By Retta Race on SwimSwam
2026 ASIAN GAMES
September 20th – September 25th (pool swimming) Tokyo Aquatics Centre LCM (50m) Meet Central EntriesThe 2026 Asian Games are nearly upon us, with pool swimming action beginning on Sunday, September 20th.
Among the nations competing at the prestigious multi-sport discipline will be Japan, China, Singapore, Hong Kong, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and many others, giving us a deep field among both the men’s and women’s aquatic events.
This year’s competition is set to bring the Games back to their traditional four-year cycle after the 2022 edition was postponed to 2023 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the 2022 edition, the nation of China was the overwhelming team winner in pool swimming, reaping a remarkable total of 62 medals, including 30 golds.
That was nearly triple the amount of hardware runner-up Korea captured, with the country taking home 23 medals, including 6 golds.
Japan rounded out the top three performers, snagging 31 medals, but just 5 golds.
Medal Table at the 2022 Asian Games (Held in 2023)
Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total 1 China (CHN) 30 22 10 62 2 South Korea (KOR) 6 6 11 23 3 Japan (JPN) 5 11 15 31 4 Hong Kong (HKG) 2 2 3 7 5 Chinese Taipei (TPE) 0 1 0 1 Singapore (SGP) 0 1 0 1 7 Kazakhstan (KAZ) 0 0 2 2 Vietnam (VIE) 0 0 2 2Because powerhouse nations such as Japan and China hold an arsenal of formidable swimming weapons, it was difficult to narrow down a list of just five key men and five key women to watch over the course of the competition.
As such, the following women’s lineup, in no particular order, just scratches the surface in terms of the battles we may see unfold, with this meet representing an important milestone along the journey to the 2028 Olympic Games.
Five Women to Watch at the 2026 Asian Games
Yu Zidi (CHN)
One of the most exciting swimmers on the planet right now is 13-year-old Yu Zidi, the Chinese prodigy who blew away expectations at the 2025 World Championships.
There in Singapore, just 12 at the time, she captured a trio of 4th-place finishes, including in the 200m IM, 400m IM and 200m butterfly.
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.
At the Chinese National Games in November last year, she ripped a time of 2:07.41 in the 200m IM, 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.
Flash forward to the China Open in March of this year and Yu garnered a major confidence boost as she beat multi-Olympic medalist Regan Smith of the U.S. in the 200m butterfly.
The teen is entered in the 200m IM, 400m IM and 200m butterfly events individually but will also be a key contributor on her nation’s relays.
Lee Eun-Ji (KOR)
One discipline in which rival Japan is lacking on the women’s side is the backstroke, where the nation has been void of a world-class dynamo for quite some time.
Ready to take advantage of this gap for her country of South Korea is 20-year-old Lee Eun-Ji, with the multi-medalist from the 2022 Asian Games entered in the 50m, 100m and 200m to try to give her nation a boost when it comes to these events.
Lee is a five-time medalist from Hangzhou, having earned bronze in the 100m/200m individual races, in addition to the mixed medley and women’s 4x200m free relay. She helped the women’s medley capture silver as well.
After those performances, Lee further added credentials to her resume in the form of 100m and 200m back bronze medals at the 2025 World University Games.
She currently owns the Korean national records in both distances, possessing a lifetime best of 59.56 in the 100m and 2:08.29 in the latter, both from last year. Her 200m back result would have rendered her the silver medalist in Hangzhou.
Lee’s primary competition this week will come from the Chinese contingent, with Peng Xuwei leading the 100m back field, while Sun Mingxia will be among the 200m back contenders.
Kayla Sanchez (PHI)
25-year-old Kayla Sanchez represents the Philippines but was once an Olympic medalist for the nation of Canada.
She captured two relay medals at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, collecting silver in the women’s 4x100m free relay and bronze in the 4x100m medley relay.
Sanchez is also a three-time gold medalist from the 2021 Short Course World Championships, as well as a three-time gold medalist at the 2017 World Junior Championships.
Her move to begin representing the Philippines took place in 2023 and the following year she raced for the nation at the 2024 Olympic Games, setting a new national record in the 100m free.
Last year, she was one of the most successful swimmers at the Southeast Asian Games in Thailand where she brought home three golds and five silvers.
Here in Tokyo, Sanchez is entered in the 50m back, 100m back, 50m, 100m free and 200m free. In Hangzhou, she placed 6th in the 50m back, 9th in the 100m back, 12th in the 50m free and 5th in the 100m free.
She will indeed have her hands full this week, competing against the likes of Siobhan Haughey of Hong Kong, Wu Qingfeng of China and Rikako Ikee of Japan, among several other key opponents.
Ichika Kajimoto (JPN)
Japan’s Ichika Kajimoto has been steadily making her presence known both in open water and in distance pool swimming events over the course of the past couple of years.
The 22-year-old truly broke through by way of her gold medal in the 3k knockout sprints and bronze in the 5k at last year’s World Championships.
As a follow-up, this year she notched a huge lifetime best of 8:23.11 in the 800m freestyle while competing at the 101st Japan Swim, the competition which determined Japan’s roster for both Pan Pacs and these Asian Games.
That PB established a new Japanese national record in the event, overtaking the previous mark that had stood for nearly 22 years. It also would have secured the silver medal at the 2022 Asian Games.
More recently at the Pan Pacific Championships, Kajimoto claimed bronze in the 10k and finished as high as 4th in the 1500m and 5th in the 800m to put her Asian competitors on notice for this week in Tokyo.
Ching Hwee Gan (SGP)
Former Indiana University swimmer Chng Hwee Gan of Singapore is on the rise among the distance freestyle Asian competitors ready to make her mark among her peers this week in Tokyo.
She is coming off of a standout performance at this year’s Commonwealth Games where the 23-year-old placed 5th in the highly-competitive 400m freestyle, establishing a new lifetime best and national record of 4:09.34 in the process.
Prior to that performance, she set new national records in the 800m free (8:29.93) and 1500m free (16:01.29) at the 2025 World Championships. The former would have given her the bronze and the latter the silver at the 2022 Asian Games.
More recently, she came away with a trio of medals at the Southeast Asian Games last December, sweeping the women’s 200m, 400m and 800m freestyles.
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