{"id":620690,"date":"2025-08-15T09:07:54","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T16:07:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=620690"},"modified":"2025-08-15T09:10:41","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T16:10:41","slug":"as-youth-emerge-in-singapore-chinas-female-future-is-bright","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/as-youth-emerge-in-singapore-chinas-female-future-is-bright\/","title":{"rendered":"As Youth Emerge in Singapore, China\u2019s Female Future is Bright"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Youth Emerge in Singapore, China\u2019s Female Future is Bright<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Chinese women\u2019s program has held solid as the world\u2019s third-ranking power behind the United States and Australia. If the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore are any indication, the gap on the top two might be closing.<\/p>\n

Youth is on the side of the Chinese, who had five different female swimmers hit the medal podium, not including medal threat<\/a> Yu Zidi<\/strong> at age 12. While her youth is an extreme, there are plenty of swimmers in their late teens and early 20s with a chance to grow into genuine medal threats over this Olympic cycle.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s performance at the Paris Olympics in 2024 was generally excellent. It didn\u2019t win a women\u2019s gold medal, with a silver and six bronzes. But those seven medals were larger than the return of the entire European continent\u2019s female contingent (six medals, two of each color). China was the bronze medalist behind the U.S. and Australia in each women\u2019s relay.<\/p>\n

But from an individual perspective, the last two Olympics have only involved three individual medalists. Zhang Yufei<\/strong> has four individual medals over the last two Olympics. Tang Qianting<\/strong> won silver in the 100 breast in Paris. Li Bingjie<\/strong> took home bronze in Tokyo\u2019s 400 free.<\/p>\n

So for the Singapore Worlds to introduce three new Chinese swimmers to the individual podiums marks a massive opportunity for generations to collide in Los Angeles in three years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve shown that there is great depth in the Chinese team,\u201d Tang said after the medley relay. \u201cThat goes to show that there\u2019s more to come from us in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Wan

Wan Letian of China; Photo Courtesy: Emily Cameron<\/p><\/div>\n

Li and Tang won two medals each, contributing to China\u2019s tally of 14, third on the table behind the United States (29) and Australia (20). Wu Qingfeng<\/strong> and Cheng Yujie<\/strong> won silver and bronze, respectively, in the 50 free. Wan Letian<\/strong> grabbed bronze in the 50 back. A relay title remained elusive, with China third in the 800 free and 400 medley and fourth in the 400 free. (China did win the 800 free relay at the 2024 Doha Worlds, though against a diminished field. It was the Olympic champ in Tokyo in the 800 free relay.)<\/p>\n

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