Yu Chaohong (China) (© Getty Images)
The Chinese Race Walking Championships, the first big national event of this domestically important 10th National Games year, brought about some superb results during last weekend (24-27 Feb) in Nanning, Guangxi province.
The meeting, which also serves as a qualification meet for the National Games which are held in October in Nanjing, produced three world season leaders, one for all the major championship distance events.
Men’s 50km – Han Yucheng 3:36:20
Yesterday morning (27 Feb) witnessed the best ever Chinese men’s 50km Race Walk ever held. The 26-year-old Han Yucheng, who broke the Asian record in the last year's National Championships with a winning time of 3:39:10 but was not able to finish at the Olympics, was determined to produce a very big performance and that’s exactly what he did!
In only his 5th 50km race of his career Han Yucheng missed Robert Korzeniowski's (POL) World record (3:36:03) by 17 seconds, and in the process crushed his earlier Asian record by almost three minutes with his winning time of 3:36:20. Han takes the third place in the world all-time list with this mark.
Two athletes aged only 20 took the other two medal positions. Xing Shucai, who had a personal best of 3:40:22 from last season, was second in a fast 3:37:58. Xing was 14th in the Naumburg World Cup 50km last season. Zhao Chengliang took the third place with another big personal best of 3:38:56.
Men’s 20km – Yu Chaohong 1:19:15
On Friday morning (25 Feb), Zhu Hongjun, from Liaoning province, entered the men's 20km race as the favourite. Still only 21, Zhu won his first national championship in April 2003, when 19-year-old then, with his personal best of 1:18:43. Last year he was just beaten by Han Yucheng for second place, but following his good form in the Olympics (6th place) he was going for the win on Friday from the start. However, it was not going to be this time, Zhu had finished in the medals in this event three times in a row, but now he faded well beyond 10th place.
Up-front there was a very tight race which saw three walkers together almost until the final moments. 28-year-old veteran Yu Chaohong, who only lost an Olympic medal in the final sprint of the Athens 50km last summer, was strongest this time finishing in first place with a world season's best of 1:19:15, the second best result in his career (PB 1:18:56).
Liu Yunfeng, who was fifth in the Naumburg World Cup 20km last season, was second with a personal best of 1:19:20. Liu, now 25 years old, was a junior star, who recorded a time of 1:21:27 at old age of 16 in 1996. That result is still the best youth result over 20km ever. Pei Chuang was third with 1:19:28, a personal best for him as well.
Women’s 20km – Jiang Jing 1:27:19
Also on Friday morning (Feb 26), the women's 20km Race Walk was a very, very close fight too, and it was the usual trio, Jiang Jing, Wang Liping and Song Hongjuan fighting for the top placings.
Song, who had won both the 2003 and2004 National Championships in world leading times and also won the IAAF Walking Challenge in Kunshan 2004, was the main candidate for the top podium here. But Song, who following her moderate international performances in 2003, finally proved something during last season with a sixth place finish in the Naumburg World Cup, was another champion beaten here. Although her finishing time 1:28:26 was very good at this phase of the season, it was only enough for a third place finish in the competition.
Jiang and Wang, however were together until the final kilometre with the younger one, the 19-year-old Jiang, grabbing her first national title with a fast personal best of 1:27:19. It was just better than her second place time of 1:27:34 which she recorded in the Naumburg World Cup last year.
2000 Olympic champion Wang Liping, who was 8th in the Athens Olympics, finished second just behind Jiang in 1:27:24, the second best result in her career and fastest since 2001.
Mirko Jalava for the IAAF