An ambitious heart but a low profile for Xue Changrui

Born in China’s Shandong Province, the birthplace of the great Confucius and Confucianism, China’s leading pole vaulter Xue Changrui is well aware of the importance of modesty and humility.

After finishing second at the 2014 IAAF Continental Cup and improving the national record to 5.80m at the IAAF World Challenge meeting in Beijing earlier this summer, Xue now has to be seen as one of the host nation’s top medal contenders for the 2015 IAAF World Championships in Beijing.

But the 23-year-old still chooses to hide his ambition and keep a low profile while biding his time patiently.

“Every athlete wants to be a world champion, and so do I. But in order to achieve this goal I have to leave it all behind and focus on my daily training,” said Xue, speaking from Fuzhou in southeast China where he was at a winter training camp.

As the only athlete in his family, Xue showed his potential in track and field at an early age.

In the second grade, he broke the 60m record of the elementary school, a feat which drew the attention of his physical education teacher who then gave him his very first lessons in athletics.

Xue started to train as a long jumper but in 2006 he sustained a serious lumbar disc injury in his back.  

During the rehabilitation period, his coach persuaded Xue to change his major to pole vault which he believed was more suitable for Xue.

“I think the injury may be a blessing in disguise. If I did not sustain the injury maybe I would now be an unsuccessful long jumper,” said Xue.

After three years of hard training, Xue started to show his talent in pole vault in 2009, improving his personal best from 4.60m to 5.25m under the guidance of China’s former Asian champion Liu Feiliang.

And his progress has never stopped.

He finished third with 5.30m at the Chinese Championships in 2011. In 2012 he won the national Tianjin meet with a vault of 5.40m before improving further and finishing second at the national championships with a personal best of 5.60m.

French influence

In the winter of 2012, after contact between the Chinese federation and their French counterparts, Xue and his fellow pole vaulter Yang Yancheng, the former outdoor national record-holder and still the Chinese indoor record-holder with a best of 5.80m, based themselves in France.  

Xue started to compete internationally for the first time and quickly established himself as a talent to watch with a clearance of 5.75m at an indoor event in Nevers, France in February 2013.

“It was the last competition of my three-month training camp in Europe,” Xue recalled.

“The vault of 5.75m provided a huge boost to my confidence. Since then, I would never feel stage fright when competing with world-class pole vaulters.”

Xue won the domestic Chinese Grand Prix Final with an outdoor best of 5.65m in June 2013 before clearing 5.60m the following month to follow in the footsteps of his first coach Liu to claim the Asian title in heavy rain in the Indian city of Pune.

At last year’s IAAF World Championships in Moscow, he became China’s first men’s pole vault finalist in 30 years. Although he only finished 12th at 5.50m, it was a further sign that he had arrived on the global stage.

After the 2013 Chinese National Games, where he struck gold with a clearance of 5.60m, Xue changed his technique from 14 strides to 16 in a bid to progress further.

Back on French soil, Xue improved his absolute best to 5.76m in Nice in February 2014 and went on to improve the national record to 5.80m at the IAAF World Challenge meeting in Beijing in May.

At the end of the summer, he also finished as the runner-up to France’s world record-holder Renaud Lavillenie at the Continental Cup before claiming the gold medal at the Asian Games in Inchon, South Korea.

On the rise

Talking about his fast progress in recent years, Xue attributed his success largely to his current mentor, French coach Damien Inocencio, who guided Lavillenie to the gold medal at the London 2012 Olympics before parting ways with him.

“Damien is like an older brother to me,” said Xue. “I have been training with him since the winter of 2012 and he has given me a lot of help both in and off the field.

“He not only introduced me to the most advanced techniques but also influences me a lot with his great enthusiasm and confidence during competitions. We can talk about anything and get along quite well with each other,” he added.

“Lavillenie is a great athlete. I have been competing with him for some time but never beaten him even once. (Although when Lavillenie failed to clear a height in Stockholm this summer, Xue finished third.) He is better than me in nearly every aspect, but I am younger and I still want to further improve myself.

“I know I have a lot to learn from Lavillenie, but my goal is not to become the second Lavillenie. I just want to be the first ‘me’!

“I believe Asian vaulters can also jump high although we are not as strong and powerful as the Europeans.

“Asian athletes can do well in sports like table tennis and badminton because we are good at techniques and skills and in pole vault good technique is also important.”

The 2015 IAAF World Championships will be held in Beijing’s famous ‘Bird’s Nest’ stadium, which Xue believes is a lucky place for him.

“I broke the national record in the ‘Bird's Nest’, and it is the place that held the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games. Being Chinese, I feel proud to compete there.

"The audience there are so amazing. Back in May I might not have been able to break the record but for their support and thunderous cheers,” he added.

“But for now, I do not want to think too much about the World Championships. What I need to do is to give it all out in my training,” said a clear-minded Xue.

In December, Xue will go for another three-month training camp in France, returning to Clermont-Ferrand where Inocencio is based. He is also likely to compete indoors but hasn't decided when and where yet.

It will be the third consecutive year for him to be abroad during the famous Spring Festival, which is the most important traditional holiday for Chinese people to get together with their families.

But Xue believes his devotion will be worth it. “After all," he added, "no pain no gain."

Vincent Wu for the IAAF