By James Sutherland on SwimSwam
See all of our 2025 Swammy Awards here.
World Aquatics defines junior swimmers as aged between 14 and 18 as of December 31st of the competition year, but given the uniqueness of an athlete like Yu Zidi, we’re willing to bend the rules in this case and award her the Swammy for World Junior Female Swimmer of the Year.
Yu, who turned 13 in October, had a series of mind-blowing performances throughout 2025 while she was 12, including earning a trio of 4th-place finishes at the World Championships in Singapore racing against the best swimmers in the world.
The Chinese native first started making headlines in May at the China National Championships in Shenzhen, where she won the women’s 200 fly (2:06.83) and 400 IM (4:35.53) and placed 2nd in the 200 IM (2:10.63), qualifying her for the World Championships while going well under the existing 11-12 age group records in the United States–for both boys and girls.
If it was difficult to put Yu’s swims in perspective at that meet, things went to a new level at the 2025 World Championships.
Yu placed 4th in the 200 fly, clocking 2:06.43 to miss the podium by just 32 one-hundredths of a second, while in the 200 IM, her time of 2:09.21 in the final earned her 4th and saw her finish just six one-hundredths shy of bronze medalist Mary-Sophie Harvey (2:09.15).
On the last day of the meet in the women’s 400 IM, Yu picked up her third 4th-place finish of the meet, setting a new best time of 4:33.76 to finish half-a-second off the podium, with Jenna Forrester and Mio Narita tying for silver in 4:33.26.
In addition to her individual performances, Yu also swam the lead-off leg of the Chinese women’s 4×200 free relay in the prelims, clocking 1:59.28, and then the team went on to win bronze in the final. That made the Yu the youngest swimmer ever to win a medal at the World Championships, having already become the youngest to reach a final when she did so at the beginning of the meet in the 200 IM.
Yu returned to elite competition three months later at the Chinese National Games in November, where she delivered the best swim of her career in the 200 IM.
Less than a month after turning 13, Yu put up a time of 2:07.41, breaking the Asian and Chinese Record of 2:07.57 set by Ye Shiwen at the 2012 Olympic Games en route to winning the gold medal.
That performance ranks Yu 2nd in the world for 2025, only trailing world record holder and world champion Summer McIntosh (2:05.70), and moves her to #9 all-time in the event.
All-Time Performers, Women’s 200 IM (LCM)
Summer McIntosh (CAN) – 2:05.70, 2025 Katinka Hosszu (HUN) – 2:06.12, 2015 Ariana Kukors (USA) – 2:06.15, 2009 Kaylee McKeown (AUS) – 2:06.63, 2024 Kate Douglass (USA) – 2:06.79, 2024 Siobhan-Marie O’Connor (GBR) – 2:06.88, 2016 Stephanie Rice (AUS) – 2:07.03, 2009 Alex Walsh (USA) – 2:07.13, 2022 Yu Zidi(CHN) – 2:07.41, 2025 Ye Shiwen (CHN) – 2:07.57, 2012At the Chinese National Games, Yu also won the 400 IM (4:34.33), placed 2nd in the 200 fly (2:06.57), and set a lifetime best of 1:57.98 in the 200 free, leading off her club’s winning 800 free relay.
For the 2025 calendar year, Yu ranks in the top eight in the world in her three best events, and also cracked the top 50 in the 200 free and the top 100 in the 100 free.
Among 18 & under swimmers, she is the fastest this year in the 200 fly, 200 IM and 400 IM, and ranks 7th in the 200 free.
Yu’s 2025 World Ranks
Event (LCM) Time 2025 World Rank 100 free 54.78 t-98th 200 free 1:57.98 t-49th 200 fly 2:06.43 8th 200 IM 2:07.41 2nd 400 IM 4:33.76 4thThe World Junior Records in Yu’s three best events are all held by McIntosh, and though she’s not close to the records in the 200 fly (2:03.03) or 400 IM (4:24.38), Yu is only 85 one-hundredths back of McIntosh’s World Junior Record in the 200 IM (2:06.56), with, incredibly, five years to work on taking it down.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Claire Weinstein (USA) – Weinstein was the lone junior to win an individual medal at the 2025 World Championships, snagging bronze in the women’s 200 free in a time of 1:54.67. Weinstein produced the three fastest 200 free swims of her career in Singapore, also clocking 1:54.69 to lead the semi-finals and then leading off the U.S. women’s 4×200 free relay in 1:54.83 as they went on to win silver and set a new American Record. Weinstein’s swim in the 200 free final narrowly missed the U.S. 17-18 National Age Group Record of 1:54.43, set by Katie Ledecky in 2016, and ranks her #2 all-time among junior swimmers by the World Aquatics definition (18 as of December 31 – Ledecky would turn 19 two months after her swim), trailing only Summer McIntosh and her World Junior Record of 1:53.65. Weinstein’s standout performances in the 200 free at Worlds came even though she was presumed to be one of the swimmers ailing from the illness impacting the U.S. team in Singapore, having scratched the 400 free and then adding nearly 20 seconds to place 17th in the 800 free. At the U.S. National Championships in June, Weinstein really broke out across all distances, winning the 200 free (1:54.92) over Ledecky while setting best times en route to taking 2nd in the 400 free (4:00.05), 800 free (8:19.67) and 1500 free (16:01.96), and adding an 8th-place finish in the 100 free (53.72) with another PB. In 2025, Weinstein ranked 3rd in the world in the 200 free, 5th in the 400 free, 8th in the 800 free, 10th in the 1500 free and 25th in the 100 free. Rylee Erisman (USA) – Erisman was the top performer at the World Junior Championships in Otopeni in late August, racking up a historic eight medals at the competition, headlined by her performances in the 100 free. The 16-year-old broke the World Junior Championship and U.S. girls’ 15-16 NAG record in three straight swims at the meet, culminating in clocking 52.79 in the 100 free final, putting her just nine one-hundredths shy of the World Junior Record set by Penny Oleksiak in 2016. Erisman’s swim in the final made the girls’ 15-16 NAG record nearly a half-second faster than the current 17-18 record, which stands at 53.25 from Simone Manuel in 2014. The performance also landed Erisman a spot on the 2026 U.S. Pan Pac roster, and would’ve been fast enough to win bronze at the World Championships. Erisman also won individual gold at World Juniors in the 50 free (24.70) and picked up silver in the 200 free (1:56.70), while she added five medals on relays, including leading off the girls’ 4×100 free relay that broke the World Junior Record in 3:35.53. In 2025, she ranks 5th in the world in the 100 free, 23rd in the 100 back (59.39), 26th in the 200 free (1:56.76) and 27th in the 50 free (24.69). Most recently, she clocked 1:40.93 in the 200-yard free at the Speedo Winter Junior Championships – East in Indianapolis, shattering Katie Ledecky’s girls’ 15-16 NAG record by more than a second. Yang Peiqi (CHN) – Yang had an incredible performance at World Juniors, setting new Championship Records in the girls’ 200 free (1:56.25) and 400 free (4:05.38) while adding golds in the 800 free (8:22.93) and 1500 free (16:22.37) to sweep all four distances. Her four individual golds led all swimmers at the meet, and she added to her medal haul with a gold medal on the Chinese girls’ 4×200 free relay (1:55.54 anchor leg), a silver on the 4×100 medley relay and a bronze on the 4×100 free relay. Those swims came one month after she represented China at the World Championships, earning finals appearances in the women’s 400 free (7th) and 1500 free (8th) while placing 9th in the 800 free. The 18-year-old also played a critical role on the Chinese women’s 4×200 free relay, splitting 1:55.84 on the second leg as they ultimately won bronze. She finishes the year ranked 6th in the world in the 400 free (4:01.90), 7th in the 800 free (8:19.45), 14th in the 1500 free (16:04.93), 21st in the 200 free (1:56.25) and 77th in the 100 free (54.52). Audrey Derivaux (USA) – Another American standout at World Juniors, Derivaux claimed four gold and one silver medal in Otopeni, earning a trio of individual golds in the 200 back (2:06.99), 200 fly (2:07.57) and 200 IM (2:10.58) while earning silver in the 100 fly (57.74) and adding a gold as a member of the U.S. girls’ 4×100 medley relay. Racing shortly after her 16th birthday, Derivaux also placed 4th in the 400 IM (4:39.67). Prior to the summer, Derivaux made headlines with some standout in-season performances, clocking 2:06.68 in the 200 back in late March and then going 2:06.46 in the 200 fly at the beginning of May. The 200 back swim ranked her #4 all-time in the girls’ 15-16 age group in the U.S., just 1.36 seconds shy of Missy Franklin‘s record, and in the 200 fly, she moved to #2 all-time, only trailing Mary T. Meagher‘s legendary 2:05.96 mark from 1981. At the end of 2025, Derivaux ranks 6th in the world in the 200 back, 9th in the 200 fly, 23rd in the 200 IM, 30th in the 400 IM, 33rd in the 100 back and 99th in the 400 free.PREVIOUS WINNERS:
2024 – Summer McIntosh, Canada 2023 – Summer McIntosh, Canada 2022 – Summer McIntosh, Canada 2021 – Lydia Jacoby, USA 2020 – Benedetta Pilato, Italy 2019 – Regan Smith, United States 2018 – Taylor Ruck, Canada 2017 – Rikako Ikee, Japan 2016 – Penny Oleksiak, Canada 2015 – Viktoria Gunes, Turkey 2014 – Daria Ustinova, RussiaRead the full story on SwimSwam: 2025 Swammy Awards: World Junior Female Swimmer of the Year – Yu Zidi
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