13-year-old Chinese swimmer sets record at Asian Games

13-year-old Chinese swimmer sets record at Asian Games

13-year-old Chinese swimmer Yu Zidi set another record by winning a gold medal for the second consecutive day at the 2026 Asian Games. She clocked a time of 2 minutes 6.10 seconds in the women's 200-meter individual medley. This performance became an Asian Games record.

Yu Zidi was born on October 16, 2012, in Baoding, China. She caught the attention of a coach at the age of six when she went to a water park with her father, and she began practicing swimming after that.

The athlete is making a successful debut at the Asian Games. The day before, she won a gold medal in the 200-meter butterfly with a time of 2:05.08, breaking the competition record.

In the 200-meter individual medley final, Yu Zidi outperformed her teammate Yu Yiting. Yiting finished second with a time of 2:07.99, while Japan's Mio Narita came in third with a time of 2:10.40.

The new record made Yu Zidi the fastest swimmer in Asia in this discipline. Her result was just 0.40 seconds behind the world record set by Canada's Summer McIntosh.

At the age of 12, Yu Zidi won a bronze medal as part of China's 4x200-meter freestyle relay team at the 2025 World Championships held in Singapore. Thus, she became the youngest medalist in the history of the World Championships.

Although a minimum age of 14 is usually required to participate in aquatic sports competitions, Yu Zidi earned the right to participate in the World Championships due to recording high results in the qualification criteria.

Yu Zidi could win another individual gold medal at the Asian Games in the 400-meter individual medley. This event will be held on September 23.

For information, the Chinese delegation currently holds first place in terms of medals. They have a total of 49 medals — 30 gold, 12 silver, and 7 bronze.