Zhang Yufei (swimmer)

Zhang Yufei (; born 19 April 1998) is a Chinese competitive swimmer who specializes in sprint freestyle and butterfly events. Considered one of the most promising swimming in the international scene, she produced a tally of forty-three medals (eighteen gold medals, eight silver medals, and seventeen bronze medals) in her swimming career, spanning the Youth Olympics, Asian Games, World Championships and the Summer Olympics. She currently holds the record for most Olympic medals for a Chinese athlete. In 2023, she was named as the most valuable player in the women's division, in the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou.

Career Born in Xuzhou (Jiangsu), Zhang began swimming at the age of four partly because of the encouragement and influence of her mother, who acted as her personal coach. Two years later, she started training professionally as a member of the Jiangsu Swimming Team, and eventually held numerous records for her age group. As more records followed, Zhang's rapid improvement culminated on her major debut in an international sporting event at the age of fourteen, when she beat 2008 Olympic champion Liu Zige for the gold medal in the 200 m butterfly at the 2012 FINA World Cup meet in Beijing. The following year, she was selected for China's national swimming team.

Zhang's international debut came as a member of the host nation China at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics in Nanjing, where she achieved a total of five medals: three golds and two silver. Zhang started off the competition with a powerful butterfly split of 58.56 in the girls' 4 × 100 m medley relay that tremendously helped her Chinese foursome break the junior world record (4:03.58) for the gold medal. On the same night, she managed a strong swim to take the silver in the 200 m butterfly with a time of 2:08.22, finishing farther behind Hungary's Liliána Szilágyi by less than two seconds. In the girls' 4 × 100 m freestyle relay, Zhang posted a third leg split in 54.09 until her host nation's foursome celebrated again with another relay victory in 3:41.19. On 22 August, Zhang relegated to her second silver in the 100 m butterfly at 57.95, narrowly losing the race again to Szilagyi by almost three tenths of a second. Despite missing out her first individual gold, Zhang and her teammates Li Guangyuan, He Yun, and Yu Hexin powered their stretch to grab another relay title for the Chinese squad in the mixed 4 × 100 m medley (3:49.33).

One month later, at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, Zhang set a 54.10 split on the third leg to put the Chinese squad ahead to a marvelous victory in the women's 4 × 100 m freestyle relay, with a time of 3:37.25.

At the 2015 FINA World Championships in Kazan, Russia, Zhang swam her two finals on the fifth night of the competition with forty minutes in between. First, she lowered her own junior world record with 2:06.51 to take home her individual bronze in the 200 m butterfly. Forty minutes later, Zhang set a third leg split of 1:58.73 to deliver the Chinese foursome a bronze medal in the women's 4 × 200 m freestyle relay with a combined time of 7:49.10.

On 22 August 2018, Zhang won the Women's 200 m butterfly gold medal at the 18th Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia with 2:06.61.

On 25 July 2021, Zhang went 55.64 to win silver in the Women's 100 m butterfly at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics behind Maggie Macneil, who went 55.59.

On 28 July 2021, Zhang broke the Olympic record and the world record in the Women's 200 m butterfly and the Women's 4 × 200 m freestyle relay respectively, winning the gold medals in both events.

On 24 July 2023, Zhang won the women's 100 m butterfly gold medal at the 2023 Fukuoka World Aquatics Championships.

At the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, Zhang topped the podium in the women's individual 50 m freestyle, 50 m butterfly, 100 m butterfly and 200 m butterfly, while also contributing to her national women's 4 × 100 m freestyle relay and mixed 4 × 100 m medley relay gold medals, securing 6 golds in all.

At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Zhang Yufei's 55.64 butterfly-leg swim in the Mixed Medley Relay event helped her team beat the previous world record time of 3:37.58 set by Great Britain in the event at the Tokyo Olympics with a time of 3:37.55, however the U.S. swim team achieved an even-faster new world record time of 3:37.43 and beat Zhang and her team for the gold medal in the event. Zhang Yufei topped the list of most medals won by a competing swimmer in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games with a total count of 6 medals (5 bronze & 1 silver).

International championships (50 m) Meet50 free50 fly100 fly200 fly4×100 free4×200 free4×100 medley4×100 mixed medleyAG 2014 WC 2015 OG 2016 6th WC 2017 17th 8th 5th 6th 6th AG 2018 DSQ WC 2019 12th 13th 26th 5th OG 2020 WD 4th WC 2022 5th 4th 6th 6th WC 2023 DNS 4th AG 2022 OG 2024 WC 2025 4th

International championships (25 m) Meet400 free50 fly100 fly200 fly4×50 free4×100 free4×100 medley4×50 mixed medleySCW 2014 4th 5th 10th SCW 2016 5th 4th SCW 2018 17th WD 7th 11th SCW 2021 5th WD 4th 5th SCW 2022 DNS 5th 5th

Personal bests

Long course (50-meter pool) EventTimeMeetDateNote(s) 50 m freestyle 24.15 2023 World Aquatics Championships July 30, 2023 100 m freestyle 52.90 2020 Chinese National Swimming Championships 2021 Chinese National Swimming Championships September 27, 2020 May 4, 2021 200 m freestyle 1.57.22 2021 Chinese National Swimming Championships May 2, 2021 400 m freestyle 4.07.72 2015 Chinese National Swimming Championships April 9, 2015 800 m freestyle 8.51.91 2012 Chinese National Swimming Championships September 22, 2012 50 m butterfly 25.05 2023 World Aquatics Championships July 29, 2023AS,NR 100 m butterfly 55.62 2020 Chinese National Swimming Championships September 29, 2020AS,NR 200 m butterfly 2.03.86 2020 Summer Olympics July 29, 2021Former OR

Short course (25-meter pool) EventTimeMeetDateNote(s) 50 m freestyle 23.76 2022 World Championships December 15, 2022NR 100 m freestyle 53.21 2022 Chinese National Swimming Championships October 29, 2022 200 m freestyle 1.55.26 2016 World Cup September 30, 2016 400 m freestyle 3.59.51 2014 World Championships December 5, 2014 50 m butterfly 24.71 2022 World Championships December 14, 2022AS,NR 100 m butterfly 55.46 2022 Chinese National Swimming Championships October 29, 2022 200 m butterfly 2.03.01 2021 World Championships December 17, 2021 100 m individual medley 1.08.80 2017 World Cup October 5, 2017 400 m individual medley 4.46.30 2014 World Cup October 25, 2014 Key: NR = National Record; AS = Asian Record; OR = Olympic Record

Zhang Yufei (swimmer)

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