’s victorious 4×200 free relay. She also took triple silver in the 400-800-1500 behind her Chinese teammate Wang Jianjiahe.
2018 Short Course World Championships
Bingjie kept the medals coming in in her home world championships of Hangzhou, earning bronze in the 400 free, right behind silver medalist and countrywoman Wang Jianjiahe. She also helped China win it’s only relay title in the women’s 4×200 free relay, leading off in a 1:54.56.
2020 Olympic Games
Li started off her Games in the prelims of the 400 free, where she registered a new Asian record of 4:01.57 to qualify 2nd heading into the final. In the final, Li went another best of 4:01.08, finishing in 3rd behind Katie Ledecky and Ariarne Titmus, earning her first Olympic medal with a bronze.
Li Bingjie was back in the 4×200 free relay, anchoring China in 1:55.30, holding a charging Katie Ledecky from the USA off to touch for gold in a new world record, 7:40.33.
Bingjie swam in the prelims of the 800 free the following night, finishing in 8:22.49 to place 10th, missing the final heat.
2023 World Aquatics Championships (Fukuoka, Japan)
After a 4:01.08 400 free at Chinese Nationals in March, Li had to face a loaded 400 free field at Worlds featuring 3 former/current world record holders (Titmus, Ledecky, and McIntosh) as well as the #6 all-time performer (Erika Fairweather). In prelims, Li was 8th in 4:04.98, perhaps beecuse of her aggressive front half, but was still far from missing the final as 9th was 2.4 seconds back from her. She was a lot better in finals despite being out slower than prelims at the 200 with a 2:00.01 (vs a 1:59.13) and powered home in 2:01.64 for a 4:01.65 for 5th.
In the 1500, Li was solid in prelims with a 15:58.81 for 4th, not too far off her best of 15:51.21 from May. In the final, it Li was faster on almost every split and only dipped into 32-second 50s 2 times versus most of her prelims splits. The best part of her swim was probably her closing speed where she went from 5th to 3rd on the back of a 2:01.32 to earn bronze in 15:45.71.
In the 800 free, Li made some history of her won behind Katie Ledecky’s historic win. Li got to the wall in a mark of 8:13.31, claiming a new Chinese national and Asian continental record in the process. Her performance overtook the previous mark of 8:14.64 Wang Jianjiahe put on the books at the 2019 Chinese Championships. The time was also the #31 time in history, which might seem far down, but Ledecky all the better times.
Earlier in the 800 free relay, Li lead off in 1:55.83, the 2nd fastest lead-off behind Mollie O’Callaghan. The Chinese pulled through with a bronze.
2021(3) World University Games (Chengdu, China)
Just days after Worlds, Li returned home to compete at WUGs. She took on a dizzying schedule across the week-long meet. She started off with a 54.40 100 free relay lead off to lead the Chinese 400 free relay to a Games Record and Gold. She continued her sprint free foray by bringing the mixed 400 medley relay team home in a sizzling 53.74. With their 3:44.02 final time, China obliterated the Championship Record in the event, which their prelims relay set this morning at 3:50.57.
After swimming a 15:45 to earn the bronze medal in the 1500 at the Worlds the previous week, Bingjie swam a 16:18.48 in the final at WUGs, 33 seconds off last week’s performance. Nonetheless, Bingjie led the race from start to finish tonight, picking up yet another gold medal for China in Chengdu.
In the mixed 400 free relay, Li crushed a 53.95 on the 3rd relay leg to help China to another gold. Night 6 saw Li win her 2nd individual gold medal of the meet, speeding to an 8:30.74 in the 800 free final. Just as with the 1500, she was well off her PB. Earlier in the meet,
Li wrapped things up on the final night, winning two golds. First, she won the 400 free with a 4:08.38. Then, she was able to get it done in the 400 medley relay, splitting 54.16 to anchor the Chinese team to victory.
2022(3) Asian Games (Hangzhou, China)
Li made her presence known on day one, logging a time of 15:51.18 to come out on top of the 1500 free field. Bingjie represented the sole competitor of the pack to get under the 16:00 barrier. She took silver on night 2 in the 200 free, posting a 1:56.00 behind Siobhan Haughey’s 1:54.12 games record. Li was also under the old games record. She also netted gold on day 1 by swimming a 54.32 100 free relay lead off on the Chinese prelims 400 free relay squad which netted gold that night.
The next night, Li returned to the top of the podium in the 400 free. In the final, Li busted out a new Asian Games Record of 4:01.96, not far off her PB. On day 5, Li dropped a 1:56.14 200 free relay split, the fastest on China’s gold medal-worthy squad.
Just as she did in the 1500, Li dominated the 800, winning by over 8 seconds with a solid 8:20.01. Li swam a consistent race tonight, swimming a 4:08.90 on the first 400m, then came home in 4:11.11 on the back half of the race.
2024 Olympic Games (Paris, France)
Li’s Games got off to an inauspicious start, when she failed to make the 400 free final, an event where she was the reigning bronze medalist. She was 9th with a solid 4:03.96. She bounced back the next morning, placing 4th in the 200 free heats with a 1:56.28 but she missed the final, placing 10th in the semis with a 1:56.56. Her prelims time would have qualified 7th. She continued to be off form in the 1500 free, though she made the final. There, she placed 5th in a 16:01.03, over 15 seconds off her entry time. Her sole bright spot came in the 800 free relay, where she helped China to a bronze with a 1:55.05 2nd leg. She again placed 9th in the heat in the 800 free with a 8:27.92 to wrap up a disappointing Games.
