TIANJIN, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- 15-year-old Li Bingjie has a second Asian record under her belt after securing the women's 1500m freestyle title at the 13th Chinese National Games here on Sunday.
Li, who set a new Asian record in the 400m freestyle in 4:02.35 two days ago, broke the 1500m Asian mark in 15 minutes 52.87 seconds. The previous record of 15:58:00 was held by Li Xuanxu. Li's new record would have ranked her in third place after Katie Ledcky of the United States and Mireia Belmonte of Spain at the FINA World Championships in Budapest in last July.
Zhang Ke of Hebei came in second at 16:08.83 and Hou Yawen of Liaoning clocked in at 16:13.31.
"It was a surprising time for me and improved my personal best by more than 10 seconds. But on the other hand, it was an acceptable time since my training times were close to it," said Li who quit the 200m free final earlier on Sunday.
"I did not feel any pity about quitting the 200m final because I wanted to save more energy for the 1500m. My goal is to show my best at the Tokyo Olympic Games." Li also broke the 800m freestyle Asian record in Budapest.
Former Olympic and world champion Ye Shiwen, who has suffered from "grown-up troubles" in recent years, came back in the women's 200m individual medley and claimed victory in 2:10.91, which could place her 12th in the current world rankings. Zhang Sishi of Shanghai came in second at 2:12.39 and Zhang Jiaqi of Beijing clocked 2:13.60.
"It was my best result since the Rio Olympic Games. I just broke my mental block that caused me to fear swimming in the IM events. In fact, my training was good, but I could not perform in my normal form during recent competitions. That caused me self-doubt about taking part in the IM competition," said the 21-year-old Ye.
"The gold medal just boosted my confidence. I may change to some other stroke and events to keep my enthusiasm for swimming. I will keep on fighting," Ye said.
Zhang Yuhan of the PLA delegation was crowned in the women's 200m freestyle in 1:56.43, beating Liu Zixuan of Hebei at 1:57.01 and Yang Junxuan of Shandong with 1:57.23. Pre-meet gold contender Li Bingjie, 15, world runner up in the 800m, quit the final to save energy for her favorite long distance freestyle event.
"It was my third National Games. I got 2 silvers 1 bronze in the last edition of the Games. After experiencing the Asian Games and the World Championships, I finally won a championship," said the 25-year-old Zhang.
Li Zhuhao of Zhejiang took home the victory in the men's 200m butterfly in 1:55.95, beating Wang Zhou of Shanghai with 1:57.01 and Zheng Xiaojing of Zhejiang who clocked in at 1:58.41.
Former world champion Ning Zetao of Henan stormed to easy lead in the men's 100m freestyle semifinal in 48.11, followed by Yu Hexin from Guangdong at 49.32.
