Who is Yu Zidi? All you need to know about youngest-ever medallist at World Aquatics Championships

Yu Zidi made history at the 2025 Chinese National Championships, held in May.

China’s Yu Zidi etched her name into history books with her supreme performance at the World Aquatics Championships 2025 in Singapore. She became the youngest-ever (12 years and 285 days) medallist at the global tournament, which took place from July 11 to August 3.

Yu achieved the record during her participation in the women’s 4×200m freestyle relay event on July 31. Her performances helped China bag a bronze medal at the prestigious tournament. 

Who is Yu Zidi?

Yu Zidi was born on October 16, 2012, in Hebei province. She began swimming at the age of six at a water amusement park. The young Chinese swimmer liked the coolness of the water when her dad took her to a water park during the summer.

Interestingly, a coach approached Yu at a swimming pool, asking her to try her hand at training. Three years later, she began training at the Hebei Taihua Jinye Swimming Club in Hengshui. Currently, she is a sixth or seventh-grade student. Olympic medallist and her current teammate, Li Bingjie, is her idol. 

How did Yu Zidi qualify for the 2025 World Aquatics Championships?

Yu Zidi made history at the 2025 Chinese National Championships, held in May. She finished the 200m individual medley with a time of 2:10.63s and won the silver medal. Notably, it was the fastest by a 12-year-old, across both genders.

Moreover, Yu posted timings of 2:06.83s and 4:35.53s in the 200m butterfly and 400m individual medley events, respectively. Interestingly, athletes must be at least 14 years old as of December 31 in the current year to compete at the World Championships or Olympic Games in swimming as per World Aquatics rules. 

Despite being under the age of 14, Yu qualified for the World Aquatics Championships after meeting the ‘A’ qualification standard based on her performance at the Chinese National Championships. The ‘A’ standard for the 200m butterfly event was 2:09.21s, while the 400m individual medley was set as 4:43.06s.

How did Yu Zidi perform at the World Aquatics Championships 2025? 

Yu Zidi participated in the 200m butterfly, 200m individual medley, 400m individual medley, and 4x200m freestyle relay events in the 2025 World Aquatics Championships.

She finished fourth in the 200m individual medley with a time of 2:09.21 seconds in the final. Meanwhile, she posted a time of 2:06.43 seconds to end in the fourth spot in the final of the 200m butterfly event. 

Yu Zidi again finished fourth in the final of the 400m individual medley with a time of 4:33.76 seconds. In the heats of the 4x200m freestyle relay event, Yu posted a time of 1:59.28 seconds in the first leg, as China was the third-fastest (7:54.06 seconds) to qualify for the final.

Although Yu Zidi did not participate in the final, she won the bronze medal as a team member. The Chinese contingent posted an overall time of 7:42.99 seconds to finish third behind Australia (7:39.35 seconds) and the United States (7:40.01 seconds).

Yu broke the record previously held by Canada’s Allison Higson, who won a bronze medal at the age of 13 years and 156 days during the women’s 200m breaststroke event in the 1986 edition. 

However, she is not the youngest athlete to compete at the World Aquatics Championships. Bahrain’s Alzain Tariq swam in the 2015 edition at the age of 10.

Has Yu Zidi qualified for the 2028 Olympics?

No, Yu Zidi has not qualified for the 2028 Olympics. She would have to achieve the Olympic qualification standards in the Chinese National Championships in 2028 to represent her nation at the upcoming Olympic Games.

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