3Pre-IntermediateKidsAges 9-11Sports

A 13-Year-Old Swimmer Breaks a Big Record!

A young girl from China just made history! Yu Zidi is only 13 years old, but she swam faster than anyone at the Asian Games. She won a gold medal in the 200m butterfly race!

1 min readLevel 3September 22, 2026

By Flalingo Editorial Team

Vocabulary

Study these words before reading the article. Click the audio button to hear pronunciation.

record

/ˈrekɔːrd/

noun

The best result ever in a sport or activity

“She broke the school record in running.”

race

/reɪs/

noun

A competition to see who is the fastest

“The children ran a race in the park.”

amazing

/əˈmeɪzɪŋ/

adjective

Very surprising and wonderful

“The fireworks show was amazing last night!”

talented

/ˈtæləntɪd/

adjective

Very good at doing something special

“My sister is a talented singer.”

surprised

/sərˈpraɪzd/

adjective

Feeling wonder because something unexpected happened

“I was surprised to see snow in spring.”

medal

/ˈmedl/

noun

A small round piece of metal given as a prize

“He won a gold medal at the sports day.”

Listen to Article

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Article

Click on any underlined word to see its definition. Highlighted words are from the vocabulary section.

Something amazing happened at the Asian Games! A 13-year-old girl broke a swimming record. Her name is Yu Zidi. She is from China. She swam the 200m butterfly race very fast!

Yu Zidi finished the race in 2:05.08. That was a new Asian Games record! She won a gold medal for her country. She was the youngest swimmer in the race. Everyone was very surprised and happy!

Yu Zidi started swimming when she was young. She can swim in many different styles. She wants to swim at the Olympics someday. This talented girl will keep surprising us!

Comprehension Quiz

Test your understanding of the article with these multiple-choice questions.

1
How old is Yu Zidi?
2
What race did Yu Zidi swim?
3
What did Yu Zidi win?
4
Where did the race take place?

Discussion

Answer these comprehension questions about the article.

1
How old is Yu Zidi?
2
What swimming race did Yu Zidi win?
3
What was her time in the race?
4
What kind of medal did she win?
5
Where did this race happen?

Further Discussion

Share your opinions on these open-ended questions.

1
What is your favorite sport to play or watch?
2
Can you swim? What do you like about swimming?
3
What would you do if you won a gold medal?
4
Do you think young people can do amazing things? Why?
5
If you could be great at any sport, what would it be?

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Vocabulary

record

race

amazing

talented

surprised

medal

Article

Comprehension Quiz

Discussion

Further Discussion

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