Chinese swimmer Li Bingjie competes during the preliminaries of the women's 400m freestyle at the Hangzhou Asian Games held in Hangzhou, China on Sept 26, 2023. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

HANGZHOU - China's world champion Li Bingjie led all the way to win the women's 400m freestyle gold at the Hangzhou Asian Games on Tuesday.

Li, who secured two golds and two silvers at last Asiad in Jakarta, Indonesia, set a new Games record of 4:01.96 to clinch the crown.

Her compatriot Ma Yonghui, who is making her debut at the Asian Games, came second in 4:05.68. Japan's Waka Kobori took third place in 4:07.81.

Li also won bronze in this event at the Tokyo Olympics.

The 21-year-old said that besides a gold medal, she also hoped to finish under four minutes in the event.

READ MORE: Ma delights home crowd with women's 78kg judo gold at Asiad

"My biggest goal next year is to narrow the gap with Katie Ledecky," Li said.