China collects 12 golds as records fall on Day 2 at 2026 Asian Games

China collected 12 golds at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Monday, with several record-breaking swimming performances and Zhang Boheng's successful defense of his men's gymnastics all-around title highlighting a second-straight strong day of competition for the delegation.

Swimmers accounted for five of China's golds, while setting two Asian records and one Asian Games mark in Tokyo.

The standout individual performance belonged to Yu Zidi in the women’s 200-meter individual medley. The 13-year-old surged to victory in 2:06.10, trimming 0.72 seconds off the previous Asian record held by compatriot Yu Yiting, who finished second in 2:07.99, while Japan's Mio Narita took bronze.

Yu Zidi's winning time was just 0.40 seconds off the world record of 2:05.70 held by Canada’s Summer McIntosh, with the victory giving the teenager her second gold at the Asian Games following an earlier triumph in the women's 200-meter butterfly.

China broke another Asian record in the final race of the night, the men's 4×200-meter freestyle relay.

Japan led throughout the early stages of the contest, but Pan Zhanle cut into the margin in the third leg. Zhang Zhanshuo then produced a blistering anchor leg of 1:42.92, moving past his Japanese counterpart in the last 50 meters to seal the Chinese quartet's come-from-behind victory.

Xu Haibo, Fei Liwei, Pan and Zhang finished in 7:00.17, lowering the Asian record and beating Japan by 0.88 seconds. ROK settled for bronze in 7:06.76.

Veteran swimmer Xu Jiayu also entered the record books as he successfully defended his men's 50-meter backstroke crown. The 31-year-old touched the wall first in 24.04 seconds to break the Asian Games record, with compatriot Wang Zicheng placing second in 24.49.

Xu's time was slower than his own Asian record of 23.92, set earlier this year, leaving his achievement as a Games mark rather than a continental standard.

China also struck gold in the women's 50-meter backstroke through Wan Letian, while Dong Zhihao shared the men's 100-meter breaststroke title with Japan's Shin Ohashi after both clocked 58.64 seconds. Chinese swimmers finished the night with five golds from seven finals.

In Nagoya, Zhang Boheng overcame a pair of Olympic champions from host nation Japan to retain his men's artistic gymnastics all-around crown.

The reigning titleholder scored 85.065 points across the six apparatus, edging Paris Olympics gold medalist Shinnosuke Oka, who finished second with 84.698 points. Tokyo Olympics champion Daiki Hashimoto placed third with 83.865.

Zhang climbed through the standings after starting on the floor exercise and moved into a strong position with 14.700 points on the parallel bars. Knowing exactly what he needed on the final horizontal bar rotation, the 26-year-old reduced his routine's difficulty and scored 14.033 to seal the gold.

The victory gave China a third consecutive Asian Games men's all-around title and 12th overall.

China's 12 victories on Monday lifted the delegation's total tally to 23 golds, 10 silvers and five bronzes after two full days of competition.