2024 CHINESE NATIONAL SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
While all eyes are on the likes of Olympic champions Wang Shun and Zhang Yufei at these 10-day Chinese National Swimming Championships, two eye-popping performances were brought about by an 11-year-old female named Yu Zidi.
Yu made waves in both the women’s 400m IM and 400m freestyle events early on in this competition, registering times that would rank as the fastest 11-12 American in history.
In the 400m free, Yu produced a time of 4:10.73 in the heats followed by a final mark of 4:12.10 to place 7th in the final. Her morning outing is nearly 7 seconds faster than the U.S. National Age Group Record holder Kayla Han (4;17.65) put on the books in 2021.
Then in the 400m IM, Yu fired off a mark of 4:40.97 to snag the silver. Only Yu Yiting was faster in the final, hitting 4:39.60 for the top prize.
Yu Zidi‘s time fell just shy of the World Aquatics Olympic Qualifying Time of 4:38.53.
Splits for Yu’s performance included the following:
- 28.40/34.02 (1:02.42)
- 37.04/35.09 (2:14.55)
- 42.23/41.52 (3:38.30)
- 32.11/30.56 (4:40.97)
American Han also owns the 11-12 age group record in the 400m IM at 4:50.70 so Yu was over 10 seconds faster with her result at this competition.
These impressive performances are coming against the backdrop of the current positive doping situation involving China.
23 Chinese swimmers tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine (TMZ) at the start of the calendar year in 2021. The Chinese Anti-Doping Agency (CHINADA) did not sanction the athletes and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) did not dispute the findings that the swimmers were inadvertently contaminated.
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