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

Budapest2017 fina world championships 100backstroke final Jiayu Xu China

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

2017 World Aquatics Championships The 17th FINA World Championships ( hu, 2017-es úszó-világbajnokság) were held in Budapest, Hungary from 14 to 30 July 2017.

, 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

* * {{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