Swimming Youth World Championships: Yang Peiqi Crowned Five-Time Champion, Claims Total of Seven Medals and Earns Tournament MVP Honors

Early on the morning of August 25, Beijing time, all events of the 2025 World Junior Swimming Championships concluded in Otopeni, Romania. Chinese swimmer Yang Peiqi clinched the gold medal in the women’s 200m freestyle, setting a new meet record with her personal best time of 1:56.25.

In the women's 200m freestyle final, Yang Peiqi's main rival was Alice Mann, the U.S. athlete who won both the girls' 50m and 100m freestyle titles at this year's World Junior Championships. Both swimmers delivered personal-best performances, but Yang Peiqi ultimately clinched the gold medal with a commanding lead, breaking the event record previously set by Canadian swimmer Taylor-Ruck at the 2017 World Junior Championships. Alice Mann finished second with a time of 1:56.76.

In the final race of this year's World Junior Championships—the women's 4x100m medley relay—Yang Peiqi once again took the field as China's anchor swimmer in the freestyle leg. After teammate Gong Zhenqi secured second place during the third leg (butterfly), Yang Peiqi stepped up in the fourth leg to solidify the team's lead, ultimately helping China clinch the silver medal with a time of 4:01.37.

By this point, Yang Peiqi has claimed a total of five gold medals at this year's World Junior Championships, winning the 200m and 1500m freestyle events—both middle- and long-distance races—as well as the women's 4x200m freestyle relay title. Additionally, as a key member of the team, she helped China secure the silver medal in the women's 4x100m medley relay and the bronze in the women's 4x100m freestyle, bringing her total medal count to seven.

Yang Peiqi also edged out American swimmer Delrivo, who claimed four titles in the 200 backstroke, 200 butterfly, 200 individual medley, and the 4x100 medley relay at this year's competition, by finishing with 20 points to claim the tournament's Women's MVP award. Italian athlete De Ambrosio was named Men's MVP.

In the day's competition, Gong Zhenqi won third place in the women's 100-meter butterfly with a time of 58.10 seconds.

At this year's World Youth Championships, the Chinese team secured a total of 5 gold, 3 silver, and 3 bronze medals, finishing third in the medal standings. The U.S. team topped the rankings with 10 gold, 6 silver, and 6 bronze medals.

Judging from Yang Peiqi's performance at the World Junior Championships, she has emerged as Asia's top female freestyle swimmer in middle- and long-distance events since Li Bingjie, with significant room for further improvement.

Yang Peiqi wins the gold medal; here are her results in each event:

200m Freestyle: 1:56.25

400m Freestyle: 4:05.38

800m Freestyle: 8:22.93

1500m Freestyle: 16:08.37

Women's 4×200m Freestyle Relay: 1:55.54