Yu Zidi Has Blasted Onto World Scene at Age 12: What Does Her Future Hold?
In the most unexpected development of last week’s Chinese National Championships, a 12-year-old qualified to represent the world’s most populous country at the upcoming World Championships. There have been occasional swimmers to reach the world’s biggest stage and contend in their early teens, most notably when Canada’s Summer McIntosh placing fourth in the 400 free at the Tokyo Olympics, but Yu Zidi is two years younger and more than four months away from turning 13.
She initially earned her spot in Singapore by virtue of a runnerup finish in the 200 IM with a mark of 2:10.63. Two seconds ahead was Yu Yiting (no relation), who knows plenty about early arrivals to international swimming; Yu Yiting was a semifinalist in the event at the 2019 World Championships when she was only 13 years old before reaching the event’s final at the last two Olympics and earning bronze at the 2023 Worlds.
As for Yu Zidi, she would continue to shock the world over the next few days, capturing domestic wins in the 200 butterfly and 400 IM. Her times of 2:06.83 in the fly and 4:35.53 in the medley far exceed any other results from same-age swimmers around the world. Both times would have been good enough for fourth place in the Olympic finals last year in Paris, with the 400 IM effort just six tenths back of American bronze medalist Emma Weyant.
For some perspective on the unprecedented space which Yu now occupies, consider what sort of times McIntosh was dropping at age 12, just two yeas before her Olympic debut. The Canadian age group records for 11-12 girls stand at 2:15.15 for the 200 fly, 2:18.82 for the 200 IM and 4:50.21 for the 400 IM. Yu is, at minimum, nine seconds faster.
The U.S. National Age Group records for those events are quite similar: Cassidy Bayer in the 200 fly at 2:15.02, Teagan O’Dell in the 200 IM at 2:18.69 and Kayla Han in the 400 IM at 4:50.70. Moreover, Yu is at least two-and-a-half seconds ahead of the 11-12 boys’ NAG records in those three races. As for the 13-14 girls age group, Yu is considerably ahead of the U.S. records for both medley races and slightly ahead of the legendary 200 fly standard of 2:07.01 established by Mary T. Meagher in 1979.
Yes, the original Madame Butterfly, the swimmer who held the world record in the event for more than 20 years. Meagher set the mark for the first time less than four months before her 15th birthday, and the aforementioned 2:07.01 was the global standard when she aged up. Meagher would eventually break the record twice more, topping out at 2:05.96 when she was 16, and win Olympic gold in the event in 1984.
The time put forth by Yu last week is quicker than Meagher recorded when she was two years older, and one could argue that her 400 IM time was even more impressive.
If Yu were to attend this year’s World Junior Championships, she would be favored for at least three individual golds, but that scenario is impossible: the youth-focused meet set for this August in Otopeni, Romania, is only open to swimmers born between 2007 and 2011, with the 2012-born Yu missing the cutoff by three months.
With all this said, however, we must remember that swimming careers rarely take linear trajectories. Massive improvement margins in her pre-teenage years are not certain to continue. Plenty of teenage scorchers have been inconsistent in the years to come, with some from major competitions before their 20th birthdays.
Li Bingjie, a three-time Olympic medalist in freestyle who Yu considers a role model, had her strongest international performance as a 15-year-old, scoring two individual World Championship medals in 2017. She would go on to earn Olympic bronze in the 400 free in Tokyo along with 800 free relay gold, but in between, Li did not qualify for any finals at the 2019 global meet.
And when it comes to Chinese 400 IMers, it’s impossible to forget Ye Shiwen. She won two gold medals in IM events at the London Olympics, with the 15-year-old pulling off a stunning comeback to take down American Elizabeth Beisel in the 400 IM in world-record time. After that, though, Ye would never win another Olympic medal. She was an occasional finalist in the medley events at major meets for the next few years, and as the defending Olympic champion in Rio de Janeiro, she took 8th in the 200 IM and 27th in the 400-meter event. She resurfaced to win two silver medals at the 2019 Worlds but then was totally absent from the Tokyo Olympics.
When it comes to swimming’s prodigies, future success is never guaranteed. With all that said, Yu is hitting these times at age 12, when most of her peers are closer in maturity to child than adolescent. She is not on pace to achieve greatness and contend for medals; simply repeating her best times in Singapore, albeit against many international veterans twice her age, will put her in the medal mix.
The preparation required to shine at national-level competitions requires significant emotional maturity, indicating that Yu is far beyond most her own age. If she can continue her momentum, those physical and mental tools give Yu a chance at upsetting the established order far earlier than anyone could have expected.
This is insane and very exciting