Guangdong general Wang Kaihua broke the national record and won the championship

Guangdong race walker Wang Kaihua won the championship and broke the national record. (Xinhua News Agency)

Guangzhou Daily News (All-media reporter Bai Zhibiao) Starting yesterday, the two-day 2021 "Iron Man Cup" National Race Walking Championship and Olympic Trials were held in Huangshan. In the men's 20 km race walk that ended yesterday morning, Wang Kaihua, a race walker from Guangdong, won the championship by an absolute advantage over strong players such as London Olympic champion Chen Ding and broke the national record. On the same day, Yang Jiayu of Inner Mongolia won the women's 20 km race walk final with a time of 1 hour, 23 minutes and 51 seconds, while raising the world record by a full 47 seconds.

This event is not only a selection event for the Tokyo Olympic Games, but also the first national athletics event this year. A total of 20 km race walks for men and women, 10 km race walk for men and women, and men's 30 km and 50 km race walks have been set up for individual and team races.

The National Race Walking Championship is the highest level of race walking in the country, with a total of 432 athletes from 23 teams from various provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions registering to participate. Liu Hong, the champion of the women's 20 km race walk and the world record holder of the women's 50 km race walk at the Rio Olympic Games, Chen Ding, the champion of the London Olympic Games, Wang Kaihua, Cai Zelin, Yang Jiayu, QieYang Shijie, and the famous Huangshan star Lu Xiuzhi will compete in the same field to compete for the qualification for the Tokyo Olympic Games.

In the men's 20 km race walk that ended yesterday morning, Guangdong famous Wang Kaihua showed great courage, and in the final stage, he had thrown all the strong opponents far away, and finally won the championship in 1 hour 16 minutes and 54 seconds, while breaking the national record of 1 hour 17 minutes and 36 seconds held by Wang Zhen. Yunnan's Cai Zelin finished second in 1 hour, 17 minutes and 39 seconds, and his teammate Zhang Jun also walked out of 1 hour, 17 minutes and 39 seconds, but finished third with a slight position difference, and veteran Chen Ding ranked 25th.

It is worth mentioning that Wang Kaihua's performance this time is still the third best result in the history of the men's 20 km race walk, and it is also one of the only three results in the world today to break the 1 hour and 17 minute mark, and the world record in this event is the 1 hour 16 minutes and 36 seconds held by Japan's Yusuke Suzuki.

In addition, in the women's 20 km race walk final on the same day, Inner Mongolia's Yang Jiayu not only won the championship with a time of 1 hour 23 minutes and 51 seconds, but also broke the world record of 1 hour 24 minutes and 38 seconds set by Liu Hong, a double champion of the Olympic games and the World Championships, in Spain in 2015, an improvement of a full 47 seconds! Liu Hong also broke his own world record with 1 hour, 24 minutes and 27 seconds and won the runner-up. Qinghai's QiyangShi sister won the third place with 1 hour, 24 minutes and 45 seconds.

Source: Guangzhou Daily