Chinese schoolgirl Yu Zidi lit up the opening day of the Asian Games with a record-breaking gold medal in the 200 metres butterfly, despite describing her performance as “only so-so”.
The 13-year-old claimed her first major individual gold in 2 minutes 05.08 seconds, setting an Asian Games record and taking almost half a second off compatriot Zhang Yufei’s mark from three years ago.
Zidi won by more than three seconds from her Chinese teammate Chang Mohan.
She says her butterfly technique is still not perfect and that she hopes to swim even faster.
Zidi says she improved her time by 0.9 seconds and believes she can perform better next time.
She will compete in two more individual events at the Asian Games.
Zidi became the youngest swimmer to win a medal at the World Championships when she took bronze as a 12-year-old as part of China’s 4x200-metres freestyle relay team last year.
