Li Bingjie Logs 1500 Free Personal Best In Shijiazhuang City

CHINESE LONG COURSE INVITATIONAL

• Thursday, December 31st – Sunday, January 3rd
• Shijiazhuang City, China
• LCM (50m)
• SwimSwam Preview
• Day 1 Prelims Recap/Day 1 Finals Recap
• Day 2 Prelims Recap/Day 2 Finals Recap
• Results via Asian Media

As this Chinese New Year’s Long Course Invitational rolls on, we saw swimmers take on the 100m free, 200m back, 1500m free, and 400m IM during tonight’s prelims session of day 3.

As a reminder, prelims are taking place in the evening while finals are slated for each morning session, giving athletes a taste of the timing that will be place come the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games this July.

In this morning’s finals, we already saw Yang Junxuan power her way to the gold in the women’s 200m free, producing a stellar 1:55.65 in the process. In tonight’s prelims, Yang tried the 1free on for size, establishing herself as the top-seeded swimmer in 54.38.

The 18-year-old entered this meet with a lifetime best of 53.45 in this event from last September’s Chinese National Championships. As such, her effort in this heats swim sits within a second with a final race yet to go.

He Junyi got it done to land lane 4 in the men’s edition, producing a solid swim of 48.75. He represents China’s 2nd fastest performer with his personal best of 48.10 logged at the 2019 Chinese Spring Championships.

Olympic medalist and 2019 world champion Xu Jiayu already won his pet 100m back event here but is looking for another gold in the 200m back. In tonight’s prelims, the 25-year-old put up a quick 1:56.96 to easily claim the pole position for tomorrow morning’s medal race.

Xu already sits atop this season’s world rankings with his 1:55.26 outing from last September. He and Japanese Olympian Ryosuke Irie are the only men in the world who have gone under 1:56 so far this season.

Competing in the slower heats of the women’s 1500m free, Li Bingjie busted out the fastest time of her life. Stopping the clock in a time of 15:52.31, her outing here shaved just over half a second off of her previous PB of 15:52.87. That result was posted over 3 years ago.

Just 18 years of age, Li was a triple medalist at the 2017 World Championships and the 200m free gold medalist at the 2018 Asian Games. Also there in Jakarta, she earned a trifecta of freestyle silver medals, finishing as the Asian Games’ runner-up across the 400m, 800m, and 1500m free.

The teen didn’t fare as well at the 2019 FINA World Championships, however. Her highest individual finish was represented by an 11th place in the 200m free.

Bingjie’s 15:52.31 time here, however, keeps her positioned as China’s 2nd fastest performer all-time, sitting only behind national record holder Wang Jianjiahe (15:45.59). Her time now slides into the all-time performance rankings within China in slot #5.

All-Time Chinese Women’s 1500 Freestyle Performances:

1. 15:45.59 – Wang Jianjiahe, 2020
2. 15:46.69 – Wang Jianjiahe, 2019
3. 15:49.85 – Wang Jianjiahe, 2019
4. 15:51.00 – Wang Jianjiahe, 2019
5. 15:52.31 – Li Bingjie, 2020

Jianjiahe and Li rank #1 and #2, respectively in this season’s world rankings.

Additional Notes:

• The women’s 100m back winner here, Peng Xuwei, sits as the top seed in the 200m back with a night swim of 2:08.53.
• The 200m IM and 200m free winner already at this meet, Wang Shun, is looking for a triple, leading the men’s 400m I in 4:19.51.
• The women’s 400m IM saw Yu Yiting claim the top seed in 4:35.94. 2012 Olympic champion Ye Shiwen, however, is lurking as the 3rd seed in 4:42.52.