2022 CHINESE SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Thursday, October 27th – Saturday, October 29th
- Beijing, China
- FINA SC World Championships Qualifying Event
- SCM (25m)
- Results via Asian Media
Women’s 400 Freestyle – Final
- Li Bingjie (CHN) – 3:51.30 WR
- Tang Muhan (CHN) – 3:59.82
- Liu Yaxin (CHN) – 4:00.33
Many were on world record watch this week for the women’s 400 freestyle world record, but almost all of those eyes were fixed on the upcoming duel between Katie Ledecky, Summer McIntosh, and Siobhan Haughey. China’s Li Bingjie beat them all to the punch, ripping a 3:51.30 on the first night of the 2022 Chinese Swimming Championships. You can watch the full race below, courtesy of Zhu Mandan.
Li shattered the previous mark by 2.62 seconds, tearing past Ariarne Titmus‘ old mark of 3:52.92 from 2018 SC Worlds. It also shattered her previous lifetime best, which stood at 3:55.83 from winning the race at 2021 SC Worlds. At the same meet, she also picked up a gold medal in the 800 free and bronze in the 4×200 freestyle relay.
What stood out about Li’s swim was her exceptional back half. She negative-split the race, which was the difference maker between her world record at Titmus’ swim.
Split Comparison: Li vs. Titmus World Records
| Li Bingjie – 2022 Chinese Championships (New WR) | Ariarne Titmus – 2018 SC World Championships (Former WR) | |
| 100 | 56.72 | 56.08 |
| 200 | 59.16 | 59.29 |
| 300 | 58.64 | 59.57 |
| 400 | 56.78 | 58.98 |
| 3:51.30 | 3:53.92 |
Li’s second 200 was a 1:55.42 compared to Titmus’ 1:58.55. You can see from the splits that Li was behind about half a second behind Titmus’ pace at the halfway mark. However, she clearly hits the gas as soon as she flipped at the 200, as her third 100 was .93 seconds faster than Titmus. That more than made up the gap between Li and Titmus, and Li never looked back.
What the hell is up with a championship meet where they clearly aren’t using lane 3 for racing? Doesn’t feel like a level playing field to guarantee clear water. What if this were a men’s 50 FR world record?
Dang, world record even breathing on the first stroke off every wall and taking a few extra breaths right before the turns.
Ledecky breathes in and out of her turns too.
I think the reality is that what we all teach and learn as “average” swimmers doesn’t always apply to a super-elite athlete. Part of what makes her so great is that she’s learned how to breathe in those places without disrupting her technique.
If I had a great young athlete in the classic sense of an athlete, swimming distance events, I might start them young doing it “the wrong” way, but with purpose. Perfecting the feel and technique for doing that with less disruption. I think for my more average athletes in distance events, I’d experiment a little, but lean toward the classic rules.
Not only that but she takes a breath on one side and immediately takes a breath on the other side on the next stroke. Most of the laps she had an interesting pattern where she’d take a breathe every 2 and immediately breathe on the next stroke and breathe 6 strokes the other direction until the wall and then turn her head and take a fast breath before flipping. Not sure if I’m making sense. I was never a competitive swimmer but find her breathing pattern definitely unique!
Damn it looks like she was expecting that. What a beautiful swim
She was expecting 3:53.