With a time of 2:07.41, the 13-year-old is the ninth fastest of all time at the distance. But perhaps most notably, she broke Ye Shiwen's Asian record from the 2012 London Olympics, a championship held just months before she was born.
"I am very happy, very excited. I really didn't expect to achieve such a good result," the 13-year-old told state broadcaster CCTV after Tuesday's victory.
The Chinese woman beat her personal best by two seconds.
Yu Zidi made her international breakthrough this summer, when she became the youngest swimmer in history to win a World Championships medal – bronze in the 4x200m freestyle – and also came close to individual medals, with fourth places in three events. She was twelve years old at the time.
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