Chinese swimmer Li Bingjie sets new Asian record in Olympic women's 400m freestyle

Li Bingjie on her way to setting a new Asian record during the women's 400m freestyle heat at Tokyo 2020 on July 25, 2021. (Xinhua/Ding Xu)

Chinese swimmer Li Bingjie set Asian record in women's 400m freestyle, while Kaylee McKeown, Regan Smith and Kylie Masse all broke Olympic records in women's 100m backstroke.

TOKYO, July 25 (Xinhua) -- 19-year-old Li Bingjie of China set a new Asian record of 4:01.57 in the women's 400m freestyle heats Sunday night, beating her previous best of 4:02.36.

Li was the second qualifier after event favorite Katie Ledecky of the USA. Third place went to Australia's 20-year-old Ariarne Titmus, who tops this season's world rankings with a time of 3:56.90 set in June. China's Tang Muhan also qualified for the final in eighth place.

"I should say I was nervous because it's my first Olympics. I hope to win a medal in this event," said Li.

Two other Chinese swimmers also reached the semifinals in their respective events. Tang Qianting posted a time of 1:06.47 in the women's 100m breaststroke heats, while Xu Jiayu finished third in 52.70 in the men's 100 backstroke heats.

South Africa's Tatjana Schoenmaker, in her Olympic debut, ranked first in the women's 100m breaststroke after setting a new Olympic record of 1:04.82.

"My 200m is always a little better, but it was a good swim. The 100m is not my race, so that is why I was so shocked. It was my first swim, so I can finally say I am an Olympian. I am very happy with that. I didn't expect that at all," said Schoenmaker.

In the women's 100m backstroke, Kaylee McKeown of Australia, the USA's Regan Smith and Canada's Kylie Masse made the semifinals as top three seeds, with all three breaking the Olympic record of 58.23.

McKeown is the current world record holder with a time of 57.45 seconds. Those three are the only to have ever posted a time under 58 seconds. Smith has been under 58 three times (57.57, 57.92, 57.96), McKeown four times (57.45, 57.63, 57.93, 57.88), and Masse once (57.70).

The 16 semifinalists of the men's 200m freestyle were also confirmed, as South Korea's Hwang Sun-woo finished first with a time of 1:44.62.

Italy, the USA and Australia were the top three teams to qualify for the men's 4x100m freestyle relay final.