13-Year-Old Yu Zidi Breaks Asian Games Record, Says She Can Go Faster

China's 13-year-old swimmer Yu Zidi warned she could go even faster after smashing an Asian Games record to win gold in Japan on Sunday, two years out from the Los Angeles Olympics. Yu, who turns 14 next month, romped home in the women's 200m butterfly in 2min 05.08sec to shave almost half a second off the time set by compatriot Zhang Yufei three years ago in Hangzhou of 2:05:57. The teenager's time in winning her first major gold medal was 3.36sec faster than team-mate Chang Mohan in silver. It was the first of three individual events Yu is scheduled to compete in at the Asian Games, where swimming is being held in Tokyo. "It was only so-so," a smiling Yu said after receiving her medal. "I hope I can swim even faster. I improved my time by 0.9 seconds here, and I believe I will perform better next time."

Yu became the youngest swimming world championships medallist in history last year when she won bronze as a 12-year-old as part of China's 4x200m freestyle relay team.

She also finished a whisker outside the medals in fourth in three world individual events.

She has embellished her growing reputation this year, notably with a victory over multiple American Olympic champion Regan Smith in March.

But she said her "technique is still slightly lacking" after crushing the field in her Asian Games debut.

"I need to lower my head earlier, reach farther forward and improve the movement of my legs," she said.

"Those are all areas that I need to work on."

The schoolgirl with the pixie haircut is expected to be a serious contender at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

But she has spoken of struggling to deal with the heavy load placed on her.

During the build-up to last year's China National Games she said the pressure of wanting to win the 400m medley nearly became too much.

Her coach told her to persevere and "believe in yourself", she said. 

Yu went on to win four medals at the National Games.

Some in the swimming world have questioned the mental and physical impact of high-level training and competing on Yu at such a young age.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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