TAICANG, China, April 8 (Xinhua) — China’s four-time world champion Liu Hong outraced nationwide teammate and world document holder Yang Jiayu to seize the ladies’s 20km title on the World Athletics Race Walking Tour right here on Saturday.
Liu, 35, stayed patiently within the main group within the early phases of the race and started to speed up after 10km. Five kilometers later, she launched one other surge to interrupt clear from a three-woman main pack to seal the victory in a single hour, 28 minutes and 49 seconds.
“I just took the race as a training session and didn’t set any specific goal for this race, because two weeks ago I just competed in a 35km race and next weekend I will go for another 35km event,” stated Liu, who set an Asian 35km document of two:40:06 on her debut over the gap in Dudince, Slovakia on March 25.
Liu can be seeking to compete within the Japanese 35km Race Walking Championships slated for April 16 in Wajima.
“My plan was not to walk too fast and tried to maintain my pace at around 4:30-4:35 [per kilometer]. The rhythm was pretty steady in the first half of the race and I found my body condition was very good after halfway, so I just pushed ahead to go for the win,” Liu added.
27-year-old Yang Jiayu, who set the world document of 1:23:49 in 2021, didn’t reply Liu’s cost after 15km and needed to accept second place in 1:29:42. Fellow Chinese Su Wenxiu completed third in 1:29:46.
However, as 24-year-old Su was solely entered for the Chinese National Grand Prix, collectively held with the World Athletics Race Walking Tour in Taicang, third place of the Race Walking Tour occasion went to China’s Yang Liujing in 1:32:27.
In the boys’s 20km race that befell earlier on Saturday morning, China’s Zhang Jun trimmed one second off his private greatest to interrupt the tape with a world-leading time of 1:17:38.
“My expectation was to achieve a result of around 1:19:00. But after 10km [when starting to lead the race alone], I became fully relaxed and began to walk with ease. The result is one minute faster than my expectation,” stated Zhang.
The 24-year-old Chinese National Games champion did not enroll within the Race Walking Tour occasion both. As a end result, Ecuador’s David Hurtado, who completed second total, took prime spot within the Race Walking Tour occasion with a PB of 1:18:45. China’s You Tao and Niu Wenchao accomplished the rostrum with instances of 1:20:38 and 1:20:49 respectively.
“My objective for the race is to improve my personal best,” stated the rising Ecuadorian, whose earlier PB of 1:19:24 was achieved three months in the past.
This occasion marked the second time the 23-year-old has competed in Taicang. Hurtado took half within the U20 10km occasion on the World Race Walking Team Championships in 2018, however was disqualified after receiving three pink playing cards.
The males’s and girls’s 35km races can be held on Sunday morning.