Yu Zidi: fearless swimming prodigy, 13, with Olympics in her sights
BEIJING: Yu Zidi made history last year aged 12 when she became the youngest-ever medallist at the swimming world championships. Now a teenager, she headlines China’s bid for Asian Games domination and has Olympic glory in her sights.
Beijing, China - Yu Zidi, a 13-year-old swimming prodigy, has made history as the youngest-ever medallist at the swimming world championships. Now a teenager, she is leading China's bid for Asian Games dominance and has Olympic glory in her sights. The young girl, who boasts a pixie haircut, stunned the world with her eye-popping times at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore.
At the event, Yu helped China secure a third-place finish in the 4x200m women's freestyle relay final, earning her a historic bronze for swimming in the heats.
Despite competing in the 200m and 400m individual medley events and the 200m butterfly, Yu only managed to come fourth in all three races. In November, just after her 13th birthday, she shattered the Asian record in the women's 200m medley, clocking a remarkable 2:07.41. During her training with the China team in Beijing, Yu expressed her excitement for her upcoming Asian Games debut, urging herself to train hard and reach new heights.
Yu, who grew up in Baoding, about 150 kilometers (90 miles) south of Beijing, started swimming at the age of six. Since then, she has juggled schoolwork with her intense training schedule. While she never considered quitting, Yu admitted that the pressure of wanting to win the 400m medley nearly became too much to handle. She described it as a "big stone that weighed on me and made it hard to breathe."
Her coach encouraged her to persevere and believe in herself, which eventually led to her success at the National Games, where she won four medals.
Some in the swimming world have raised concerns about the mental and physical impact of high-level training and competing on Yu at such a young age. However, she remains focused on her Olympic dreams, aware that her success at a young age has made international headlines. Yu believes that perseverance and effort are key to her success, stating that she will keep holding fast to her original dream and draw strength from her team to stand on the Olympic podium.
Written by urgent.news from New Straits Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
