Yu Zidi Expands Event Lineup, Claims 400 Free Victory On Day 3 of Chinese Nationals

2026 CHINESE NATIONAL SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Tuesday, June 16 – Sunday, June 21, 2026
• Hangzhou, China
• LCM (50 meters)
• Live Results
• Daily Recaps: Day 1 | Day 2

After winning the 200 fly and placing 2nd in the 200 IM through the first two days of competition, Yu Zidi continued her impressive run of performances on Day 3 of the Chinese National Swimming Championships in Hangzhou.

The 13-year-old prodigy won the women’s 400 freestyle in a massive lifetime best of 4:05.06, ranking her 13th in the world this season and 13th all-time among Chinese women.

Coming into the meet, Yu owned a personal best time of 4:10.73, set back in 2024 when she was still 11, and she had lowered that to 4:09.79 in the prelims on Thursday.

Yu won the event with Asian Record holder and pre-race favorite Li Bingjie withdrawing from the final due to illness, according to Chinese News and Swimming Results on X. Li clocked 4:10.32 in the prelims, which qualified her 3rd into the final before the scratch.

Placing 2nd to Yu was Tang Muhan, who closed strong over the final 50 in 28.98 to clock 4:06.08, just shy of the 4:05.51 season-best she set in March. Fifteen-year-old Fan Yaqi rounded out the podium in 4:06.74 after setting a PB of 4:05.40 earlier this year.

At the beginning of Thursday night’s session, there was fireworks in the women’s 100 freestyle, as the top five finishers were separated by less than half a second and the top four were all within 21 one-hundredths.

Despite sitting back in 6th place at the halfway mark, Yu Yiting powered to victory in a personal best time of 53.43, an impressive showing just 24 hours after breaking the Asian Record in the 200 IM.

Yu, 20, split 26.15/27.28 en route to the win, lowering the 53.86 best time she set in the prelims. Coming into the meet, her PB stood at 54.04 from March 2025.

She also moves into 12th in the world this season.

The bunched-up final saw Cheng Yujie (53.48), Wu Qingfeng (53.61) and Zhang Yufei (53.64) nab top-four spots and a berth on China’s 4×100 free relay at the Asian Games, while Yang Wenwen made it five women sub-54 in 53.92. Of the 2nd through 5th-place finishers, Yang was the only one setting a new PB, though they all hit new season-bests.

China now has five women ranked in the world’s top 20 this season.

Notably making the 100 free final and placing 7th was the 15-year-old Fan, who clocked 54.36 prior to her 3rd-place finish in the 400 free later in the session.

OTHER EVENTS

• Wang Shun followed up his win in the men’s 200 IM on the opening day of racing by claiming the 400 IM on Thursday in a time of 4:13.93, improving on his season-best of 4:14.90 set at the Chinese National Games in November, though he stands pat at 19th in the world rankings. The 32-year-old won the event comfortably over Gu Enyi, 18, who dropped four-tenths off his best time in 4:17.83.
• Peng Xuwei nearly set a new personal best en route to dominating the women’s 200 back final in 2:06.71, with Yang Ruoxi (2:09.01) and Sun Mingxia (2:09.06) taking 2nd and 3rd. Peng improved on her season-best of 2:07.74 set in November, though she remains 4th in the world rankings, and she just missed out on her personal best of 2:06.54 set in 2025. Both Yang and Sun have been slightly faster than the 2:09.0s they produced, owning best times in the 2:08-range.
• Fei Liwei pulled away from Zhang Zhanshuo on the back half of the men’s 1500 freestyle to secure the victory in a time of 14:55.87, inching under his season-best of 14:56.08 set in November. Fei, the 2022 Asian Games champion in the 1500 free, owns a personal best of 14:46.59, set in 2023. Zhang, 19, clocked 15:02.87 to place 2nd, having set a personal best of 14:51.93 earlier this year.
• Zhejiang Shouxian Valley won the men’s 4×100 medley relay in impressive fashion behind the formidable squad of Xu Jiayu (52.51), Sun Zheyang (1:00.65), Hong Jinquan (53.17) and Pan Zhanle (47.44). We also saw notable splits from Dong Zhihao on breast (58.33) and Zhao Jiayue on free (47.78) for the runner-up team.