Olympian Yu Yiting Flourishing Under Former Aussie Coach Michael Bohl’s Guidance

2026 CHINESE NATIONAL SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

The 2026 Chinese National Swimming Championships saw multiple impressive performances take place on day four of the competition, including another lifetime best at the hands of Olympian Yu Yiting.

20-year-old Yu delivered a head-turning time of 56.67 to earn silver in the women’s 100m fly event, finishing just .03 behind 6-time Paris Olympic medalist Zhang Yufei. Zhang hit 56.64 to eke out the gold, while Gong Zhenqi rounded out the podium in 57.29.

Entering this competition, Yu’s lifetime best in this 1fly event rested at the 56.82 she established at the 2024 Chinese Nationals. That means tonight’s outing sliced .15 off that former PB to add this event to the versatile star’s lineup for this year’s Asian Games.

But a new PB is par for the course recently for Olympic medalist Yu after teaming up with storied Australian coach Michael Bohl, who has been stationed in China since 2025. We reported at that time how Bohl, then recently retired from a longtime tenure at Griffith University, had accepted a new coaching post in the Asian nation and has been there ever since.

Fueled by Bohl’s expertise, Yu has been tearing up her personal record list at this competition, nailing new benchmarks across the 100m free, 50m breast, 100m fly and 200m IM, the latter of which registered a new Asian record.

Below is a rundown of the versatile ace’s siege in Hangzhou, with her former and new PB’s listed alongside her new ranking among all-time Chinese performers.

Event Previous PB New PB New Rank Among CHN Swimmers
100m free 54.04 53.43 8th
50m breast 31.09 30.45 3rd
100m fly 56.82 56.67 4th
200m IM 2:07.75 2:06.82 1st

Yu’s progression is extremely promisiing given the fact that the 2026 Asian Games are on the horizon, with action beginning in September from host nation Japan. We’ll see what the budding ace has in-store against the likes of not only her domestic competitors, but also against Japanese weapons Satomi Suzuki, Rikako Ikee, Mio Narita and Mizuki Hirai.

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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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