11-Yr-Old Yu Zidi Crushes 2:09.86 200 Fly, 2:12.57 200 IM At Chinese Summer Championships

2024 CHINESE NATIONAL SUMMER CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Sunday, August 25th – Wednesday, August 28th
• Hefei, China
• LCM (50m)
• Results – via Asian media

Just under 500 athletes representing 24 teams have descended upon the city of Hefei, China for the nation’s 2024 National Summer Championships.

We reported how once-banned Olympic champion Sun Yang was among the competitors, racing in the 400m free on day one. His appearance marked his first official event in over 4 years, with his suspension lifted as of May of this year.

• Sun Yang’s Return to Racing

Sun produced a time of 3:49.58 to top the 400m free podium ahead of teammates Xu Haibo (3:50.14) and Xu Yizhou (3:51.31).

Post-race, Sun stated, “Four years away from competition, and without intensive training, I do feel rusty in controlling the tempo, and I need more competitions. But it’s a good start for my comeback, and I’m happy with this result.” (The Shanghai Daily)

While the likes of Zhang Yufei and Pan Zhanle are not competing at this 4-day competition, several other swimmers made their marks over the first 2 days.

For instance, impressive youngster Yu Zidi took the women’s 200m fly event in a monster time of 2:09.86.

Born in October 2012, Yu is just 11 years of age and already introduced herself to the world at this year’s Olympic Trials in April. There, Yu put up the following performances in a packed schedule:

• 50m free – 26.41
• 100m free – 56.32
• 200m free -2:00.32
• 400m free – 4:10.73
• 800m free – 8:45.47
• 1500m free – 16:46.40
• 100 back – 1:05.06
• 100m breast – 1:14.41
• 200m fly – 2:14.04
• 400m IM – 4:40.97
• 200m fly – 2:14.04

Note the 200m fly time of 2:14.04, a mark off which her 2:09.86 here hacked over 4 seconds. For perspective, the current U.S. national age group record for 11-12-year-old girls stands at the 2:15.02 Cassidy Bayer put on the books in 2012. That means Yu’s time is over 5 seconds faster than the fastest-ever American in that age group.

On day 2, Yu tried the women’s 200m IM on for size and doubled up with another gold medal-worthy performance.

Yu registered an effort of 2:12.57, a result which rendered the budding star just outside the top 15 Chinese performers in history.

Once again, Yu’s time would blow the current U.S. national age record to bits, coming in a full 6 seconds faster than Teagan O’Dell’s 2:18.69 from 2019.

Additional Notes

• Huang Zhiwei was the fastest men’s 200m flyer, posting a winning time of 1:57.62.
• The women’s 1500m free saw Yang Peiqi touched in 16:24.79. Yang is China’s 10th-swiftest performer all-time in this event, owning a PB of 16:09.68 from 2023.
• Wang Gukailai grabbed gold in the men’s 100m back, turning in a time of 54.62. That’s just over half a second off his 54.00 PB from what he posted at the 2023 Asian Games.
• Zhu Leiju topped the women’s 200m breast podium in a result of 2:24.66 while Liu Junjie won the men’s edition in 2:14.04.
• The men’s 50m free saw He Junyi touche first, hitting a time of 22.29 for a new personal best. He now ties You Tianyu as China’s 13th-best performer of all time.
• Yang Wenwen got it done for gold in the women’s 50m free, producing 25.56.
• Xu Yizhou was the men’s 800m free victor in a time of 7:57.37, a time which renders him just outside the top 15 Chinese performers in history.
• Chen Nuo logged a result of 2:00.53 to take the men’s 200m IM.
• Ai Yanhan posted a winning time of 4:08.49 as the women’s 400m free gold medalist.