Yu Zidi Wins Three Golds, Smashes Records at Chinese National Swimming Championships

Chinese swimming prodigy Yu Zidi made national headlines once again after winning three gold medals while smashing personal best times in five different events at the Chinese National Swimming Championships last week.

Topping her achievements was a four minutes and 30.79 seconds swim to clinch the women’s 400m individual medley final at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Stadium last Friday, beating the previous tournament record – held by Ye Shiwen since 2014 – by a mere 0.05 seconds.

Yu’s time was the eighth fastest in world history, and the second fastest in the world this season, behind only world record-holder Summer McIntosh, when the Canadian threw down a time of 4:27.31 at the Longhorn Elite Invite in Austin earlier this month.

It was noteworthy that the 13-year-old Yu also sliced more than 2.5 seconds off her previous best of 4:33.33, which was set at the China Open Swimming Championships only in March.

Her splits comparison also reflected that the teenage sensation was a second faster on butterfly, just under two seconds quicker on backstroke, and almost three-quarters of a second faster on breaststroke. However, the youngster was just a second slower on the final 100m when she swam in freestyle.

In other events, Yu also snatched gold in the 200m butterfly in 2:06.12, as well as in the 400m freestyle, in a new personal best time of 4:05.06.