Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026: 13-year-old swimmer Yu Zidi is closing in on Summer McIntosh’s world document

At simply 13-years-old, the People’s Republic of China’s Yu Zidi is now lower than half a second away from Summer McIntosh’s 200m particular person medley world document.

That’s proper, 13.

In the opening two days of the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games 2026, Yu has already gained two gold medals, opening with a Games document of 2:05.08 within the girls’s 200m butterfly, earlier than producing an much more exceptional swim within the 200m particular person medley.

Yu powered by means of the 4 strokes in 2:06.10, touching the wall in an Asian-record and world-junior-record time and turning into the second-fastest lady in historical past over the space, forward of swimming greats together with Katinka Hosszú and Kaylee McKeown.

It can be sooner than McIntosh’s Paris 2024 Olympic-title-winning time of two:06.56.

McIntosh’s world document (set in 2025) stands at 2:05.70. And Yu remains to be three years youthful than McIntosh was when the Canadian set her first senior world document.

“I feel even happier about this gold medal than the first one,” Yu mentioned after claiming her second Asian Games title within the area of 48 hours.

Perhaps probably the most exceptional factor about Yu, although, is how shortly she refocuses after doing the exceptional.

After successful the 200m butterfly in Games-record time and enhancing her private finest by 0.9 seconds, she described the swim as merely “so-so”. Her approach, she added, is “still slightly lacking”, together with her head place, attain and leg motion all areas she believes could be improved.

Her pace has definitely come shortly since Yu was first noticed by a swimming coach on the age of six, when her father took her to a water park to chill off in the course of the summer time.

Six years later, in 2025, Yu introduced herself on the world stage, turning into the game’s youngest ever world championship medallist as a part of China’s bronze medal-winning 4x200m freestyle relay staff. She additionally completed fourth in every of her three particular person occasions, narrowly lacking the rostrum towards swimmers a few years her senior… all on the age of 12. 

Yu now has the prospect to finish the person treble on Wednesday, 23 September, when she races the girls’s 400m particular person medley.