Chinese Teen Swimmer Yu Zidi Wins 200m IM Gold, Nearly Breaks World Record
TOKYO, Japan — China’s teenage swimming prodigy Yu Zidi continued her remarkable Asian Games campaign on Monday, winning her second gold medal of the tournament and finishing just four-tenths of a second short of the women’s 200-meter individual medley world record.
The 13-year-old clocked 2:06.10 to win the event at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre during the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games, setting a new junior world record and an Asian record in the process. The performance left her just 0.40 seconds behind Canadian star Summer McIntosh‘s world record of 2:05.70, established in 2025.
Second gold in two days
Yu’s latest victory came a day after she dominated the women’s 200m butterfly, where she won in 2:05.08, breaking the Asian Games record previously held by compatriot Zhang Yufei.
With two gold medals already secured, the teenager has emerged as one of the standout athletes of the Games and strengthened her reputation as one of swimming’s brightest young talents.
In the 200m individual medley final, Yu finished comfortably ahead of China’s Yu Yiting, who took silver, underlining China’s dominance in the event.
Closing in on the world’s best
Yu’s winning time carried extra significance beyond the gold medal.
Her 2:06.10 erased the long-standing Asian record and placed her second on the all-time list behind only McIntosh, the reigning Olympic and world champion widely regarded as one of swimming’s biggest stars.
The performance has already fueled anticipation of a future rivalry between the two swimmers, with the next World Championships in Budapest offering a potential first major head-to-head meeting before the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
A teenager already making history
Yu has been breaking age barriers well before arriving in Japan.
She became the youngest medallist in World Championships swimming history in 2025 after helping China win bronze in the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay at just 12 years old. She also narrowly missed the podium in several individual events that year, signaling that her rapid rise was no one-off performance.
At the Asian Games, she has continued that trajectory with performances that place her among the fastest swimmers ever recorded in her events despite still being years away from the typical peak age for elite female swimmers.
Praise from rivals
Yu’s emergence has drawn admiration from established stars.
Four-time Olympic medallist Siobhan Haughey described the arrival of swimmers like Yu as a positive development for the sport, comparing the Chinese teenager’s rise to McIntosh’s breakthrough as a young champion.
The praise reflects growing recognition that elite swimming is increasingly seeing teenagers compete successfully against experienced Olympic champions.
What comes next
Yu still has another opportunity to add to her medal haul later this week in the 400m individual medley, one of her strongest events.
With two gold medals already secured and her times edging closer to world-record territory, she has become one of the defining stories of the Aichi-Nagoya Games and a swimmer many will watch closely on the road to Los Angeles 2028.
