China’s 13-year-old Yu cruises as Asian Games swimming begins

TOKYO: China’s 13-year-old prodigy Yu Zidi and Olympic champion Pan Zhanle cruised by way of their heats on Sunday (Sep 20) as swimming received underway on the opening day of the Asian Games.

Yu turned the youngest swimming world championships medallist in historical past final 12 months when she gained bronze as a 12-year-old as a part of China’s 4x200m freestyle relay crew.

She additionally completed a whisker outdoors the medals in fourth in three world particular person occasions.

She has embellished her rising repute this 12 months, notably with a victory over a number of American Olympic champion Regan Smith in March.

She opened her Asian Games marketing campaign on the Tokyo Aquatics Centre by breezing by way of her ladies’s 200m butterfly warmth, qualifying for Sunday night’s closing with the quickest time in two minutes and seven.97 seconds.

It was 2.7 seconds faster than the second-fastest qualifier, Chinese compatriot Chang Mohan.

Yu doesn’t flip 14 till October.

Pan was in motion within the males’s 100m freestyle, the occasion during which he gained gold and set a world report on the Paris Olympics in 2024.

He certified with quickest in 48.07 seconds, forward of South Korea’s Hwang Sun-woo.

“The first 50 I felt I controlled my speed and then the second 50 I was at the max,” stated the 22-year-old Pan.

“I think tonight I will be better.”

Pan is trying to rebound from a disappointing world championships final 12 months in Singapore, the place he did not make the ultimate in both the 100m or 200m freestyle.

He stated his gorgeous success in Paris had taken time to get used to.

“It’s such a big change year by year, especially after Paris. The change is in my training and in my life,” he stated.

“I’m getting better at adjusting year by year.”

Japan’s Tomoyuki Matsushita completed quickest within the males’s 200m particular person medley with a time of 1 minute and 58.56 seconds.

Japan are in search of higher ends in the pool after successful solely 5 golds and ending a distant third within the swimming medals desk on the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou.

“This is being held in Japan and although there’s no pressure, I want to show my best to all the people here,” stated Matsushita.