The fastest 12-year-old ever

Borneo Post

a day ago

Yu competes in a semi-final of the women's 200m individual medley swimming event during the 2025 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore on July 27, 2025. – AFP photo
THE recent World Aquatics Championships in Singapore signalled the arrival of a potential future superstar. A 12-year-old schoolgirl is knocking on the door of top-notch swimming with a dazzling, precocious prowess not seen in a long while – a special talent, not fully polished as yet, but already verging towards swimming greatness at a tender age.
I wish I could say she is Malaysian – better still, Sarawakian. Unfortunately, that would be flying in the face of reality. We still have a long way to go, don't we?
The pre-teen global swimming phenom in question is Yu Zidi from Baoding, a city in Hebei Province, China. Many of her age would still be competing in age-group meets, but she has stepped up from the novice ranks with a prowess far beyond her years to become the youngest-ever medallist at the Singapore meet as part of the bronze-winning Chinese women's 4x200m freestyle relay team. Though she did not compete in the final, she received a medal for swimming in the qualifying race. Australia won the gold medal ahead of the US.
Yu is the youngest person to win a medal at a major competition since 1936. Swimming governing body World Aquatics has a minimum age rule for world championships, requiring swimmers to be at least 14 unless their times meet qualification marks. Yu qualifies as her times are fast enough.
I have no idea what it's like to compete abroad. I really want to experience the world-class competition. The World Championship was fun. I was really excited to join the relay. It felt great,' she told Xinhua.
Denmark's Inge Sorensen remains the youngest individual Olympic medallist by way of a 200m breaststroke bronze medal at the 1936 Berlin Games. She was 12 years and 24 days old at the time (according to Olympics.com).
Japan's Kyoko Iwasaki is the youngest swimmer ever to claim an Olympic title, winning the 200m breaststroke gold medal in Barcelona (1992), at age 14 years and six days.
Yu, who trains at the Hebei Taihua Jinye Swimming Club, showed her tremendous potential at the Chinese National Championships in May, clocking 2:10.63 in the 200IM (Individual Medley) to win a silver medal and setting a world record in the event for any 12-year-old – male or female, according to World Aquatics.
The current 200IM world record is 2:05.70, set by Canada's Summer McIntosh on June 10, 2025, at 18 – six years older than Yu. The Canadian star won four gold medals in Singapore, including the 400IM in 4:25.78. for a new Championships record. Though Yu came in fourth in this event, she is already swimming 15 seconds faster than McIntosh at the same age – 4:33.76s vs the Canadian's 4:50.21s.
In her country's National Championship this year, Yu also swam the 200m butterfly in 2:06.83s and the 400IM in 4:35.53s which are among the best in the world and would have been very close to medals in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Her time in the 200m butterfly is the fifth-fastest in the world this year and good enough for fourth in Paris and for gold in the 2024 World Championship. Her 400IM time is also the fifth-fastest of the year, which would have been good enough as well for fourth place in Paris just 0.6s behind US bronze medallist Emma Weyant. And Yu is only 12!
In Singapore, the Chinese prodigy came within a whisker of a podium finish in the three events, missing the medals by 0.06 seconds in the 200IM – 0.31 seconds in the 200m butterfly and 0.50 seconds in the 400IM.
Not even a teenager yet, the Chinese sixth grader's stunning performances, has left many wondering how she might shape competitive swimming in the future. While Yu is not the first young swimmer to excel, it's the way she is doing that has caught fire – the impressive times and the promise of further improvements. To that end, she has given advanced notice of what's to come with a clear resolve: 'I hope to swim faster.
Of course, success cannot be taken for granted, and young swimmers are not immune to burnout, prompting some sports commentators to caution against overhyping the pre-teen rising star.
The Shanghai Observer editorialised: 'Yu's sudden fame may expose her to 'disproportionate' pressure that could keep her from achieving her full potential. We must let this 12-year-old grow her splash slowly into a wave. There is no need to rush into hero worship.
This cautious approach echoes similar warnings from some top track stars against pushing the Australian young sprinting star, Gout Gout, too hard and too fast. Burnout is a concern being discussed and addressed by his team to shield the promising sprinter from emotional, physical and mental exhaustion that could come with the pressures of high public expectations.
While Gout Gout has been compared to Usain Bolt, some commentators have called for him to be given time to develop mental resilience and manage expectations to avoid burnout. He is expected to compete at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow next year and the World Junior Championships in Oregon.
The push for gold medals can be as stressful for star athletes as the intensity of public scrutiny and the unrelenting glare of the media, often wearing out athletes prematurely.
Pan Zhanle, a Chinese Olympic champion and current world 100M freestyle record holder, was applauded for disbanding his official fan group after being overwhelmed by unbridled fans' attention following his success at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Sports prodigies naturally attract followers, and fan groups could also be a concern for Yu in the future, cautioned Zhang. However, he pointed out that it may not be a good thing if Yu is living in isolation,' noting that learning to interact with the media is a necessary part of an athlete's development.
Other concerned quarters commended the Chinese media for covering Yu in a restrained tone, saying, just let the kid stay focused on training.
Meanwhile, Malaysia's run at the Singapore World Aquatics Championships ended on a subdued note.
The country's top swimmer Khiew Hoe Yean created a personal wave by producing a season's best of 1:48.10s in the 200m freestyle to better the 1:48.68s he clocked at the World University Games in Berlin earlier this month. But that could only earn him a 31st spot overall from 59 swimmers in the prelims, ruling him out of the top 16 for the semifinals.
The 22-year-old from Kuala Lumpur was reportedly fighting jet lag after rushing back from the German capital, but, to his credit, still managed to improve on his time, considering.
The Malaysian 200m freestyle record stands at 1:47.3s, set by Kuching-born Welson Sim Wee Sheng in 2017. Welson is also the first Malaysian to qualify for the men's 400m freestyle at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
The current men's 200m freestyle (long course) world record is 1:42.00s, set by Paul Biedermann of Germany in 2009.
Hoe Yean also posted 50.77s in the 100m freestyle to finish seventh in the heats, not enough to advance to the next round.
Another Malaysian swimmer Jayden Tan clocked a season's best of 2:07.07s to finish ninth in the men's 200IM heats – slightly faster than the 2:07.11s he recorded at the World University Games in Berlin two weeks earlier.
'I'd rate it eight out of 10. We only arrived from Berlin a few days ago, and still a bit jet-lagged,' he said, while adding unreservedly: 'But that's no excuse.'
Jayden is open about his deficiency in the 200IM, singling out the backstroke as his weakest link, conceding it needed improvement. He also made an early exit in the 100m freestyle.
The divers did not fare any better. The Nurqayyum Nazim-Yong Rui Jie combo placed 21st from 26 pairs in the men's 3m springboard synchronised prelims. Only the top eight pairs made the final cut.
Pandelela Rinong and Lee Yiat Qing's campaign in the women's 10m platform synchronised event ended after the first two dives, following an injury-forced withdrawal. Pandelela hurt her shoulder and had to skip the 10m platform as well.
Earlier, Pandelela, Yiat Qing, Elvis Priestly Clement and Enrique Harold competed in the mixed 3m and 10m team event, finishing 16th from 21 teams.
Elvis Priestly exited the 10m platform after finishing 16th out of 18 divers in the semi-finals. Only the top 12 advanced. The 18-year-old Sarawakian, who impressed diving fans at Sukma 2024 by displaying a semblance of double Olympic gold medallist Quan Hongchan's 'shui hua xiao shi shu' (water splash disappearance) technique, failed to up his game, missing the final cut with 399.80 points from six dives.
The results produced by the national divers should serve as a wake-up call from Singapore for Malaysian diving, opined some commentators who popped the question: Have Singapore overtaken Malaysia, especially in women's diving?
The question is not without merit, given Malaysia's Sea Games champion Lee Yiat Qing's failure to even make the women's 10m platform semi-finals in Singapore. The 17-year-old toted up 240.20 points from six dives to finish 29th out of 37 divers in the prelims.
Malaysia Aquatics diving technical director Yeoh Ken Nee explained this was Yiat Qing's first World Championships, and she needed more exposure at this level to perform with consistency, adding: 'We're also using this meet to assess her ahead of the 2026 Asian Games.'
However, one pundit provided serious food for thought with this honest assessment: The worry is not just about missing the semi-finals, but the increasingly visible sign that Malaysia's women's diving, which has delivered gold at World Championships level and Olympic medals, is slipping and now probably behind Singapore. Just consider this reeling
reality – at the World Championships, Singapore's Ainslee Kwang finished 13th in the 10 platform with 285 points – 16 places above Yiat Qing.'
The need to continuously fall back on veteran Olympic medallist Pendalala Rinong to deliver medals also attests to the lack of depth in Malaysia's diving talent pool. The national diving queen is now 32, yet a likely successor is no way in sight. A prodigy showing glimpses of the Sarawakian's brilliance at her peak has yet to emerge.
Ironically, Malaysian Olympian Wendy Ng has a role in Singapore's rise, having been in charge of talent development in the Island Republic since January. And what's more, with Malaysian Olympian Bryan Nickson Loma among South Korean coaching staff, their diver, Moon Nayun, finished 14th, ahead of Yiat Qing with 280 points.
For most of the Malaysian swimmers and divers, the World Championships had been a baptism of fire. While their medal-less outings were not altogether unexpected, one positive takeaway is the opportunity to test their strength against higher calibre performers. The tougher competition will not only enable them to gauge their current level but should also give them a competitive advantage when they climb down to the Sea Games in Bangkok at the end of the year.