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Chinese 12-year-old Set for World Stage after Stunning Swims

China's Yu Zidi competes in the women's 200 meters freestyle semifinal at the 2025 National Swimming Championships in Shenzhen, in China's southern Guangdong province on May 19, 2025. (Photo by AFP) / China OUT
China's Yu Zidi competes in the women's 200 meters freestyle semifinal at the 2025 National Swimming Championships in Shenzhen, in China's southern Guangdong province on May 19, 2025. (Photo by AFP) / China OUT
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Chinese 12-year-old Set for World Stage after Stunning Swims

China's Yu Zidi competes in the women's 200 meters freestyle semifinal at the 2025 National Swimming Championships in Shenzhen, in China's southern Guangdong province on May 19, 2025. (Photo by AFP) / China OUT
China's Yu Zidi competes in the women's 200 meters freestyle semifinal at the 2025 National Swimming Championships in Shenzhen, in China's southern Guangdong province on May 19, 2025. (Photo by AFP) / China OUT

Chinese 12-year-old swimming sensation Yu Zidi could be the brightest young star at this year's world championships after producing a string of eye-popping performances this week.

Yu, in her striking "doggy" swim cap, rounded off a sensational China national swimming championships in Shenzhen by winning the women's 400m individual medley by almost two seconds on Saturday.

Roared on by packed crowds in the southern city which borders Hong Kong, Yu crushed a quality field in a lifetime best 4min 35.53sec.

Yu's time was comfortably inside the world qualifying standard of 4:43.06, the fifth fastest time of the year and would have been good enough for fourth place at the Paris Olympics, AFP reported.

Second was Chang Mohan, who touched more than a body length adrift in 4:37.33, followed by Li Bingjie in 4:38.66.

It came just a few days after the 12-year-old's 200m butterfly gold in a scarcely believable 2:06.83, also fifth fastest in the world this year and another time that would have garnered a fourth place in Paris.

"My lungs were about to explode!" Yu said after that win, according to state news agency Xinhua. "I didn't know my time. I just focused on my pace, stroke-by-stroke."

Yu started the week-long China championships by taking second in the 200m individual medley behind Paris Olympian Yu Yiting, with another world-qualifying time of 2:10.63.

That prompted the global governing body, World Aquatics, to post: "12-year-old sensation alert!" on X.

The China meet serves as trials for the world championships, which take place in Singapore from July 27 to August 3, with the top two in each event eligible for selection, providing they have met the qualifying standard.

Yu said it would be "cool... to compete internationally in a swimsuit adorned with the national flag and my doggy cap", reported Xinhua, giving a nod to her black-and-white swim cap emblazoned with a cartoon puppy.

China's swimming association told AFP it would finalize its team for the worlds after the national championships concluded on Saturday, without confirming if Yu would be included or giving a date for a squad announcement.

Yu, who turns 13 in October, trains in the northern province of Hebei and has been earmarked as a "prodigy" by Chinese state media since first making national headlines last year.

Fellow Hebei native 23-year-old Li, whom Yu has called an "idol", may have been only third behind the 12-year-old on Saturday, but she dominated the women's freestyle in Shenzhen with golds in the 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m.

Men's 100m freestyle world record holder Pan Zhanle, 20, won four individual golds and teamed up with the returning three-time Olympic gold medallist Sun Yang, Wang Shun and Fei Liwei to win the men's 4x200m freestyle relay.

But the disgraced 33-year-old Sun, the first Chinese man to win an Olympic swimming gold, will not be going to the world championships.

He recently returned to action after serving a four-year ban for a doping violation and China forbids those who have been suspended for 12 months or longer for doping from representing the country.

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Pressure Builds on Milano Cortina Organizers Amid Climate Concerns and Funding Issues

A general view shows the Olympic rings on the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium, which will host the curling, wheelchair curling, and Paralympic closing ceremony during the Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games 2026, in Cortina, Italy, January 25, 2025. (Reuters)
A general view shows the Olympic rings on the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium, which will host the curling, wheelchair curling, and Paralympic closing ceremony during the Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games 2026, in Cortina, Italy, January 25, 2025. (Reuters)
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Pressure Builds on Milano Cortina Organizers Amid Climate Concerns and Funding Issues

A general view shows the Olympic rings on the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium, which will host the curling, wheelchair curling, and Paralympic closing ceremony during the Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games 2026, in Cortina, Italy, January 25, 2025. (Reuters)
A general view shows the Olympic rings on the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium, which will host the curling, wheelchair curling, and Paralympic closing ceremony during the Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games 2026, in Cortina, Italy, January 25, 2025. (Reuters)

Pressure is mounting on Italian authorities to accelerate preparations for the Milano Cortina Olympics amid funding gaps and unusually warm temperatures, even as the head of world skiing openly advocates a fundamental overhaul of how future Winter Games are hosted.

With the Games due to start in February, International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) president Johan Eliasch said Italy’s challenges were symptomatic of deeper structural issues facing winter sport, as rising costs, climate pressure and under-used infrastructure fuel calls for a rotating model of permanent Olympic hosts.

Growing concern over climate pressure, escalating costs and the waste of Olympic infrastructure after the Games is strengthening support within international sport for a rotation system, under which a small pool of established venues would host the Winter Olympics on a recurring basis.

Proponents argue that such a model would allow long-term planning, reduce spending and ensure consistent conditions for athletes and spectators, rather than forcing hosts to build or upgrade facilities that are rarely used once the Games end.

Eliasch said several Olympic venues were facing technical difficulties not because of shortcomings by local organizers, but because of funding issues at government level.

Games ‌organizers have said the ‌venues will be ready on time.

"We see here that there are some venues that have ‌technical ⁠difficulties. It’s not the ‌organizing committees. It’s just simply a lack of funding from the Italian government," he told Reuters in an interview.

"It’s really important that every effort is now made to make sure that everything is ready on time."

Eliasch warned that readiness alone was not enough.

"We know that we will get everything somehow ready on time," he said. "But the question is, of course, what? And that what needs to meet a certain quality threshold and also experience threshold for the spectators, the fans, the athletes, first and foremost, to make this a success."

He warned that funding constraints could push preparations beyond critical tipping points.

SNOWMAKING CONCERNS

"We shouldn’t be penny wise and pound foolish," Eliasch said. "And there are certain tipping points here in the process beyond which there is no return."

"So from a quality perspective, for ⁠what we’re trying to do here, it’s really important that funding doesn’t become an impediment to delivering the best of the best for those two and a half weeks in February," he added.

Snowmaking has emerged as a key concern as organizers prepare venues across northern Italy, and ‍Eliasch noted that parts of the downhill course in Bormio had ‍no snow on them.

"We know right now that the snowmaking equipment is working, but we have an additional problem, and that is that ‍the temperatures are very warm," Eliasch said. "Which means we can only produce snow during the night, not during the daytime because it’s too warm."

"So the theoretical capacity simply can’t be met," he added.

Alessandro Morelli, Italian Undersecretary of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, said he was happy with the situation.

"In Livigno, 53 additional snow cannons are in operation, ensuring the production of the snow needed for the smooth running of the competitions, ahead of the Olympics," he told Italian news agency ANSA.

"The situation satisfies us, and we are confident that we can achieve an even better result than we had imagined."

Eliasch contrasted the situation with regular international competitions.

"If this was a World Cup race or a World Championship race, it would be easy," Eliasch ⁠said. "We’d know exactly what plan B, plan C, plan D is. We wouldn't start making snow this late. We would have plans to bring in snow from other areas, track it in. We would have all sorts of contingency planning."

Olympic events are far more complex, making financial certainty essential.

"Without clarity on and transparency for the organizing committee that we’re trying to support in every possible way — and they are doing their best, they’re working incredibly hard — but without resources, no one is going to step forward and deliver without knowing that they will get paid," Eliasch, an International Olympic Committee (IOC) member, said.

IOC HAT ON

"It is a very logical step to take," Eliasch said of a rotation model. "And I have advocated for it with my IOC hat on. Without long-term planning, people are not going to invest. And the Games are getting more and more expensive."

"Huge investments, billions of dollars, are being invested in infrastructure," Eliasch added. "Which becomes wasted after the Olympic Games have been held."

"For Olympic Winter Games, to pull all that together, they need at least five- or six-years’ notice," Eliasch said.

"I think we’re looking at maybe six to eight venues to start with," Eliasch said.

Climate pressure is accelerating the debate.

"Climate change could become an ‌existential threat," Eliasch said. "The only logical way to bring costs down to reasonable levels is to have a rotation scheme."

The stakes extend far beyond winter sport.

"We are competing with Formula One, NFL, NBA, football — we have to be at the forefront," he said. "The five rings are magical. And that’s something we must protect at ‌all costs."

Sports

Jackson at the Double as Senegal Defeat Botswana 3-0

Senegal's Nicolas Jackson celebrates after scoring during the Africa Cup of Nations group D soccer match between Senegal and Botswana in Tangier, Morocco, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP)
Senegal's Nicolas Jackson celebrates after scoring during the Africa Cup of Nations group D soccer match between Senegal and Botswana in Tangier, Morocco, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP)
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Jackson at the Double as Senegal Defeat Botswana 3-0

Senegal's Nicolas Jackson celebrates after scoring during the Africa Cup of Nations group D soccer match between Senegal and Botswana in Tangier, Morocco, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP)
Senegal's Nicolas Jackson celebrates after scoring during the Africa Cup of Nations group D soccer match between Senegal and Botswana in Tangier, Morocco, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP)

Striker Nicolas Jackson scored twice as Senegal got their 2025 Africa Cup of Nations campaign off to a winning start with a comfortable 3-0 Group D victory over Botswana in Tangier on Tuesday.

Jackson ‌converted Ismail ‌Jakobs’ low ‌cross ⁠to give ‌his side the lead after 40 minutes as they broke the resistance of a stubborn Botswana, before showing quick feet from Ismaila ⁠Sarr’s pass to finish from ‌close range just before ‍the hour-mark.

Senegal, ‍who won the Cup ‍of Nations title in 2021 and are among the favorites again, overwhelmed their opponents with waves of attacks and added a third late ⁠on from Cherif Ndiaye, one of 28 efforts on the Botswana goal.

Senegal head Group D on goal difference from the Democratic Republic of Congo after the opening round of games. The latter defeated ‌Benin 1-0 on Tuesday.

Sports

Real Madrid’s Endrick Joins Lyon on Loan

Real Madrid’s 19-year-old Brazilian forward Endrick gestures during a match at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid, Spain. (AFP)
Real Madrid’s 19-year-old Brazilian forward Endrick gestures during a match at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid, Spain. (AFP)
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Real Madrid’s Endrick Joins Lyon on Loan

Real Madrid’s 19-year-old Brazilian forward Endrick gestures during a match at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid, Spain. (AFP)
Real Madrid’s 19-year-old Brazilian forward Endrick gestures during a match at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid, Spain. (AFP)

Real Madrid's Brazilian starlet Endrick has joined Lyon on loan, the Ligue 1 club announced on Tuesday.

The 19-year-old joined the Spanish giants to much fanfare in summer 2024, arriving from Palmeiras where he had led the side to back-to-back Brazilian league titles.

Endrick has scored seven goals in 40 appearances for Real Madrid but has seen his playing time at the Bernabeu limited this season under new coach Xabi Alonso.

In 14 appearances with the Brazil national team, the left-footed attacker has netted three times but his last strike for the Selecao came in June last year and he has only earned one cap in 2025.

Endrick joins French side Lyon on loan until the end of the season, with a fee agreed between the clubs of one million euros ($1.2 million).