ICYMI: 12-Yr-Old Yu Zidi Crushes 2:12.52 Women’s 200 IM At Chinese Trials

2025 CHINESE NATIONAL SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

The 2025 Chinese National Swimming Championships kicked off today from Shenzhen with swimmers vying for the chance to represent the nation at this summer’s World Championships.

With big guns such as Zhang Yufei, Sun Yang, Qin Haiyang, Yu Yiting and Pan Zhanle in the water, you might have missed a monstrous swim which took place at the hands of 12-year-old Yu Zidi.

Racing in tonight’s semi-finals of the women’s 200m IM, Yu fired off a huge personal best of 2:12.52 to put her name into the fold for possible Singapore qualification.

She secured the 3rd seed behind Yu Yiting who registered 2:10.56 followed by Ye Shiwen who notched 2:11.92.

As for Yu Zidi, the 12-year-old’s time destroyed her previous personal best of 2:14.04 registered at last year’s edition of this meet.

Yu split 27.80/34.11/39.43/31.18 to nab the 3rd seed and establish herself as the fastest 12-year-old female (or male, for that matter) in history.

For perspective, Yu’s swim obliterated the current U.S. National Age Group Records for girls and boys.

Teagan O’Dell owns the girls’ NAG at 2:18.69 while Richard Poplawski owns the boys in 2:13.59.

This caliber of performance is par for the course for Yu, building on her breakout times established at the 2024 Chinese Nationals.

You can review Yu’s head-turning performances from last year here, as we keep an eye on what this emerging talent accomplishes this time around, including in tomorrow night’s 200m IM final.

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Jonathan
19 days ago

No way she’s actually 12.

Sharon
Reply to  Jonathan
15 days ago

? What is the point of lowering an athlete’s age

Ivy
19 days ago

McIntosh vs Zidi vs Derivaux vs O’Dell is going to go off in LA

Troyy
Reply to  Ivy
19 days ago

Yu’s already faster than Derivaux and O’Dell

Cayley Guimarães
19 days ago

You guys keep forgetting how good Ye Shiwen was

Carlo
Reply to  Cayley Guimarães
19 days ago

She was, but not at 12 years old.

And Yu Zidi is good at a crazy amount of events.

Last edited 19 days ago by Carlo
Troyy
19 days ago

Really didn’t expect another super talent to come along so soon after Summer.

Rafael
19 days ago

2:10:63 at final

Troyy
19 days ago

She just went 2:10.63 in the final. I’m a bit in shock.

Jordan
Reply to  Troyy
19 days ago

and a 14 yo nearing breaking 1.48 in 200m free.

Swimmer
Reply to  Troyy
19 days ago

Umm, WTF – Literally would have won the European title in 2022

Tencor
Reply to  Troyy
19 days ago

If she learns a proper back-to-breast turn she is capable of breaking 2:10

fr11
19 days ago

where can i find the video of this

Bathtub froth connoisseur
19 days ago

No bath tubs in china

About Retta Race

Former Masters swimmer and coach Loretta (Retta) thrives on a non-stop but productive schedule. Nowadays, that includes having earned her MBA while working full-time in IT while owning French 75 Boutique while also providing swimming insight for BBC.

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