A world championship medalist at 12 years previous? Meet Chinese swimming prodigy Yu Zidi

At age 12, surrounded by seasoned veterans, Summer McIntosh swam the 400-meter particular person medley on the 2019 Canadian Trials in an eye-opening time of 4 minutes, 50.21 seconds.

Yu Zidi simply eclipsed that point by greater than 16 seconds.

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At age 12, competing at a prestigious junior meet in Toronto, McIntosh swam the 200 IM in a speedy 2:20.84.

Yu simply outclassed that point by greater than 11 seconds.

Those staggering comparisons to McIntosh, who received three gold medals on the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, assist put into perspective how insanely quick China’s 12-year-old swimming prodigy already is. Not solely is Yu attaining feats no different preteen woman ever has, she is holding her personal in opposition to the world’s greatest swimmers earlier than she’s even sufficiently old to finish center college.

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Yu turned the youngest swimmer ever to medal on the World Aquatics Championships final Thursday in Singapore when she helped China take bronze within the 4×200-meter freestyle relay. While Yu didn’t swim within the closing, she certified for a medal after swimming the primary leg within the prelims earlier within the day.

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Remarkably, Yu’s medal-winning effort within the relay wasn’t her most jaw-dropping achievement of her week in Singapore. Yu, who received’t flip 13 till October, additionally took fourth place in three particular person occasions, lacking the rostrum by 0.06 seconds within the girls’s 200 IM on Monday, by 0.31 seconds within the girls’s 200 butterfly on Thursday and by 0.50 seconds within the girls’s 400 IM on Sunday.

Swimming that quick on a worldwide stage reworked Yu from a Chinese star to a worldwide curiosity. Media shops hailed Yu as the heir to McIntosh, the 18-year-old Canadian sensation who took 4 golds and a bronze in Singapore. Accomplished swimmers from all over the world heaped reward on the Chinese preteen identified for her signature cartoon canine swim cap.

“Her 12-year-old times are much faster than mine at that age,” Romanian freestyle star David Popovici told China Daily.

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“Everyone is a bit scared of her,” celebrated Japanese swimmer Rikako Ikee told Chinese state media.

In a recent feature story published by China’s state-run news agency, Yu revealed that she only began swimming at age 6. Her family took her to a water park that summer to help her endure the heat in her hometown of Baoding, about 100 miles south of Beijing.

“I enjoyed the coolness of the water and spent a lot of time in different small pools for kids,” Yu said. “One day, a coach approached me and asked if I wanted to swim faster. I then joined a daily swimming class for kids for the rest of the summer.”

What started as a hobby soon became more than that. A lot more.

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Yu first hit the headlines last year when she missed out on an Olympic qualifying time for Paris by only two seconds as an 11-year-old. Then, at China’s national championships in May, Yu took second place in the 200 IM in 2:10.63, the fastest time ever recorded in the discipline by a 12-year-old, male or female.

World Aquatics rules require an athlete to be at least 14 years old to compete at a global championship, but there’s a caveat. Swimmers who meet the A qualification standard in an event are granted access to the competition regardless of their age.

That’s how Yu secured an invitation to Singapore. That’s how she earned the chance to cement herself as swimming’s next big thing.

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Will Yu continue her climb to the top of her sport as the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles approach? That seems likely but not guaranteed. Swimming careers seldom follow linear trajectories. Plenty of teen phenoms have plateaued or even burnt out before their 20th birthdays.

In the story by Chinese state-run news agency, Yu acknowledged she too has struggled to balance training and academics.

“I nearly gave up swimming earlier than the nationwide championships final yr on account of exhaustion from coaching and research,” she mentioned. “Fortunately, because of my coaches, teammates, pals and fogeys, I spotted swimming is an integral a part of my life, and I can’t give it up.”

What is obvious is that at age 12, Yu is already among the many greatest on this planet.

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McIntosh was 14 at her first Olympics. Katie Ledecky was 15. Yu is ascending at an much more unfathomable fee.