Sun Yingjie leads the 10,000m Final in Paris (© Getty Images)
A Chinese women's team clocked 2:19:52 to win the Beijing International Marathon Relay here this morning.
Japan finished second in 2:22:31, followed by the United States, 2:29:57, South Korea, 2:35:27, Mongolia, 2:57:08, and Vietnam, 3:00:01.
Sun Yingjie, 26, the bronze medallist at the women's 10,000m at the World Championships in Paris last summer, ran the first leg for China, but her performance of 33:48 was way off her best form. She has run 30:07.02 for the 10,000m on the track.
Though the Chinese team ultimately took a comfortable 2 minutes, 39 seconds win over Japan, their second leg runner Xing Huina, 20, the World Junior record holder for the track 10,000m (30:31.55 seventh in Paris), who took over from Yingjie, was also below par and handed over in second place behind the Japanese squad at the end of her leg.
Sun, who injured her collar bone last winter, only re-started her training recently. "I prefer to run the 5000m and 10000m at the Athens Olympics, but maybe I will be asked to run the Marathon instead of the 5000m," said Sun who is the Asian record holder for the Marathon (2:19:39).
Wang Dexian, coach of Sun admitted she was not in her top shape. "She will take part in the London Marathon later this month, and then we will see what two events she is going to compete in at the Olympic Games."
The men's marathon relay title was won by a local Chinese university team with a time of 2:07:16. There were no international runners in the men's section.
Xinhua-China View and IAAF
