Greats in 'shock' as Chinese star doesn't front

Women's 400m freestyle favourite and world record holder Li Bingjie was a late scratching from her pet event on the first morning of the World Short Course Championships in Melbourne on Tuesday.

The 20-year-old set a new world record in the event during China's national championships in October.

Scheduled to line up in the fourth lane of the fourth heat, Australian swimming greats were left scratching their heads after Bingjie did not appear.

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"That is a surprise. That is a shock. We are expecting to see Li Bingjie – we have been talking about her and what performance she will be able to have here," Ian Thorpe said in commentary for Wide World of Sports.

"What a shock not to see the world record holder swim in this event."

Giann Rooney said Bingjie's absence would throw a spanner in the works of her other competitors.

The FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) will be broadcast exclusively live and free on Nine and 9Now from December 13-18.

"They would have been relying on the world record holder taking this field out, setting a pace and then sitting off the back of her and watching what she is going to do knowing they are trying to make top eight for a final."

Thorpe said her absence could also mean the times set in the race could be an outlier when compared with the other three.

"This may mean this heat is significantly slower … or it may be faster, because they don't know how to pace off what their plan originally was."

Reports from the venue indicate Bingjie may have been battling a fever, and was forced to pull out.

New Zealander Erika Fairweather won the heat in 3:58.27, to comfortably be the fastest qualifier for the final. Aussie Lani Pallister also qualified in second.

Bingjie's absence meant another Aussie, Leah Neale, was able to scrape into the final in 8th place – just 0.06 of a second quicker than ninth.

Elsewhere, Mollie O'Callaghan has qualified third in the women's 100m backstroke semi final. Kaylee McKeown is 12th.

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