Xu Jiayu (; born 19 August 1995) is a Chinese competitive
swimmer who specializes in the
backstroke
Backstroke or back crawl is one of the four swimming styles used in competitive events regulated by FINA, and the only one of these styles swum on the back. This swimming style has the advantage of easy breathing, but the disadvantage of swimm ...
. He is the Olympic Silver medalist (
2016 Rio de Janeiro) and twice consecutive
world champion
A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...
(
2017 Budapest and
2019 Gwangju) in the 100 meters backstroke.
Early and personal life
Xu was born in
Wenzhou
Wenzhou (pronounced ; Wenzhounese: Yuziou y33–11 tɕiɤu33–32 ), historically known as Wenchow is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Zhejiang province in the People's Republic of China. Wenzhou is located at the extreme south east ...
,
Zhejiang
Zhejiang ( or , ; , Chinese postal romanization, also romanized as Chekiang) is an East China, eastern, coastal Provinces of China, province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable citie ...
. His mother Yu Zhenzhen (余珍珍) is a former swimmer who specialized in the butterfly. He has an elder sister Xu Si (徐思).
Xu started swimming at the age of 4 under his mother's guidance.
Xu is an alumnus of
Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU; ) is a Public university, public research university in Shanghai, Shanghai, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, Ministry of Education of China ...
.
Swimming career
Olympic Games
Xu competed for China at the
2012 Summer Olympics, and won a silver medal in the
100 metre backstroke at the
2016 Summer Olympics.
He also won a silver medal in the 4x100 mixed medley at the
2020 Summer Olympics
The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July.
Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...
.
Xu is the current national record holder in backstroke races in all distances (50, 100, and 200 metres).
He held the world record in the 100 m backstroke short course from 2018 to 2020.
International Competitions
At the
2014 Asian Games, Xu,
Ning Zetao
Ning Zetao ( or ''Níng Zétāo''; or ; born 6 March 1993) is a Chinese former competitive swimming (sport), swimmer. Specializing in the freestyle swimming, freestyle, he won a gold medal in the Swimming at the 2015 World Aquatics Championsh ...
,
Li Zhuhao
Li Zhuhao (born January 9, 1999) is a Chinese competitive swimmer, specializing in butterfly. At the 2014 Asian Games, he won the silver medal in the 100 metre butterfly and the gold medal in the 4 × 100 m medley relay, setting the Asian Game ...
and
Li Xiang teamed up to win the men's 4 × 100 metre medley relay. Individually, Xu received silver medals in the 100m backstroke and 200m backstroke. While also receiving a bronze medal in the 50m backstroke.
At the
2016 short course World Championships, Xu won the bronze medal in the
100 metre backstroke.
At the
, Xu became the first male Chinese swimmer to win gold in the 100m backstroke in a time of 52.44 seconds. He also received the bronze medal as a part of the mixed medley relay.
At the
2018 Asian Games
The 2018 Asian Games ( id, Pesta Olahraga Asia 2018 or ''Asian Games 2018''), officially known as the 18th Asian Games and also known as Jakarta-Palembang 2018 or Indonesia 2018, was a continental multi-sport event that was held from 18 Augus ...
, Xu received six gold medals. He swept the backstroke events and was part of the Asian record setting mixed and men medley relays.
At the
2019 World Aquatics Championships
The 2019 World Aquatics Championships were the 18th FINA World Aquatics Championships, held in Gwangju, South Korea from 12 to 28 July 2019. The city had previously hosted the 2015 Summer Universiade aquatics events in the same venues. , Xu successfully defended his 100m backstroke title with a time of 52.43 seconds. Xu also placed sixth in the 50m backstroke.
Career best times
Long course (50-meter pool)
Short course (25-meter pool)
Key:
WR = World Record,
AR = Asian Record,
NR = National Record
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Xu, Jiayu
1995 births
Living people
Chinese male backstroke swimmers
Swimmers from Zhejiang
Olympic swimmers of China
Swimmers at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Swimmers at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Swimmers at the 2020 Summer Olympics
2016 Olympic silver medalists for China
Medalists at the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m)
Asian Games medalists in swimming
Swimmers at the 2014 Asian Games
Swimmers at the 2018 Asian Games
Olympic silver medalists in swimming
Shanghai Jiao Tong University alumni
Sportspeople from Wenzhou
World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming
Asian Games gold medalists for China
Asian Games silver medalists for China
Asian Games bronze medalists for China
Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games
Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games
World record holders in swimming
Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Olympic silver medalists for China
21st-century Chinese people