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Chinese schoolgirl Yu Zidi lit up the opening day of the Asian Games with a record\u2011breaking 200m butterfly gold medal secured by a performance she described as “only so\u2011so”.<\/b><\/p>\n
The 13\u2011year\u2011old claimed her first major gold in two minutes 05.08 seconds, an Asian Games record that took almost half a second off compatriot Zhang Yufei’s mark from three years ago.<\/p>\n
Yu, who is strongly tipped to make an impact at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, won by over three seconds in Tokyo from her team-mate Chang Mohan.<\/p>\n
“It was only so-so,” a smiling Yu said after receiving her medal, adding that her butterfly technique “is still slightly lacking”.<\/p>\n
“I hope I can swim even faster. I improved my time by 0.9 seconds here, and I believe I will perform better next time,” she continued.<\/p>\n
Yu, who will take part in two more individual events at the Asian Games, became the youngest ever swimmer to win a medal at the World Championships when she took bronze as a 12-year-old as part of China’s 4x200m freestyle relay team last year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n