SINGAPORE — Chinese language 12-year-old Yu Zidi has gained a bronze medal on the swim world championships, an astounding feat for a lady who can be a sixth- or seventh-grade pupil relying on the varsity system.
Yu earned the medal by swimming within the prelims of China’s 4×200-meter freestyle relay group. She didn’t swim within the closing on Thursday — China positioned third behind profitable Australia and america — however will get a bronze medal as a group member.
She has been near profitable a person medal, putting fourth in each the 200 butterfly and the 200 particular person medley. She nonetheless has the 400 IM to swim.
Brent Nowicki, the chief director of World Aquatics, mentioned the governing physique would take a look at its age-limit guidelines. The restrict is now 14, however athletes can attain the worlds in the event that they surpass a tricky time normal.
“I did not suppose I might have this dialog, however now I believe we’ve got to return and say is that this acceptable?” he mentioned this week in Singapore. “Is that this actually the precise solution to go ahead and do we have to do different issues? Put different guardrails up? Will we enable it below sure circumstances? I do not know the reply.”
He known as Yu “nice.” He additionally mentioned officers needed to be “cautious” concerning the age concern.
Friday’s session shall be lacking the 2 huge stars of the meet to this point — France’s Leon Marchand and Summer season McIntosh of Canada. Each don’t have any closing swims.
5 finals had been set for Friday. A number of the consideration will go to Evgenila Chikunova, swimming as a Impartial Athlete. She holds the world report within the 200 breaststroke the place has the highest time coming into the ultimate. The highest challenger is American Kate Douglass.
South African Pieter Coetze is the favourite within the males’s 200 backstroke. Yohann Ndoye-Brouard of France and Hurbert Kos of Hungary had been the following quickest qualifiers.
The opposite finals are within the girls’s 100 free, the boys’s 200 breaststroke, and the boys’s 4×200 relay.