At the race walk competition in Slovakia on March 25, Liu Hong, a 36-year-old Chinese athlete, finished second in the women's 35km with a time of 2 hours, 40 minutes and 6 seconds, setting a new Asian record.
However, standing at the height of the world's track and field fans, the champion will be remembered by more people, she is Peruvian Kimberly Garcia. She set the project's first true world record in 2 hours, 37 minutes and 44 seconds.
The men's and women's 35km is a new official event of the World Athletics Federation, and the previous so-called world record can only be regarded as the world's best result. In the women's 35 km, the World Athletics Federation set a record line of 2 hours, 38 minutes and 00 seconds, after which it can be called a world record. So this time Garcia really set a world record.
At last year's World Championships, Garcia won the championship with a time of 2 hours, 39 minutes and 16 seconds; China's Cheyang Shijie finished third in 2 hours, 40 minutes and 37 seconds, Liu Hong's previous Asian record.
You have to admit that Kimberly Garcia (full name Gabriel Kimberly Garcia Leon) is the world's number one runner in the women's 35km race walk. Sister Cheyang Shi and Liu Hong, two former Olympic champions, are also difficult to gain an advantage from her.
But when it comes to the Olympics, Garcia is about to suffer in front of Chinese athletes. The 20km will be challenged by Yang Jiayu, China's number one speedster, but that's not the subject of this article. In the 35-kilometer race walk, the Paris Olympics did not set up a single event, but set up a mixed relay team model.
Although Garcia dominated the women's 35 kilometers, she was the only Peruvian teammate. The 35 km of the Peruvian male athlete is not in the ranks. The number one male athlete is Cesar Rodriguez, who finished 16th in the individual event at last year's World Championships with a time of 2 hours, 29 minutes and 24 seconds.
The 35km team race, according to the competition method of last year's Chinese Race Walking Championship, should be a team of three men and three women, all of which are simply added up under the premise, and the least champion. How the Paris Olympics will be set up is uncertain. But it shouldn't be much worse.
The top three women's 35km women's 35km for the Chinese team this year are: Liu Hong, Bai Xueying and Cheyang Shijie, ranked second, fourth and sixth in the world. The men are He Xianghong, Wang Qin and Cui Lihong. Ranked 1st, 3rd and 8th in the world. Liu Hong and He Xianghong are also Asian record setters.
Although the world rankings will change at any time, the difficulty of the results of Chinese players is placed there, and changes are also fine-tuned. Whether it is one man and one woman, or two men and two women, or three men and three women, no matter how they match, there is no team in the world that can get together such a strong group combination as China. When will Paris Olympics not be won?!