Chinese swimmer Yu Jidi won a bronze medal at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore in the women’s 4×200-meter freestyle relay. She is now considered the youngest medalist in the history of the World Aquatics Championships.
China finished third in the women’s 4×200-meter freestyle relay. Yu Jidi did not participate in Thursday’s final. However, she is entitled to a medal because she managed to qualify her country for the final in the preliminary heat.
Earlier, Yu narrowly missed out on an individual medal in the 200m butterfly, finishing fourth, 0.31 seconds behind Australia’s Elizabeth Dekkers, who took third place.
On Monday, she also finished fourth, missing out on a medal in the 200m medley, touching the wall 0.06 seconds behind bronze medalist Marie-Sophie Harvey of Canada. She will have another chance to win an individual medal at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships when the Chinese swimmer competes in the women’s 400-meter individual medley, with the heats and final taking place on Sunday.
Yu Jidi and the age controversy
Yu Jidi’s participation in the World Aquatics Championships raised questions about the competition’s selection rules. The governing body for swimming, World Aquatics, set a minimum age of 14 for participation in the World Championships, but the young Chinese swimmer was so fast that she qualified regardless.
Brent Novitsky, executive director of World Aquatics, acknowledged during the championships that the governing body would have to review its guidelines in the future.
At the same time, he did not specify what the new rules might be.
As a reminder, Lyudmila Luzan won her fourth gold medal at the World Rowing Championships. She triumphed in the 200-meter single sculls.
