Young Chinese student Yu Zidi illuminated the start of the Asian Games by clinching a historic gold in the 200m butterfly, delivering a record-setting swim that she modestly evaluated as “just okay”.
At just 13 years old, she secured her debut major gold medal with a time of 2:05.08, establishing a new Asian Games record that shaved nearly half a second off the previous standard set three years prior by fellow countrywoman Zhang Yufei.
Widely expected to be a breakout star at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, Yu finished more than three seconds ahead of her fellow Chinese competitor Chang Mohan during the event in Tokyo.
“It was nothing special,” Yu remarked with a grin after being presented with her medal, noting that her butterfly stroke “still needs some work”.
“My goal is to achieve greater speeds. I managed to slice 0.9 seconds off my personal best at this event, and I am confident that my future swims will be even stronger,” she added.
Set to compete in an additional pair of individual races at these Asian Games, Yu previously etched her name in history as the youngest swimmer to ever secure a World Championship medal, having captured bronze at age 12 with China’s 4x200m freestyle relay squad last year.
