Yu Zidi from China is only 12 years old and will race at the World Swiming Championships later this month in Singapore.
But her age is only part of the photo.
She is not only very young, but her times in three events this year are among the best in the world. And here is the kicker. Those times would have been very close to the medals in the Paris Olympic Games last year.
Again, she is 12. That is a student of the sixth or seventh grade, depending on the school system. Not a teenager yet.
“I think it’s a great story. I don’t know where it will lead,” Greg Meehan, the national team director for the American Squad in Singapore, told The Associated Press.
As promising young swimmers do, Yu clocks almost every time she competes personal records. Her PBS are more than just trust boosters, they brought her to the sight of records, medals and star.
Yu has qualified in the individual medleys of 200 and 400 meters and the 200 butterfly. She could win a medal in all three.
Her time of 2 minutes, 10.63 seconds in the 200 IM at the Chinese championships in May was the fastest ever by a 12-year-old swimmer mine or female, according to World Aquatics, the worldwide administrative body of the sport.
That was only the beginning. Her time of 2: 06.83 in the 200 butterfly in the same meeting would have placed her fourth at last year’s Olympic Games last year. It was the fifth fastest time in the world this year and would have been good enough for gold in the worlds of 2024.
Again, Yu is 12 years old.
To close the national championships, she swam 4: 35.53 in the 400 IM, the fifth fastest time of the year in that event. That would also have been good for fourth place last year at the Olympic Games, only 0.6 behind bronze medal winner Emma Weyant of the United States.
The 400 IM is dominated by the 18-year-old Canadian Summer McINTOSHWHO Holds the world record From 4: 23.65 and the 200 IM Mark from 2: 05.70. She is a generation talent, the winner of three gold medals in Paris.
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For comparison: Yu at 12 swims about 15 seconds faster in the 400 im Dan McINTOSH at 12, and about 12 seconds faster in the 200 IM. In a 50 -meter swimming pool, 12 to 15 seconds would be half a round of the swimming pool, depending on the event.
Yu is not the first young swimmer to excel, but it’s how she does it – the wonderful times and the promise of more that are coming.
Of course there are no guarantees for success and young swimmers can burn out.
