2023 Asian Games: Zhang Yufei Eyes Potential MVP History

19TH ASIAN GAMES

• Sunday, September 24th – Friday, September 29th (swimming)
• Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Aquatic Sports Arena, Hangzhou, China
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• Entries
• Results
• Livestream

We’ve been previewing some of the highest-profile athletes competing this week at the 2023 Asian Games.

Among them is Olympic multi-gold medalist Zhang Yufei, the versatile 25-year-old who has eyes on more than just gold.

Set to compete in the women’s 50m free, 50m fly, 100m fly and 200m fly individual events in Hangzhou, Zhang has verbalized she is looking to make history as just the second woman to ever be named MVP of the entire Games.

It was in 2018 when Japan’s Rikako Ikee became the first woman in history to earn the honor, with the then-18-year-old amassing an incredible 6 gold medals, including individual titles in the 50m free, 100m free, 50m fly and 100m fly. Her contribution to her nation’s 4 x 100m free and 4 x 100m medley relays also helped Japan gather gold in those races in Jakarta.

Ikee was also just the fourth swimmer ever to have been named Asian Games MVP, joining the likes of Japan’s Kosuke Kitajima (2002), Korea’s Park Tae Hwan (2006) and Japan’s Kosuke Hagino (2014).

For 25-year-old Zhang, she’s coming off of a successful World Championships in Fukuoka where she earned the following results:

50m freestyle – bronze
50m butterfly – silver
100m butterfly – gold
women’s 4x100m free relay – bronze
mixed medley relay – gold

Along with her aforementioned 4 individual events here in Hangzhou, Zhang is expected to race on 3 relays, bringing her potential gold medal haul to 7.

Speaking to the media this week, Zhang said, “My schedule is almost identical to what hers [Rikako Ikee] was in 2018. If she could win the title I think also I can do it.”

Zhang enters these Games as the top-ranked female in the 50m free, 50m fly and 100m fly; however, the 200m fly has Japan’s up-and-coming Airi Mitsui among the contenders.

19-year-old Mitsui made a name for herself by taking gold at the 2022 Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships and carried that momentum into the Japan Championships/World Trials where she qualified for her first senior international squad.

In Fukuoka, Mitsui clocked at time of 2:07.15 to place 5th in the 200m fly final.

Zhang has been much quicker than that over the course of her career, owning a lifetime best of 2:03.86. She produced that Olympic Record mark in Tokyo, giving her the gold medal in the event.

For her part, Ikee will indeed be in the water, racing in the 50m/100m free, 50m/100m fly events along with 3 relays. These Asian Games will be a reminder of Ikee’s former self before she was diagnosed with leukemia in 2019. She spent the majority of that year in the hospital but remarkably battled back to be strong enough to compete for Japan at the 2020 Olympic Games.

Ikee raced at this year’s World Championships with her highest international finish coming in the 50m fly where the now-23-year-old placed 7th. Her performance came shortly after having made her first international podium since remission, earning 50m fly bronze during the Mare Nostrum series.