09/20/26 05:03:00
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09/20 05:02 CDT Chinese 13-year-old Yu Zidi starts quickly in the pool at the
Asian Games
Chinese 13-year-old Yu Zidi starts quickly in the pool at the Asian Games
By STEPHEN WADE
AP Sports Writer
NAGOYA, Japan (AP) --- Led by 13-year-old Yu Zidi, China dominated the first
day of swimming at the Asian Games with Yu and defending Olympic champion Pan
Zhanle taking gold.
Yu easily won the 200-meter butterfly on Sunday at the Olympic pool in Tokyo,
and Pan took the 100 free, where he holds the world record (46.40 seconds) set
two years ago in Paris.
Yu swam a personal-best time of 2:05.08 and fellow Chinese Chang Mohan took
silver (2:08.44) with bronze for Misa Okuzono (2:09.97) of Japan.
Yu is a swimmer the world is watching heading to next year's world
championships in Budapest, Hungary, and the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028. She
turns 14 in October.
Yu defeated American Regan Smith earlier this year
Yu defeated American Regan Smith earlier this year in the 200 fly in a meet in
China. She swam a personal best in that race (2:05.71), which she eclipsed on
Sunday.
Smith took silver in the 2024 Paris Olympics behind the dominant swimmer in the
event --- Summer McIntosh of Canada.
McIntosh holds the world record in the 200 fly (2:01.65) and also holds the
marks in Yu's two other dominant races --- the 200 individual medley (2:05.70)
and the 400 IM (4:23.65). Yu will swim all three events in Japan.
Pan Zhanle chasing his Olympic form
Pan was more than a second off his world-record time and finished in 47.61,
barely beating Kim Youngbeom of South Korea (47.65). Another South Korean,
Hwang Sunwoo, took bronze (47.79).
Leon Marchand, who won four Olympic gold medals two years ago, was on the pool
deck in Tokyo handing out medals.
The Asian games opened officially on Saturday with the first full-day of
competition on Sunday. They end Oct. 4.
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