World record holder cruises to 6th national title

8 August 2006Men’s 110m Hurdles World record holder Liu Xiang’s first competition since his 12.88 WR in Lausanne almost a month ago was the spotlight event of the Chinese National Championships held in Shijiazhuang 4-7 August. In the final held on Monday, Liu’s winning margin wasn’t that big with the world’s fastest hurdler finished in 13.30 with Shi Dongpeng recording a season’s best of 13.39s for second place.

These championships were an extremely important competition for many of the juniors who will be competing in the World Junior Championships that begin one week from today in Beijing. Several juniors took national titles and some of them will have a good chance of winning in Beijing.

In the men’s running events 2005 World University Games champion Hu Kai took the 100m title in 10.30 and 200m was won by the national record holder Yang Yaozu in 20.82. Yang also finished second in the 100m.

In the 400m 21-year-old Wang Liangyu set a personal best of 46.13 with his win, while Li Xiangyu took the 800m title in 1:49.37. Earlier this summer, in July, the 20-year-old Li became the second faster Chinese ever in this event recording 1:46.45 in Lignano, Italy, missing the national record by a scant 0.01 seconds.

19-year-old Lin Xiangqian became a double champion first winning the 5000m in 14:08.73 and then his main event, the 3000m Steeplechase with a fast personal best time of 8:29.78. The time which is also the third fastest ever by a Chinese junior, puts the fast-finishing Lin on the list of medal candidates in the Steeplechase.

The men’s 400m Hurdles was won by national record holder (49.03 this summer) Meng Yan who produced another fast time of 49.31 to win by a margin of almost a full second.

In the men’s field events 20-year-old Zhang Shufeng reached a new level in the High Jump, winning with a personal best of 2.30m. The World Junior Championships favourite and 2005 World Youth Champion Huang Haiqiang was still struggling. Although he did finish second in the competition, he could only beat 2.20 this time. After setting his personal best of 2.28m in May, he has now competed five times in a row without reaching a height of more than 2.20m.

Another World Youth Champion from last year, pole vaulter Yang Yansheng, who has already set a personal best of 5.50m earlier this season, took his first national senior title with a 5.30m clearance. Yang too will also be among the medal candidates in Beijing.

In the Long Jump the experienced Zhou Can added another title winning with a 7.93m season’s best. He was helped by the fact that the World Junior Championships favourite, 17-year-old Zhang Xiaoyi, did not start the final. Zhang had jumped 7.77m in the qualification and has a personal best of 8.17m earlier this season.

The men’s Triple Jump was a high class competition with the first five athletes reaching season’s bests, three of those personal bests. Two athletes jumped beyond 17m with Li Yanxi winning with a 17.12 leap. 21-year-old Zhu Shujing recorded his first ever 17m effort with a 17.03m jump, and Wu Bo took third place with a personal best of 16.90m. World Junior Championships participant Zhong Minwei was 7th with a 16.20m result.

In the men’s Shot Put 22-year-old national record holder Zhang Qi, the only Chinese to beat the 20m barrier, took an easy win with a 19.11m toss. Wang Like, exactly five years younger than Zhang, recorded a personal best at 18.42m enough for the second place. The 17-year-old Wang has already set two World Youth Records this season (with a best of 22.10m with the 5Kg shot in July) and also won the Asian Junior Championships with a personal best of 20.17m (6kg shot) in July. Wang will not be competing in the Beijing World Junior Championships.

Wu Tao won the men’s discus with a 60.32 throw and 19-year-old Qi Dakai won the hammer at 68.02m. Qi has already set the national junior record with the 7.26kg hammer this season (68.38m) and also with the 6kg hammer (75.07m). He will be competing in Beijing as well.

34-year-old national javelin record holder Li Rongxiang (84.29m in 2000) is not yet ready to give his place to younger javelin throwers. Li added another national title winning the tight competition with a throw of 77.57m. Chen Qi, the only Chinese over 80m this season finished second with a 77.25m result and 19-year-old Li Yu set a personal best of 75.48m for the third place. Li has been extremely consistent this season having thrown 74.50m or more for four times this season. He will be one of China’s medal hopes in the Beijing World Championships.

Qi Haifeng, the only Chinese to reach 8000 points in the Decathlon, won easily this time scoring 7940 total points.

The women’s running events were extremely low key this time with the best athletes missing from nearly  all events. The 800m was won by 17-year-old Long Xiaomei in 2:06.01 who will be running in the World Junior Championships.

1500m was won by a marathon runner Zhu Xiaolin in 4:19.75 and 16-year-old Xue Fei won the 5000m with a personal best of 15:38.66. She will among the favourites in the Beijing World Junior Championships 5000m following this performance.

In the 3000m Steeplechase Li Zhenzhu set the national record of 9:49.72 to win the competition before the former national record holder Chen Xiaofang finishing second with a season’s best of 9:53.32. World Junior Championships participant Wang Huan took third place with an impressive 9:57.34 clocking which also was her personal best.

The women’s 400m hurdles was highlighted by the fact that the Chinese number one, Huang Xiaoxiao did not start the final. In the absence of Huang, who finished fifth in the 2005 World Championships, the title was won by 18-year-old Chen Yumei with a personal best of 57.50s. Chen will be competing in the Beijing World Junior Championships.

In the High Jump 17-year-old World Junior Championships favourite Zheng Xingyuan tied the national junior record 1.92m to the national title. This was the third time Zheng has cleared this height during the last two years. The World Youth Champion from last summer, Gu Biwei, did not compete in these championships, but she has been included to the junior team in Beijing having jumped 1.89m earlier this summer. Two other 17-year-olds took the two remaining medals in the competition as well with Qiao Yanrui setting a personal best of 1.88m for the second place and Zhao Jing finishing third with a season’s best of 1.84m.

Gao Shuying won the Pole Vault with a 4.40m clearance and Zhou Yang, who will be competing in the World Junior Championships, was fourth at 4.20m. Chen Yaling won the Long Jump with a personal best of 6.62m with 19-year-old Zhang Yuan taking the second place with a 6.49m jump, same as her season’s best from the National Junior Championships earlier this season.  Zhang has jumped 6.50m PB last season and is part of the junior team in Beijing.

20-year-old Xie Limei won the women’s Triple Jump title with a big personal best of 14.54m. Li Qian was second with another PB of 14.09m and 2005 World Youth Champion Sha Li was fourth at 13.79m. Sha is also part of the Beijing team.

In the Shot Put Li Ling won with a personal best of 18.98m with former Chinese number one Li Meiju taking the second place with a 18.54m season’s best. Li Fengfeng finished third with a 17.92m toss, but the real surprise was in the fourth place which was occupied by only 15-year-old Gong Lijiao with a 17.92m personal best result only losing the bronze medal with second best throws. Gong is not a part of the Beijing team because she is too young to take part in that competition and Li Li and Liu Yingfan who are the Chinese shot putters in Beijing, did not do to well with Li finishing 10th at 16.66m and Liu not even made in to the final having only reached 16.10m in the qualification.

Another world class result was seen in the discus with Ma Xuejun, the double World Junior Champion from 2002/2004, setting a world class personal best of 65.00m for the win. 17-year-old Pan Saili, who will be competing in the Beijing World Junior Championships, took the 6th place with a season’s best of 56.61m and Tan Jian, who is the second thrower in Beijing, was 10th at 53.41m.

The World Junior Record holder Zhang Wenxiu won the women’s Hammer Throw with a season’s best of 72.98m and Gu Yuan took the second place also setting her SB at 69.28m.

The World Junior Record holder in javelin (62.93m in 2003), 20-year-old Xue Juan, who has been having problems ever since that record throw, reached a better level here. Xue qualified with a 61.58m season’s best throw, her second best mark ever, and then came close to that mark winning the final with a 61.52m result later. Only 16-year-old Song Dan took third place with a personal best of 58.59m, but she is not part of the Beijing junior team. 2005 World Youth Champion Zhang Li, who will also compete in Beijing, was fifth at 56.96m and Li Lingwei, the second Chinese in the Beijing javelin, finished 8th at 54.88m.

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Mirko Jalava for the IAAF