Xue Juan throwing at the 2003 World Youths (© Getty Images)
The 5th City Games of China concluded in Changsha, yesterday (Mon 27). The competition held every four years, has amazingly always attracted the best young athletes in China, and this edition was no different with World Championships 110m Hurdles bronze medallist Liu Xiang led the field of athletes who have already won major senior competitions.
The City Games are maybe best remembered from the 1995 Nanjing edition, where the unknown Jiang Bo upset the famous Wang Junxia and recorded a World Junior record of 14:45.90 over the 5000m. The next Games (1999) which were held in Xi'an produced slightly disappointing results by comparison, but this year’s event proved to be of much better quality.
The best marks of the meeting were not achieved in the distance running. "Ma's Army" was not present in Changsha, at least not like it has been before, although a few athletes from Shenyang and Dalian were competing. There were some promising young distance runners competing, but except for the men's 1500m, all races were run at a slow pace with several athletes going for the win in the last lap.
Hurdling trio on top again
The most popular athletes at Changsha were of course those who did well in the 2003 World Championships in Paris. Liu Xiang, the World junior record holder in 110m hurdles, was naturally the centre of attention. Paris bronze medallist did not disappoint and clearly won the final in 13.31 in front of another Paris finalist, Shi Dongpeng, who was second with 13.50. Wu Youjia, third in the Asian Championships, was third here too in 13.69, just 0.01 off his personal best.
20-year-old Zhang Rong won the women's 100m hurdles with a personal best of 13.14.
Xue Juan sets World Youth best and then World Junior Record
The best result of the Games came in the last event of the meet. 17-year-old Xue Juan, already a World Youth Champion for Sherbrooke earlier this season, first made her mark by throwing a World Youth Best with her first throw in the qualification round - 61.06m.
However, it was still a bit of a surprise that her first throw in the Final itself was almost one metre better than the previous World Junior Record of 61.99m by countrywoman Wang Yaning in 1999. Xue’s javelin landed at 62.93m and even more surprising she only took one more throw – a foul – before retiring as the clear winner.
Liang Lili, who held the World Youth Best at 60.90m before the qualification, was second with her 58.93m, a season's best. Liang was one of those athletes who had already competed at the 1999 edition as a 16-year-old, she was second then too.
Liu Yanhong won the men's javelin with a personal best of 79.23m.
As well as Xue's achievement there was a world junior best in the women’s track walk from Song Hongjuan - 20,000mW 1:29:32.4.
Qi Haifeng, the first Chinese to go over 8000 points in Decathlon, was seventh in Paris. He broke his own national record there with 8126 but was never going to get close to that total here. Qi admitted that he felt tired and was just going for the win and scored 7649 points to do just that with more than a 500 points margin. Liu Haili won the Heptathlon with 5621 points.
Double Hurdles win for Huang Xiaoxiao
18-year-old Huang Xiaoxiao, who held the women’s World junior 400m Hurdles record for a few months with her 55.15 at the 2001 National Games, was one of the double winners of the meeting. First she won the flat 400m in 51.93 and then the Hurdles with a personal best of 55.10. This mark, a clear world junior leader in 2003, puts her to third place in the world junior all-time list, although she already had that position with her earlier best.
Huang is an interesting athlete, who ran a 53.61 400m at the age of 13 in 1998. This season she won the Asian Championships and was second in the World University Games.
3:36.54 national record for 20-year-old Dou Zhaobo
The men's 1500 metres has been a weak event in China looking at results achieved after the 8th National Games in Shanghai 1997. After two slows heats well over 3:50, the final had two clear favourites, 20-year-old Dou Zhaobo, the defending champion from 1999, and Yang Weize, the National Games winner from 2001, though Yang, who also was fourth in the 1999 City Games, had the better personal best 3:41.27, his winning result in Guangzhou National Games.
The two made sure from the start that no-one else would be bothering them in the home straight, setting a very fast pace from the gun. Despite the fast tempo, Yang and Dou were side to side during the front straight and in the end it was Dou Zhaobo, who became the only 1999 City Games winner to repeat his winning feat in 2003. The result was not only in the double win, but a National Record too as Song Mingyou's 3:36.54 set in 1997 fell to Dou's winning result of 3:36.49, almost seven seconds faster than his personal best from last year. Yang also dipped under 3:37 in 3:36.97 to be the third Chinese under that limit.
Both Dou and Yang were favourites also in the 5000m, but this time they used different tactics. It was a slow race and Yang, running in his first major 5000m final, was fastest in the end to win in 14:02.41. Chen Mingfu took second with 14:03.66 and 1500m winner Dou had to settle for a third place in 14:04.42.
Zhang Yunshan took the men's 10, 000m with 29:01.85 just slightly ahead of Li Zhuhong - the fastest ever junior over the marathon distance - who was second with 29:02.43. 18-year-old Meng Fei, third in 1500m (3:41.93), won the 3000m Steeplechase with 8:49.47.
Long distance double for Xing Huina
19-year-old Xing Huina, one of those who successfully represented China at the Paris World Championships, was entered to three events at Changsha. Xing was seventh in the quick women's 10,000m in Paris breaking the world junior record in 30:31.55. She was also at the top of the entrants in the 1500m (4:10.16) and 5000 m (15:00.02).
She wisely choose slow tactics for the first event the 10,000m, and there were still seven runners fighting for the win at the start of the last lap, but Xing easily took the race in 32:36.24. Zhu Xiaolin, who ran a 2:23:57 marathon last year, was second in a personal best of 32:39.60 and all others except Xing from the first 11 finishers recorded a personal best.
Xing even had to run the 1500m heats before the 10,000m but next day the overwhelming task proved impossible in the 1500m final. Unbelievably 16-year-old Xie Sainan, coming to the meeting with a best of 4:25.53, started quickly and others, including Xing, let her go thinking she would not hang on in front. But Xie did and won easily in 4:11.68. Xing took the second place well behind in 4:15.77.
In the 5000m, Xing again used slow tactics and this time won another sprint finish in front of Zhu Yanmei in 16:00.00, which was almost a minute slower than her season's best.
Surprising Xie Sainan falls just short of double win
In the 800m, Xie Sainan came very close to taking another surprise win, but in the end the more experienced Yang Wei was the strongest. First seven of the eight finalists recorded a personal best, Yan's winning result was 2:01.68 and Xie 2:02.46 for second place. Xie's best before the Games was only 2:06.56. Men's 800m was won by Li Xiangyu in 1:49.97.
Junior Hammer record for Ma Liang
As well as Xue Juan’s record exploits there were more notable performances in the other throwing events. Zhang Wenxiu won the women’s Hammer with 70.22m, less than half a metre away from her personal best and her second time over 70m.
In the men's Hammer one of the oldest National Junior Record's fell in September when 19-year-old Ma Liang in the national championships threw 68.79m for second place performance so surpassing the 68.00m mark (then Asian Jnr rec) which had been set in 1987 by current national senior record holder Bi Zhong (77.04m).
Ma came in an even more determined mood to Changsha. At Shanghai he lost only 20cm to the winner Ye Kuigang, having already bettered his own NJR with first throw of 69.61m. His third attempt carried the Hammer to 71.01m which now stands as the national junior record, and lifts him to third place in the World junior list for the 7.26kg senior implement.
Thought the women’s Shot was disappointing with only Zhang Xiaoyu, who competed at the Paris World Championships, getting over the 17m limit winning at 17.76, the women's Discus results were as good as usual.
The first four athletes in the event were juniors and first three also took those same places in this season junior lists. 2002 World Junior Champion, 18-year-old Ma Xuejun, had her first career throw over 60m. Ma, also the World Youth Champion in 2001, won with 60.20m before Wang Yu 59.08m and Lin Xiaojing 56.65m.
The men's Discus was taken easily by another World Junior Champion in 2002, Wu Tao. Wu, who turned 20 in October, won easily with 60.72m, his lowest mark of the season. Wu won all his four meets during the season, including the Asian Championships and World University Games. World Youth Championships silver medallist, Wu Jian, showed there are other good young athletes coming behind Wu Tao. Wu Jian was fourth with 54.74m, a very good mark for a 17-year-old with the 2kg discus.
Asian Junior Triple Jump record is improved
The Long Jumps were not as promising with 2000 World Junior Champion Cai Peng won with exactly the same exact mark he had three years ago at Santiago de Chile, 7.88m, and Xu Bei took the women’s with 6.61m.
Newcomer Qiu Huijing, competing for the first year in national level meets, won women's Triple Jump with a personal best of 13.78m, but it was in the men's event where world class marks were seen.
World University Games Champion Gu Junjie was thought to take the win easily, but there was a surprise challenger waiting. Zhu Shujing, whose best was 16.13m from last season, jumped 16.78m in the first round, but this did not shatter Gu. Gu's first was 16.92m, 2cm more than his Asian Junior Record and winning mark at Daegu's World University Games. Both athletes jumped 16.61m with their second round tries, but did not succeed their results after round one.
The women's Pole Vault saw the Asian Champion Wu Sha drop to second place behind Zhao Yingying, who also won the National Championships in Shanghai. Zhao jumped 4.20m for the third time this season with Wu at 4.10m. Liu Feiliang, who already has tied the Asian Junior Record of 5.50m earlier this season, faced no opposition and after clearing 5.20m, got straight to 5.40m which was too much.
17-year-old Liu Yang came to the High Jump competition as favourite having jumped 2.24m in August, but was only left with 2.10m and a tied 14th place in the competition. Instead, it was 18-year-old Zheng Ting, who won easily by clearing 2.24m with his first try. This time 2.28m was too much, none of the three attempts were close.
The women's High Jump was by far the tightest competition in the Games. There were three jumpers tied for win after 1.84m. After a few re-jumps it was Li Shan who emerged as the winner with 1.85m. Li Rong and Lu Jieming tied for second with 1.84m.
Sprint doubles
Both the men's and women's sprints had double winners. He Jun took the men's 100m/200m in 10.46/21.19 and 17-year-old Zou Yiting women's in 11.53/23.31. Men's 400m had one of the most probable winners for the host city. Liang Chao, from Changsha and already fourth in the 2001 National Games, came to competition with the best personal mark 46.22. However, completely unknown Tan Biao, still a junior, was able to snatch the win from Liang at the finish line. Tan won in 46.19 against Liang's 46.22.
Song Hongjuan, who is holder of the world junior best over the 20 km road walk, won the 20,000m track event here with 1:29:32.4, also a world junior best and Asian Record. Xu Xingde won the men's event with 1:23:34.7.
Mirko Jalava for the IAAF
5th City Games of China
23-27 October, Changsha, Hunan Province
Top results
(for full results, click here)
Men
100 m (0.0): He Jun 10.46; 2 Liu Dapeng 10.54; 3 Huang Lin 10.60.
200 m (0.0): He Jun 21.19; 2 Li Jianping 21.32; 3 Ta La 21.43. 400 m: Tan Biao 46.19; 2 Liang Chao 46.22; 3 Wang Liangyu 46.61.
800 m: Li Xiangyu 1:49.97; 2 Zhang Nan 1:50.51; 3 Duan Litao 1:50.51.
1500 m: Dou Zhaobo 3:36.49 National Record; 2 Yang Weize 3:36.97; 3 Meng Fei 3:41.93.
5000 m: Yang Weize 14:02.41; 2 Chen Mingfu 14:03.66; 3 Dou Zhaobo 14:04.42.
10,000 m: Zhang Yunshan 29:01.85; 2 Li Zhuhong 29:02.43; 3 Deng Haiyang 29:07.06.
3000 m steeple: Meng Fei 8:49.47; 2 Qin Chuan 8:51.94; 3 Wang Shengqing 8:54.02.
110 m hurdles (0.0): Liu Xiang 13.31; 2 Shi Dongpeng 13.50; 3 Wang Youjia 13.69.
400 m hurdles: Zhang Shibao 50.80; 2 Liu Xiang (different from the 110m hurdler) 51.28; 3 Chen Zhiwei 51.60.
High jump: Zheng Ting 2.24; 2 Xu Xin 2.21; 3 Xu Weiqiang 2.18. Pole vault: Liu Feiliang 5.20; 3 Xu Zhanming 5.10; 3 Wu Maoyong 5.00.
Long jump: Cai Peng 7.88 (-0.8); 2 Zhang Xin 7.71 (0.0); 3 Kuang Li 7.68 (0.0).
Triple jump: Gu Junjie 16.92 (0.0) Asian Junior Record; 2 Zhu Shujing 16.78 (0.4); 3 Li Xin 16.27 (0.0).
Shot: Zhang Qi 18.36; 2 Sun Ke 17.88; 3 Wei Kaiping 17.07.
Discus: Wu Tao 60.72; 2 Xu Yongyi 55.82; 3 Liu Jian 55.63.
Hammer: Ma Liang 71.01 National Junior Record; 2 Zhang Dapeng 68.28; 3 Zheng Leilei 65.25.
Javelin: Liu Yanhong 79.23; 2 Qin Qiang 75.80; 3 Hou Xingliang 71.06.
Decathlon: Qi Haifeng 7649 (11.22/0.0 7.28/0.0 12.86 1.89 49.81 14.83/0.0 48.31 4.20 61.38 4:47.87); 2 Yu Bin 7132; 3 Ma Di 6956.
20000 m walk: Xu Xingde 1:23.34.7; 2 Gadasu Alatan 1:25:29.2; 3 Dong Jimin 1:25.54.6.
4x100m: Chongqing 40.20 (Zhou Chang, Hu Yu, Lin Hai, He Jun); 2 Chengdu 40.22 (Xiong Gang, Peng Yinggang, He Maolong, Gu Junjie); 3 Haerbin 40.35 (Liu Bin, Zhang Jinlong, Li Jianping, Liu Dapeng).
4x400m: Changsha 3:06.15 (Feng Wenfu, Wang Zhen, Kang Huijun, Liang Chao); 2 Shenzun 3:09.02 National Junior Record (Huang Ling 85, Wan Xin 84, Wang Liangyu 84, Wang Youxin 85); 3 Guangzhou 3:09.11 (Yang Chunmin, Zhang Guoming, Chen Chaojian, Tan Biao).
Women
100 m (0.0): Zou Yiting 11.53; 2 Shu Yan 11.55; 3 Zhu Juanhong 11.57.
200 m (-0.5): Zou Yiting 23.31; 2 Xie Rong 23.57; 3 Jiao Guiyan 23.59.
400 m: Huang Xiaoxiao 51.93; 2 Tang Xiaoyin 52.78; 3 Wang Wenwen 53.78.
800 m: Yang Wei 2:01.68; 2 Xie Sainan 2:02.46; 3 Liu Qing 2:03.12.
1500 m: Xie Sainan 4:11.68; 2 Xing Huina 4:15.77; 3 Wang Qingqin 4:17.29.
5000 m: Xing Huina 16:00.00; 2 Zhu Yanmei 16:01.61; 3 Zhu Xiaolin 16:02.40.
10,000 m: Xing Huina 32:36.24; 2 Zhu Xiaolin 32:39.60; 3 Zhang Yin 32:41.14.
100 m hurdles (0.2): Zhang Rong 13.14; 2 Ji Fangqian 13.35; 3 Liu Xiaomin 13.65.
400 m hurdles: Huang Xiaoxiao 55.10; 2 Wang Xing 56.54; 3 Zhang Rongrong 57.26
High jump: Li Shan 1.85; 2 Li Rong and Lu Jieming 1.84.
Pole vault: Zhao Yingying 4.20; 2 Wu Sha 4.10; 3 Feng Lingjian 4.00.
Long jump: Xu Bei 6.61; 2 Wang Lina 6.40 (0.0); 3 Chen Yaling 6.35 (-0.7).
Triple jump: Qiu Huijing 13.78 (0.3); 2 Lin Baohua 13.50 (0.7); 3 Wang Ying 13.42 (0.0).
Shot: Zhang Xiaoyu 17.76; 2 Wang Lihong 16.81; 3 Yang Cui 16.41.
Discus: Ma Xuejun 60.20; 2 Wang Yu 59.08; 3 Lin Xiaojing 56.65.
Hammer: Zhang Wenxiu 70.22; 2 Liao Xiaoyan 65.13; 3 Yang Miyu 64.30.
Javelin: Xue Juan 62.93 World Junior Record; 2 Liang Lili 58.93; 3 Liu Chunhua 55.37.
Heptathlon: Liu Haili 5621 (14.10/-0.7 1.78 11.88 25.28/-0.2 5.80/0.0 38.30 2:24.27); 2 Shi Wei 5526; 3 Liu Fang 5472.
20,000 m walk: Song Hongjuan 1:29:32.4 World Junior Best, Asian Record; 2 Jiang Jing 1:31:06.6; 3 Gao Kelian 1:34:58.0.
4x100m: Changsha 43.82 (Zhang Ni, Xie Rong, Zou Yingting, Jiao Guiyan); 2 Chengdu 45.09 (Zhang Rong, Leng Mei, Wang Min, Shu Yan); 3 Guangzhou 45.36 (Pan Zhengchun, Gao Lihua, Huang Feng, Tang Xiaoyin).
4x400m: Guangzhou 3:33.62 (Huang Feng, Gao Lihua, Qiu Chunyan, Tang Xiaoyin); 2 Changsha 3:34.04 (Ruan Zhuofen, Huan Li, Xie Rong, Wang Xing); 3 Haerbin 3:36.06 (Xia Lina, Wang Guanjun, Zou Miao, Wang Yan).
