Yang Peiqi Clocks 4:05.38 In 400 Freestyle to Break World Juniors Championship Record

2025 World Junior Swimming Championships

• August 19-24, 2025
• Otopeni, Romania
• LCM (50 meters)
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  • Prelims: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4
  • Finals: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4

GIRLS’ 400 FREESTYLE – Finals

• World Record: 3:54.18 – Summer McIntosh, CAN (2025)
• World Junior Record: 3:56.08 – Summer McIntosh, CAN (2023)
• Championship Record: 4:05.42 – Lani Pallister, AUS (2019)

Top 8

1. Yang Peiqi (CHN) – 4:05.38
2. Tiaoshan Yan (CHN) – 4:05.80
3. Kennedi Dobson (USA) – 4:06.66
4. Agostina Hein (ARG) – 4:07.06
5. Sofia Diakova (NAB) – 4:07.14
6. Ella Cosgrove (CAN) – 4:10.89
7. Kseniia Misharina (NAB) – 4:14.29
8. Brinkleigh Hansen (USA) – 4:15.75

China’s Yang Peiqi picked up her third gold medal of the World Junior Championships in championship record fashion. The 18-year-old stopped the clock in 4:05.38, though her best time in the 400 free is almost three seconds faster—she logged 4:02.53 at the Chinese National Championships in May. Her swim erased the six-year-old championship record of 4:05.42 set by Australia’s Lani Pallister back in 2019.

Yang’s swim follows up her wins in the 800 free and 4×200 free relay earlier in the meet, with the individual 200 free left on her schedule.

Yang had the lead after the 100 and was the first to touch the wall at the finish, but she took a roundabout way to get there. Out in 59.04, the Chinese star led Argentina’s Agostina Hein by 0.05 and NAB athlete Sofia Diakova by 0.22. Yang, however, quickly slipped to 3rd as USA’s Kennedi Dobson asserted her authority over the field.

Dobson was tied for 4th a quarter of the way through the race, equal with China’s Yan Tiaoshan, with the pair flipping at 59.30. From there, the American held 31-lows and even a 30-high to gain control of the race, opening up a lead of 0.16 at the 200 (2:01.64 to Diakova’s 2:01.80). By the 300, the lead had opened up to 0.40 over Diakova, but Dobson couldn’t match Yang’s change in pace as she went 30.70 and 30.28 on the last 100 to take the win, moving up from 3rd to 1st on the penultimate 50.

Her compatriot, Yan, used a similarly strong last 100, splitting 30.82 and 30.34 to move from 4th to 2nd, stopping the clock in 4:05.80. Dobson, closing in 31.38 and 31.39, had to settle for bronze in 4:06.66 after leading for much of the race, but should still be very happy with the result as it appears to be a new personal best by nearly three seconds.

Yang competed at the World Championships in Singapore last month, where she touched 7th in the 400 free (4:06.47), 8th in the 1500 free (16:04.93), and 9th in the 800 free (8:27.89). She also helped the Chinese quartet to bronze in the 4×200 free relay, splitting 1:55.84 on the second leg.

She has accumulated significant experience on the senior international level, despite being only 18. At the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, she touched 20th in the 800 free (8:37.16) and 4th in the 4×200 free relay, where she only swam in prelims.

At the Asian Games, held less than two months after those Worlds, she nabbed bronze in the 800 free (8:35.47) and gold in the 4×200 free relay.

At the lightly-attended 2024 Doha Worlds, she touched 6th in both the 400 (4:05.73) and 1500 (16:13.08) free and helped China win gold in the 4×200 free relay, anchoring in 1:56.18. She failed to make the grade for the Chinese Olympic team for the Paris Games last summer.