China’s 13-year-old swimmer Yu Zidi won her second gold medal at the Asian Games on Monday, setting her sights on bigger challenges at the Los Angeles Olympics in two years and a potential showdown with Canadian star Summer McIntosh.
That head-to-head could come as early as next year’s swimming world championships in Budapest.
Yu won the 200-metre individual medley in 2 minutes, 6.10 seconds at the Tokyo Olympic pool, just 0.40 seconds off McIntosh’s world record of 2:05.70.
Yu also won the 200m butterfly on Sunday and will compete in the 400m individual medley later in the week.
She said winning never gets old.
“I felt the same. I’m just as excited today,” Yu said. “The result reflects all the hard work I’ve put in during training with my coaching team.”
She received many congratulatory messages after Sunday’s victory but said she had to remain focused.
“I don’t want to get too confident,” she said. “I’ll just keep working hard.”
McIntosh won three gold medals at the Paris Olympics in 2024, in the same events Yu contests. The Canadian also holds the world records in the 200m butterfly (2:01.65), 200m individual medley (2:05.70) and 400m individual medley (4:23.65).
As a 12-year-old at last year’s World Championships in Singapore, Yu finished fourth in all three of her individual events and also won a bronze medal in a relay.
She made headlines earlier this year when she defeated American Regan Smith in the 200m butterfly at a meet in China. Smith won silver in the event at the 2024 Olympics.
Asian Games officials said it was unclear whether Yu is the youngest gold-medal winner in the event’s history, which dates back to 1951 in New Delhi, because records are incomplete.
She is not even the youngest competitor at this year’s Games. That is believed to be 11-year-old Yuki Kurihara, who competes for Japan in esports.
China dominates Asian Games swimming
China won six of the seven swimming gold medals on Sunday. It was slightly less dominant on Monday but still claimed five of seven titles.
In the 100m breaststroke, China’s Dong Zhihao and Japan’s Shin Ohashi tied for gold with identical times of 58.64 seconds.
China won 28 swimming gold medals at the Asian Games three years ago in Hangzhou, with South Korea taking six and Japan five. It looks set to at least match that total this time.
Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey, a two-time Olympic silver medallist in the 100m and 200m freestyle, successfully defended her Asian Games title in the 200m freestyle.
“I am very happy to win another gold medal,” she said. “That’s a really precious moment. Just happy to be here.”
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