‘Astonishing’ 12-year-old challenges for medals at World Aquatics Championships

The World Aquatics Championships in Singapore has got a breakthrough star. Chinese swimmer Yu Zidi is making her debut at the competition this year and reached the final of the 200m individual medley, despite being only 12 years old.

Usually the World Aquatics Championships does not admit competitors younger than 14 but Yu was given special dispensation because her times in qualifiers met the association’s ‘A’ standard.

At Chinese swimming trials earlier this year she recorded a time in the individual medley of 4:35.53, which would have been fast enough to finish fourth at last year’s Olympic Games. Earlier this year she set a world record for a 12-year-old, with an incredible 2:10.63 in the 200m individual medley.

Tu has already made it to the final of the 200m individual medley, finishing fourth an narrowly missing out on a meal. Incredibly, that is not even her best event and she is considered even stronger in the 200m butterfly and 400m individual medley.

Her incredible talent has made her a star of this year’s meet, with some even making comparison to Michael Phelps. But others have questioned whether such a demanding training regime, at her young age, could have negative consequences in the long term.

“To see a youngster go in the events she is doing is on the one hand astonishing, but it does slightly raise the question of how long has she been training hard? What kind of training is she doing? What is that doing to her physically?” four-time world champion Karen Pickering told the BBC.

“I worry about what it’s doing physically to a child doing that amount of training at that age. We’ve seen it with gymnasts that are pushed too young and the impact it has on their body long-term.”

Get your game on! Whether you’re into NFL touchdowns, NBA buzzer-beaters, world-class soccer goals, or MLB home runs, our app has it all.

Dive into live coverage, expert insights, breaking news, exclusive videos, and more – plus, stay updated on the latest in current affairs and entertainment. Download now for all-access coverage, right at your fingertips – anytime, anywhere.