13-Year-Old 2:31 200 Breaststroker Pimchanok Chinveeraphan: Thailand’s Breakout Star

2025 Southeast Asian Games

• December 10-15, 2025
• Sport of Authority of Thailand Pool, Bangkok
• LCM (50m)
• Results

The SEA Games has shone a spotlight on a diverse range of athletes from the Southeast Asian region. Yesterday, we reported on how 33-year-old Ting Wen Quah became Singapore’s most decorated athlete with a 100 fly gold.

Now, we bring news from the other side of the age spectrum. The Games’ host, Thailand, has an emerging star in 13-year-old Pimchanok Chinveeraphan. The middle school-aged girl earned silver in the 200 breaststroke final with a head-turning 2:31.50, finishing only behind University of Michigan’s Letitia Sim.

This is Chineeraphan’s first major international medal, but it’s not her best time. That still stands at 2:31.15 from Thailand’s trials meet in August.

To put this time in perspective, here’s how her 2:31s fare against age group talents from swimming’s biggest powerhouse countries.

First, her 2:31 outings beat any 13- or 14- year-old girl in the U.S. from the 2024-25 season. Lexi D’Amico, who is one year Chinveeraphan’s senior, held the top spot for 13-14 American girls this year at 2:32.09.

In the past 10 years, only one American 13-year-old girl has swum the 200 breast swifter than 2:31.15: Hannah Marinovich in 2020. The next fastest is the event’s reigning Olympic Champion, Kate Douglass, who registered a 2:31.37 at 13 years old in 2016.

Speaking of Olympic Champions, Chinveeraphan falls less than two seconds short of the 2:29.46 that American Amanda Beard went at 13 years of age. Beard would go on to win gold the following year at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Looking to Australia, where Chinveeraphan spent her earliest years before moving back to Thailand, she is faster than the age record holder there. Olympia Pope holds that title at 2:31.71 from 2022.

We can’t talk about 13-year-old phenoms without mentioning China’s Yu Zidi. Though not a breaststroker, Zidi did register a 1:12.98 100 breast at the Chinese National Championships earlier this year. Chinveeraphan was out faster than this on the first 100 of her SEA Games race, splitting 1:12.95 before coming back in 1:18.55.

This was the only event Chinveerapahn was set to swim in Bangkok this week. However, she is likely to be a name we’ll see at more international championships at the rate she’s going. She sits less than two seconds off her country’s 2:29.58 national record at 13. 

See the full recap of today’s SEA Games here.