China’s 13-year-old swimming sensation Yu Zidi has smashed her second Asian Games record in as many days, with her time of 2:06.10 in the women’s 200m individual medley doubling as a new Asian record. The teen prodigy made waves last year when, aged 12, she became the youngest-ever medallist at the World Swimming Championships. Tuesday’s win and record saw Zidi cement her status as one of swimming’s greatest teenagers and a dominant force at the ongoing Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games in Japan.
So who is Yu Zidi, and what else can we expect from her? Al Jazeera Sport explains. The swimming sensation was born in Baoding, China, on October 16, 2012.
She was noticed by a swimming coach as a six-year-old when her father took her to a water park to cool off in the summer. Zidi has reclaimed her Asian record in the 200m individual medley (IM) from defending champion and compatriot Yu Yiting, who clocked 2:06.82 in June and finished second on Tuesday with 2:07.99, while Japan’s Narita Mio finished third in 2:10.40. The 13-year-old now holds the Asian Games record, the Asian record, and the second-fastest 200m medley of all time – just 0.40 seconds off the 2:05.70 world record set by Canadian Summer McIntosh, another former teen phenomenon in the sport who Zidi considers her idol.
Zidi’s gold in the 200m IM adds to her 200m Butterfly win a day earlier, where her 2:05.08 smashed the Games record of 2:05.57 set by compatriot Yufei Zhang at the Hangzhou 2023 Asian Games. Zhang, a multiple-time Olympic, World and Asian Games champion, was named Most Valuable Player (MVP) at Hangzhou 2023 alongside compatriot Qin Haiyan for her record six gold medals. She picked up her first gold at Aichi-Nagoya in the women’s 4x100m Freestyle relay when China stormed to victory in 3:33.10.
It’s an achievement that shows the hard work of our team,” said Zidi. I need to lower my head earlier, reach further forward and improve the movement of my legs. Those are all areas that I need to work on.” Most likely, yes.
Zidi can add a third individual gold on Wednesday in the 400m IM. The teenager, however, is not listed in China’s roster for the women’s 4x200m Freestyle relay scheduled for Thursday. Zidi became swimming’s newest prodigy when she won bronze as a 12-year-old as part of China’s 4x200m freestyle relay team at the 2025 World Swimming Championships in Singapore in August.
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