China's Chen Long in the high jump at the Asian Youth Championships (© Organisers)
High jumper Chen Long was one of 12 Chinese athletes who struck gold in Hong Kong at the Asian Youth Championships, which concluded on Sunday (17).
Chen, the Youth Olympic champion, lived up to expectation as he cleared every height on his first attempt, up to and including his winning mark of 2.20m, smashing the championship record in the process. He ended his series with three unsuccessful tries at a would-be PB of 2.24m.
Compatriot Ma Jia finished second with 2.16m, also bettering the previous championship best of 2.15m.
Chen was one of 15 athletes to break a championship record in Hong Kong, nine of whom were Chinese.
Lu Jiawen completed a Chinese high jump double by winning the girls’ event with a championship record of 1.83m.
Wu Guohang came from behind to win the boys’ long jump. After Ho Kuei-Lin of Chinese Taipei took an early lead with 7.48m (2.3m/s), Wu consolidated his second-place position with 7.42m in the penultimate round (3.3m/s).
Japan’s Ryutaro Tanaka then sprung a surprise in the final round with 7.43m (2.3m/s) to move into second place. Now in third, Wu sailed out to a championship record of 7.63m (0.5m/s) to take the lead. Ho fouled his final attempt and had to make do with the silver medal.
Jiao Shuangshuangled a Chinese 1-2 in the girls’ 5000m race walk. She won in a championship record of 22:54.69 with compatriot Yin Lamei finishing a close second in 22:56.22.
Yang Xin and Chen Nuo replicated the feat in the girls’ discus, Yang taking gold with a championship record of 49.69m and fellow Chinese thrower Chen taking silver with 47.55m.
The boys’ 110m hurdles was one of the highest quality track events of the championships. In a close finish, Malaysia’s Mohd Irfan Izzan Fetry just got the better of Japan’s Kentaro Soga, 13.60 to 13.64.
Mohammad Reza Rahmanifar was one of two Iranian winners in the boys’ throwing events. He struck gold in the discus with 60.24m while compatriot Arsalan Ghashghaei won the shot put with 19.36m.
Championship records also fell in both combined events competitions. India’s Usaid Khan dominated the boys’ decathlon with 6952, while Kazakhstan’s Adina Makhsutova won the girls’ heptathlon with 5345.
Hong Kong’s Cade Wright was the sole gold medallist for the host nation. She comfortably won the 1500m by two seconds, crossing the line in 4:34.04.
Jon Mulkeen for the IAAF
