2023 CHINESE SPRING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Sunday, March 19th – Friday, March 24th
- Qingdao, China
- LCM (50m)
- Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap
- Results via Asian Media
21-year-old Olympic medalist Li Bingjie bagged two victories as the 2023 Chinese Spring Championships rolled on this week.
Li topped the podium in both the women’s 400m free and the 200m free to put her mid-distance prowess on display.
In the former event, Li got to the wall with a speedy result of 1:55.87, beating out Liu Yaxin and Li Jiaping who settled into the silver and bronze medal positions. Liu touched in 1:56.18 while Li was about another second behind in 1:57.13.
For Li, her time here represents a big-time personal best, wiping out her previous career-quickest result of 1:56.64 from the 2021 edition of this competition. She was a Chinese women’s World Record-setting 4x200m free relay member at the 2020 Olympic Games, anchoring her squad in a solid 1:55.30.
Li’s performance here now ranks her as the 7th fastest Chinese female in history and also inserts herself in the season’s world rankings in slot #6.
2022-2023 LCM Women 200 Free
McIntosh
1:53.91 WJR
| 2 | Katie Ledecky | USA | 1:54.96 | 03/02 |
| 3 | Siobhan Haughey | HKG | 1:55.04 | 05/20 |
| 4 | Mollie O'Callaghan | AUS | 1:55.15 | 04/20 |
| 5 | Ariarne Titmus | AUS | 1:55.28 | 04/20 |
| 6 | Shayna Jack | AUS | 1:55.37 | 04/20 |
| 7 | Erika Fairweather | NZL | 1:55.44 | 04/02 |
| 8 | Li Bingjie | CHN | 1:55.62 | 05/02 |
| 9 | Freya Anderson | GBR | 1:55.89 | 04/04 |
| 10 | Marrit Steenbergen | NED | 1:56.10 | 05/18 |
The women’s 400m free also fell victim to Li at this competition as she cracked a time of 4:02.87. She led the field by over 4 seconds and fell within earshot of her own Chinese and Asian record of 4:01.08 from when she took bronze in the event at the aforementioned Olympics.
Li now ranks 5th in the world this season.
2022-2023 LCM Women 400 Free
McIntosh
3:56.08 WR
| 2 | Katie Ledecky | USA | 3:58.84 | 05/13 |
| 3 | Ariarne Titmus | AUS | 4:00.49 | 04/19 |
| 4 | Erika Fairweather | NZL | 4:00.62 | 04/02 |
| 5 | Li Bingjie | CHN | 4:01.08 | 05/03 |
The women’s 200m IM saw Yu Yiting get it done for gold, with the 17-year-old swimmer touching in 2:09.96. That easily clears the 2:12.98 needed for Fukuoka and also ranks Yu 3rd in the world this season.
2022-2023 LCM Women 200 IM
McIntosh
2:06.89 WJR
| 2 | Kaylee McKeown | AUS | 2:07.19 | 05/12 |
| 3 | Yu Yiting | CHN | 2:08.34 | 05/02 |
| 4 | Sydney Pickrem | CAN | 2:08.61 | 03/30 |
| 5 | Marrit Steenbergen | NED | 2:09.16 | 04/08 |
Yu owns a lifetime best of 2:09.57 in this event so her performance here was within striking distance of that mark registered in Tokyo. It stood as the World Junior Record until Canada’s Summer McIntosh hammered it way down to 2:08.08 last month at the Pro Swim Series in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Additional Winners
- Fei Liwei scored a time of 14:59.82 to take the men’s 1500m free by over 20 seconds. That dips under the World Aquatics ‘A’ cut of 15:04.64 needed to qualify for Fukuoka.
- Wang Changhao took the men’s 50m free in 22.08, with the 100m freestyle stunner here, Wang Haoyu, snagging silver in 22.44, tied with Chen Juner.
- The women’s 50m back saw Wang Xueer sneak into the wall just .01 ahead of runner-up Chen Jie. Wang stopped the clock at 27.79 while Chen was right there at 27.80.
I think people forgot about China in the 200 free relay but they absolutely still have a team that could compete for gold.
Also Jenna Forrester’s 2:10.32 in the 200IM from Sydney is still missing.
Always rooting for her
THIS is what I’m talking about…LCM racing. 🎁
Great to be reminded with the coming of Spring. 🌷🌷🌷
Thank you!!