[REVISION HISTORY]

Yu Zidi swimming career progression

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2026-09-24 21:23 UTC → 2026-09-25 02:05 UTC · added ~~removed~~

Chinese swimmer Yu Zidi, a teenage prodigy, entered the Asian Games in Japan with high expectations following her record-breaking performances at the World Aquatics Championships. Prior to the games, Yu expressed the mental and physical difficulties of elite training, describing the pressure of competition as feeling “like a large stone pressing on me.” At the 2026 Asian Games, 13-year-old Yu secured a hat-trick of gold medals. She first won the women’s 200-meter butterfly with a time of 2:05.08, breaking the previous Asian Games record of 2:05.57 held by Zhang Yufei. She followed this by setting a new Chinese record, Asian record, and World Junior Record in the women’s 200m individual medley with a time of 2:06.10, placing her second on the all-time list behind Canada’s Summer McIntosh. Yu completed her dominant run by winning the 400m individual medley in a new Asian Games record time of 4:28.56. This performance broke the previous games record set by Ye Shiwen in 2014 by approximately 4.5 seconds, leaving her nearly four seconds ahead of silver medalist Ke Wenxi and bronze medalist Mio Narita. Her success continued at the games as she secured a gold medal in the women’s 400m freestyle, setting a new Asian Games record in that event as well. Yu’s rapid ascent reinforces her status as a rising star. Following her record-breaking swims, Olympic medalist Siobhan Haughey noted that Yu’s success reflects a growing trend of exceptionally young swimmers achieving elite-level results. Having previously become the youngest medalist in World Aquatics Championships history at age 12, Yu has expressed her ambition to reach the Olympic podium at the Los Angeles 2028 Games.

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