13-year-old Yu helps China dominate in Asian Games swimming openers
Yu Zidi took gold in the women's 200m butterfly with a record time on Sunday as China won six of the day's seven finals.
China's Zidi Yu competes in a heat of the women's 200m butterfly swimming event during the 2026 Asian Games at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre in Tokyo on Sep 20, 2026. (Photo: AFP/Yuichi Yamazaki)
TOKYO: Thirteen-year-old prodigy Yu Zidi announced herself at the Asian Games in stunning style with gold in a record time on Sunday (Sep 20) as China dominated swimming's opening day in Tokyo.
Olympic champion Pan Zhanle also topped the podium as China won six of the day's seven finals.
Yu is hotly tipped to make an impact at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and she got off the mark at the Asian Games with a comprehensive victory in the women's 200m butterfly.
Her time of 2:05.08 was an Asian Games record, shaving almost half a second off the time set by compatriot Zhang Yufei three years ago in Hangzhou.
The teenager's time in winning her first major gold medal was 3.36 seconds faster than teammate Chang Mohan in silver.
It was the first of three individual events Yu is scheduled to compete in.
"It was only so-so," a smiling Yu said after receiving her medal.
"I hope I can swim even faster. I improved my time by 0.9 seconds here, and I believe I will perform better next time."
Yu had earlier breezed through her heat for the event, qualifying for the final with the fastest time in 2:07.97.
It was 2.7 seconds quicker than the second-fastest qualifier, Chinese compatriot Chang Mohan.
Yu became the youngest swimming world championships medallist in history last year when she won bronze as a 12-year-old as part of China's 4x200m freestyle relay team.
She also finished a whisker outside the medals in fourth in three world individual events.
She has embellished her growing reputation this year, notably with a victory over multiple American Olympic champion Regan Smith in March.
But she said her "technique is still slightly lacking" after crushing the field in her Asian Games debut.
"I need to lower my head earlier, reach farther forward and improve the movement of my legs," she said.
PAN "MAGIC"
Pan won gold in the men's 100m freestyle, the event in which he won gold and set a new world record at the Paris Olympics.
It was a close-run thing and he finished in 46.61 seconds, 0.04 seconds ahead of South Korea's Kim Young-beom.
South Korea's Hwang Sun-woo was third, 0.18 seconds behind Pan.
"In the last one metre I felt I would lose," said Pan.
"It's magic, maybe."
Pan is looking to rebound from a disappointing world championships last year in Singapore, where he failed to make the final in either the 100m or 200m freestyle.
"Today was a big competition again, in Asia and the world, so I was a little bit nervous," he said.
"I think this is good for my training, my future."
There were also individual golds for China's Tang Qianting in the women's 50m breaststroke, Xu Jiayu in the men's 100m backstroke and Li Bingjie in the women's 1,500m freestyle.
Singapore's Gan Ching Hwee took silver behind Li in the women's 1,500m freestyle in a new national record time of 16:00.45 while also breaking the national 800m freestyle record.
China completed an impressive night by winning the women's 4x100m freestyle relay.
Tomoyuki Matsushita prevented a Chinese clean sweep when he took gold for Japan in the men's 200m individual medley in a time of 1min 55.30 seconds.
Matsushita needed to dig deep to overhaul Yumeki Kojima on the final straight, but he got there by a fingertip, beating his countryman by 0.06 seconds.
"When I turned at the 50m mark I thought I had it won but then I was overtaken," said Matsushita.
"I knew I had to take it down to the final touch and I managed to stretch a little farther than Yumeki."
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