BEIJING — Yu Zidi made history last year aged 12 when she became the youngest-ever medallist at the swimming world championships. Now a teenager, she headlines China’s bid for Asian Games domination and has Olympic glory in her sights.

The 13-year-old school girl with a pixie hair cut stunned the sporting world last year with a series of eye-popping times.

At the 2025 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore she helped China reach the 4x200m women’s freestyle relay final.

She did not swim in the final but China came third, earning Yu a historic bronze for swimming in the heats.

Yu just missed out on medals in the 200m and 400m individual medley events and the 200m butterfly, coming fourth in all three races.

In November at China’s National Games, having just turned 13, she clocked a blistering 2:07.41 in the women’s 200m medley for what was then an Asian record.

While training with the China team in Beijing, she told local media this month she was “excited” for her Asian Games debut.

“Train well, don’t slack off. Demonstrate the level of your training and work hard to break past yourself,” she said, according to state news agency Xinhua.

The Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan open on September 19.