13-Yr-Old Yu Zidi Beats Regan Smith In 200 Fly Battle At 2026 China Swimming Open

2026 CHINA SWIMMING OPEN

• March 19th – March 22nd
• Longgang Universiade Center Natatorium, Shenzhen, China
• LCM (50m)
• Psych Sheets
• Results
• Livestream

Day one of the 2026 China Swimming Open brought the heat, with domestic swimmers taking on athletes visiting from the United States, Australia, Europe and beyond across the four-day competition.

Already we saw a national record bite the dust, as 22-year-old Chinese ace Tang Qianting established a new lifetime best of 29.44 en route to winning the women’s 50m breaststroke.

That, along with her prelims performance of 29.49, erased her former PB of 24.51 notched for silver at the 2024 World Championships, a benchmark which sat as the Asian record entering this competition.

Tang now ranks #1 in the world at the moment, owning the only sub-30-second time on the globe.

In a remarkable showdown unfolded between 13-year-old phenom Yu Zidi of the host nation and multi-Olympic medalist Regan Smith of the U.S. in the women’s 200m butterfly.

The pair were separated by just over half a second when all was said and done, with Yu ripping a monster lifetime best of 2:05.71 and Smith settling for silver in 2:06.23.

Yu’s teammate Chang Joha rounded out the podium in 2:07.16.

As for Yu, who at 12 years old last year in Singapore became the youngest-ever World Championships medalist, the youngster’s 2:05.71 erased her former career-swiftest performance of 2:06.43 notched for 4th place at the meet. That means she hacked .71 off that previous PB to take down her American counterpart in this evening’s final.

Entering this competition, Yu ranked 7th among the all-time Chinese performers in this 2fly but her outing here bumps her up to now become the 5th-best in history.

Top 5 Chinese Women’s LCM 200 Butterfly Performers All-Time

1. Liu Zige – 2:01.81, 2009
2. Zhang Yufei – 2:03.86, 2021
3. Jiao Liuyang – 2:04.06, 2012
4. Jie Gong – 2:05.38, 2012
5. Yu Zidi – 2:05.71, 2026

Yu remains ranked 4th in the world, while Smith’s season-best of 2:05.29 from January has her stationed in the #2 slot.

28-year-old multi-Olympic medalist Siobhan Haughey of Hong Kong raced the women’s 100m freestyle where she fired off a huge swim of 52.79 to grab the gold.

The former University of Michigan Wolverine registered one of two sub-53-second swims of the evening, with Aussie Olympic champion Mollie O’Callaghan joining her under the barrier just a fingernail behind in 52.80.

American Kate Douglass also landed on the podium, posting 53.40 as tonight’s bronze medalist. Additional results included Shayna Jack of Australia turning in a time of 53.89 and U.S. ace Gretchen Walsh delivering a mark of 54.02.

As for Haughey, the versatile athlete opened in 25.39 and closed in 27.40 to put up a time which falls just outside the list of her top 10 personal best performances. She owns the Hong Kong national and Asian continental record she put on the books during the 2023 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup series.

MOC’s splits here included 25.76/27.04 to fall just short of gold as she made a run at Haughey on the back half.

Haughey’s result was just off her season-best of 52.77 notched at the Dubai Open last month. MOC’s time ranks her 3rd in the world, although fellow Olympic medalist Meg Harris sits as the fastest Australian thus far.

Additional Women’s Notes

• 24-year-old Li Bingjie of China was too quick to catch in the 800m freestyle with the Asian record holder busting out a mark of 8:16.27, the 4th-swiftest performance of her career. That held a healthy advantage over Lani Pallister of Australia who settled for silver in 8:19.09 as Yang Peiqi posted 8:19.53. Li has earned multiple international medals in this distance event, capturing World Championships bronze in 2017 and silver in 2022. Last year in Singapore she snagged silver in both the 200m and 400m free events.
• Wan Letian turned in a time of 27.42 as a near-lifetime best in the 50m back, with Smith once again relegated to silver. Smith hit 27.53 in the tight contest and Wang Xueer delivered 27.88 for 3rd place. Walsh was next to the wall in 27.93 for 4th place.

Making a statement in his very first swim of this competition, 18-year-old Zhang Zhanshuo crushed a new lifetime best en route to winning a stacked men’s 200m freestyle final.

The teen split 24.43/26.57 (51.00)/27.00/26.53 to keep German 400m free World Record holder Lukas Märtens at bay.

24-year-old Olympic champion Märtens was the next athlete to touch, posting 1:45.22 and Australia’s William Petric scored the bronze in 1:46.14. Of note, 100m free World Record holder Pan Zhanlewas also in the race, catching 4th place in 1:46.74.

Entering this competition, Zhang’s career-best mark sat at the 1:44.86 nabbed at last November’s Chinese National Games. That competition saw Zhang win four individual golds spanning the 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle events.

While Märtens’ lifetime best remains at the 1:44.14 logged two years ago, 21-year-old Petric’s bronze medal-worthy performance represents a monster personal best, easily overtaking his previous PB of 1:47.00 from last November’s Japan Open. Petric is inserting himself into the conversation of the Aussie men’s 4x200m freestyle relay mix.

21-year-old Pieter Coetze of South Africa got his nation on the board, courtesy of his victory in the men’s 50m backstroke.

Coetze clocked a time of 24.83 as the sole swimmer to delve under the 25-second threshold. Although it was far off his PB and African record of 24.17, it was enough to beat both Thomas Ceccon of Italy and Kliment Kolesnikov of Russia.

The former executed a swim of 25.01 and the latter notched 25.02.

Additional Men’s Notes

• The men’s 200m fly saw Xu Fang grab the gold in a time of 1:55.08, over a second ahead of the pack. Two of his countrymen comprised the minor medals, with Chen Juner next to the wall in 1:56.20 followed by Wang Xizhe‘s outing of 1:56.56. Xu is coming off setting a career-quickest benchmark of 1:54.74 at last November’s Chinese National Games to rank as the nation’s 4th-best performer of all time.
• 2024 world champion Dong Zhihao got it done for gold in the men’s 50m breast, stopping the clock at 27.26 to narrowly defeat Zheng Yinghao. Zheng settled for silver just .06 behind in 27.32 and fellow Chinese athlete Liu Junjie rounded out the podium in 27.45. Of note, Australian speedster Kyle Chalmers nabbed 6th place in a time of 27.91 this evening.