Li Bingjie snatches third gold while Ye Shiwen comes back at Chinese national spring swimming championships

QINGDAO, March 20 (Xinhua) -- In-form Olympic champion Li Bingjie continued her unbeaten streak by winning the women's 200m freestyle while former Olympic champion Ye Shiwen made her strong comeback in 200m individual medley with a silver medal on the second day of the Chinese national spring swimming championships here on Monday.

Li, who claimed victories in 1,500m freestyle and 4x100m freestyle relay on Sunday, added one more gold in 200m freestyle in one minute 55.87 seconds.

"I kept a busy schedule and took the competition as training since I will race in 200m, 400m, 800m, 1,500m and some relays. I was happy with my time and expect to have more intensive battles with my rivals," said the 21-year-old.

Ye, the double winner of the 200 and 400m individual medleys in the London Olympic Games, placed second behind 17-year-old teammate Yu Yiting in her favorite 200m individual medley and sealed the silver medal in 2:10.55. Yu clinched the title on 2:09.96.

"I returned to training fewer than two months ago, but I improved my backstroke most of the time. I was satisfied with my results and felt I have a chance to qualify for the Asian Games," Ye said.

In the men's 100m breaststroke, Qin Haiyang was 0.03 seconds shy of the Asian and Chinese national record as he clocked 58.66 for the gold, followed by Sun Jiajun with 59.00 and Yan Zibei with 59.46.

"I have been a 200m distance swimmer for a long time. I increased my physical and weight training in the gym recently, and I set a new goal to break the Asian record this year. It was my first attempt, and I knew I was very close to achieving it. I will try to rewrite the mark next time," said Qin.

In other events, Wang Xueer dominated the women's 50m backstroke with 27.79, beating Chen Jie and 2015 world champion Fu Yuanhui into second and third, respectively; Wang Gukailai topped the men's 50m backstroke in 25.02, Wang Changhao blasted 22.08 in men's 50m freestyle.

About 672 swimmers from 26 teams compete in the six-day national meet, which was originally the second-tier national meet that served as the qualification for the Chinese national championships to be held in May. Now it has become one of the two-leg qualifiers for the World and Asian Games.