Swimming marvel produces one of most ridiculous performances of all time
An athletic marvel has smashed records and “shaken the swimming world” with one of the greatest swims of all time.
Swimming marvel Yu Zidi has produced one of the greatest swims of all time to shatter records at China’s National Games on Tuesday.
Yu, who celebrated her 13th birthday in October, produced a swim for the ages in the women’s 200m individual medley where she won the event in a time of 2:07.41.
While the performance hasn’t threatened Summer McIntosh’s world record swim of 2:05.70, set earlier this year, Yu’s performance for a 13-year-old athlete is blowing minds.
Her swim snapped the Chinese and Asian women’s 200m individual medley, which had stood since 2012.
Tuesday’s swim smashed her own personal best by 1.8 seconds.
It also makes her the ninth fastest swimmer of all time in the event.
You can watch the swim in the video player above.
Leading swimming commentator Kyle Sockwell wrote on X: “Still trying to wrap my mind around this 2:07.41 200 IM from Yu Zidi who is barely 13-years-old. All context included, this has to be one of the most ridiculous swims of all-time, no?”
🇨🇳Yu Zidi becomes the 9th fastest performer in W200IM history!!
— 競泳NEWS (@swimcoverage) November 11, 2025
1. 🇨🇦S. McIntosh 2:05.70
2. ðŸ‡ðŸ‡ºK. Hosszu 2:06.12
3. 🇺🇸A. Kukors 2:06.15
4. 🇦🇺K. McKeown 2:06.63
5. 🇺🇸K. Douglass 2:06.79
6. 🇬🇧SM. O’Connor 2:06.88
7. 🇦🇺S. Rice 2:07.03
8. 🇺🇸A. Walsh 2:07.13
9. 🇨🇳Yu Zidi 2:07.41 🆕!!
Swimming journalist Retta Race wrote on SwimSwam: “We were treated to one of the most impressive women’s 200m IM performances in the history of swimming”.
Another swimming commentator called it “insane”.
One posted: “Yu Zidi is SHAKING the swimming world, we are all witnesses”.
The time would have seen her pick up the silver medal at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore this year.
Yu became the youngest swimmer to ever win a world championship medal during the Singapore meet.
She went agonisingly close to winning an individual medal at the meet, finishing fourth in the 200m butterfly, fourth in the 200m medley and fourth in the and 400m medley.
She was awarded a bronze medal for swimming in the heats of the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay.
“It feels quite emotional, it’s a nice feeling,” she said.
It will not be the final time she celebrates that winning feeling on the international stage.
She has been put in headlines across China in the past 12 months, earmarked as a “prodigy” by Chinese state media.
Yu discovered swimming at age six as a way to cool off during summer hot spells.
She has drawn historical comparisons to Denmark’s Inge Sorensen, who at 12 was the youngest-ever winner of an Olympic swimming medal with bronze at the Berlin Games of 1936.
The 2026 Los Angeles Games are not far away.
Despite her insane trajectory, rumblings of concern for her welfare continue to swirl.
World Aquatics, the governing body of world swimming, has an age limit of 14. However, swimmers are allowed to compete if they are younger if their times surpass a qualifying standard.
High performance commentators around the globe have previously raised questions about the mental and physical impacts of her high-level training and elite competition.
She was all smiles on Tuesday.
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Originally published as Swimming marvel produces one of most ridiculous performances of all time
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