At just 13, Yu Zidi is already swimming towards a rivalry that could define the next era of women’s swimming.The Chinese teenager claimed her second gold medal at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Monday, winning the women’s 200m individual medley in 2:06.10 — a time that took her to within 0.40 seconds of the world record held by Canadian Olympic champion Summer McIntosh.The result has only intensified the anticipation around a potential Yu-McIntosh showdown. The two could meet as early as next year’s World Aquatics Championships in Budapest, before the spotlight turns to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, where Yu would still be only 15.McIntosh, who won three individual gold medals at the Paris Olympics in 2024, owns the world records in all three events Yu is targeting: 2:01.65 in the 200m butterfly, 2:05.70 in the 200m individual medley and 4:23.65 in the 400m individual medley.
Yu closes in on McIntosh’s world record
Yu’s latest gold came less than 24 hours after she won the 200m butterfly in a Games-record 2:05.08. She will also compete in the 400m individual medley later this week.Her rapid rise has already taken her onto the biggest international stage. At the 2025 World Championships in Singapore, Yu competed at just 12 and finished fourth in all three individual events she entered. She also became the youngest-ever World Championships medallist by winning bronze as part of China’s 4x200m freestyle relay team.Earlier this year, she added another eye-catching result by defeating American Regan Smith in the 200m butterfly at a meet in China. Smith had won silver in the event at the Paris Olympics.The comparisons with McIntosh are becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.Hong Kong’s four-time Olympic medallist Siobhan Haughey said the emergence of swimmers like Yu reflects an exciting trend in the sport, pointing to McIntosh’s own rise as a teenager.“When Summer first started she was also very young and swimming fast, so I think that’s kind of the trend these days,” Haughey said.
Youngest Asiad gold medallist? Records don’t have the answer
Yu’s achievements have naturally raised another question: is she the youngest athlete ever to win an Asian Games gold medal?For now, there is no definitive answer.Asian Games officials said records dating back to the inaugural edition in New Delhi in 1951 are incomplete, making it impossible to establish whether Yu is the youngest gold medallist in the history of the continental Games.She is not even the youngest competitor at Aichi-Nagoya. That distinction is believed to belong to 11-year-old Japanese esports competitor Yuki Kurihara.So while Yu is making history in the pool, the broader age record remains unresolved.
China’s swimming machine keeps producing stars
Yu’s emergence also underlines China’s extraordinary depth in Asian swimming.China won a record 28 swimming gold medals at the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023, finishing well ahead of South Korea’s six and Japan’s five.The Chinese dominance has continued in Aichi-Nagoya, with the country winning five of the seven swimming golds on Monday after taking six of seven on Sunday.But Yu’s story is bigger than China’s medal tally.At an age when most swimmers are still developing towards senior international competition, she is already challenging the world’s fastest and being discussed in the same breath as McIntosh.For now, McIntosh remains ahead on the stopwatch. But with Yu only 13, the gap is already shrinking — and the swimming world may be watching the beginning of a rivalry that could stretch all the way to Los Angeles.
