The next swimming superstar? Meet 13-year-old Yu Zidi
Discover 13-year-old Chinese swimming prodigy Yu Zidi, the Asian Games triple gold medalist closing in on Summer McIntosh’s world-record times and emerging as a top contender for Budapest 2025 and the Los Angeles Olympics
NAGOYA, Japan: Here's a quick look at 13-year-old Chinese swimmer Yu Zidi, who is tipped to become the sport's next big star after winning three gold medals in individual events at the Asian Games. She swept the 200-meter butterfly, the 200 individual medley and the 400 IM.
She could already be the swimmer to watch at the Los Angeles Olympics in two years when she is likely to face off against Canadian Summer McIntosh who swims the same events as Yu.
Ditto for the world championships next year in Budapest, Hungary.
McIntosh won three gold medals two years ago at the Paris Olympic and holds the world records in all three of Yu's main events: 200 fly (2 minutes 1.65 seconds), 200 IM (2:05.70) and the 400 IM (4:23.65).
Yu is closing in on those times. She swan the 200 IM on Monday at the Asian Games in 2:06.10, which is the event where she's closest to McIntosh.
McIntosh just turned 20.
By comparison, Yu at 12 was swimming roughly 15 seconds faster in the 400 IM than McIntosh did at 12, and about 12 seconds faster in the 200 IM. In a 50-meter pool, 12 to 15 seconds would be a half-lap of the pool, depending on the event.
If the progression continues Yu seems set to shatter all three records. And maybe more if she tackles another event and distance. McIntosh and others will have something to say about that.
As a 12-year-old - that's a sixth or seventh-grade student - at the world championships last year in Singapore, Yu finished fourth in her three races, just barely short of winning a medal.
She did get a bronze medal in a relay, though she did not swim in the final.
"I think it’s a great story. I don’t know where it will lead,” Greg Meehan, the national team director for the Americans in Singapore, said at the time.
Yu is from the city of Baoding in Hebei province, which is located about 150 kilometers (90 miles) southwest of the capital Beijing. Most of China's top swimmer come from areas further south in China.
She began swimming at 6 and was spotted by a local coach. That forced her to quit piano and dance lessons, Chinese media has reported.
He mother, Liu Hui, and her father, Yu Tao, have both been in Tokyo watching her swim at the Olympic pool being used for the Asian Games.
Yu was asked last year by Chinese television if she was a genius. She replied: "I'm not a genius, I'm just a hard-working person.”