2026 ASIAN GAMES
- September 19th โ October 4th
- Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan
- LCM (50m)
- Meet Central
The 2026 Asian Games are headed to Nagoya, Japan beginning in September and we now know who will be representing the nation of China at the prestigious international competition.
A lineup of 21 females and 19 males have been selected by the Chinese Swimming Federation, primarily based on performances put up at last week’s National Championships, as well as the China Open earlier this Spring.
The former competition saw a quartet of Chinese national records go down, including the following:
- Xu Jiayu – men’s 50m back (23.92)
- Wang Changhao – men’s 50m fly (23.21)
- Xu Fang – men’s 100m fly (50.73)
- Yu Yiting – women’s 200m IM (2:06.82)
The women’s portion of the roster is stacked with veteran talent to the tune of Olympic medalistsย Zhang Yufei, Wang Xueer andย Li Bingjie but also boasts 13-year-old phenomย Yu Zidi. Yu made major noise last year as the youngest swimmer ever World Championships medalist and the teen has continued to be electric ever since.
The men’s lineup also has its share of racing mainstays, including Olympic medalistsย Wang Shun, Xu Jiayu andย Pan Zhanle. The on-fire freestylerย Zhang Zhanshuo will also be among those looking to make his mark.
China dominated the swimming medal table at the previous edition of the Asian Games, originally scheduled for 2022 but actually held in 2023 due to prolonged COV-19 concerns. There in Hanzhou, China amassed 58 total medals, more than double runners-up Korea, with the haul including a remarkable 28 golds.
Among the medalists, Xu swept the men’s backstroke events, Qin Haiyang topped all three breaststroke podiums and Pan collected four individual event medals, including 100m free gold.
Li was unstoppable in the women’s 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle races, as Zhang earned gold across the women’s 50m/100m/200m fly events.
Female Roster Members – 21
Zhang Yufei
Li Bingjie
Tang Qianting
Cheng Yujie
Yu Yiting
Yang Peiqi
Wu Qingfeng
Liu Yaxin
Wan Letian
Peng Xuwei
Yu Zidi
Yang Chang
Wang Xueer
Li Jiaping
Gao Weizhong
Fan Yaqi
Li Wanwei
Sun Mingxia
Chang Mohan
Lyu Qinyao
Ke Winxi
Male Roster Members – 19
Wang Shun
Pan Zhanle
Xu Jiayu
Qin Haiyang
Wang Changhao
Dong Zhihao
Zhang Zhanshuo
Wang Haoyu
Fei Liwei
Zhao Jiayue
Xu Haibo
Wang Zicheng
Jiang Chenglin
Song Borui
Xu Fang
Wang Xizhe
Liu Junjie
Wang Junteng
Gu Enyi
Does China ever compete at Pan Pacs?
They sent small team to 2014 Pan Pacs.
Since Pan Pacs usually fall on the same year as Asian Games, they pretty much don’t care about Pan Pacs.
Looking forward to Zhang Zhanshuo clocking 2 Asian record:
men’s 200 and 400 freestyle (potentially WR for the latter??)
and Yu Zidi breaking women’s 400 IM Asian record
I mean, Asain Record in 400 FR is only 0.18 off WR so that would be more likely unless Martens/Short break it before Asain Games.
Actually no, Daniel Wiffen did say he would win euros and commonwealths so it will be him then ๐
Nobody in 2024 would be predicting a 13 year old would take the header over Pan. but here we are.
You never know when they pop up. Who were Ruta, Missy, Sjostrom or Ledecky when they popped up on the radar. 13 is REALLY young, but when Summer popped up at the senior level at 14, the announcer kept calling her Summer Mortimer in the race video while she beat the members of the world record junior 4×200 relay, she exceeded expectations in Tokyo for a little girl, now look at her.Yu is already faster than Katie Hoff, scary. Audrey Deriveaux made big noise in the 400 IM at that age, but her progression seems to have stalled in the last couple of years. Michael Andrew’s was unreal as a teen. You never really know where they come from or… Read more ยป