World silver medallist Liu Shiying and 2015 world bronze medallist Wang Jianan produced the highlights of the Chinese Championships, which drew to a close on Friday (18) after four days of action in Shaoxing.
Wang emerged victorious in a competitive long jump contest, pushed all the way by 2016 world indoor bronze medallist Huang Changzhou. Huang kicked off the opening round with a world-leading PB of 8.33m (0.5m/s) while Wang opened with 8.21m. Huang backed up his leading mark in the second round with an 8.29m effort, but Wang improved to 8.36m (0.3m/s) to take the lead.
Huang tried to respond and followed up with consistent leaps of 8.24m, 8.23m, 8.23m and 8.12m, but Wang held on to pole position. After fouls in rounds three and four, and a pass in round five, Wang ended his series with an 8.29m leap.
His winning mark is the best by a Chinese athlete since Wang equalled the national record of 8.47m in 2018.
The women&rsquo;s javelin was similarly competitive. Liu Shiying opened proceedings with a 65.08m effort while Lu Huihui, the Asian record-holder and three-time world medallist, needed a few throws to find her rhythm. After opening with 61.06m and improving to 62.71m in round two, Lu closed in on Liu&rsquo;s lead with a third-round effort of 64.98m.
Lu improved again in the penultimate round, taking the lead with 65.70m. But Liu saved her best for last, unleashing a lifetime best of 67.29m with the final throw of the competition to regain the lead and take the title.
Asian champion Xie Wenjun was a class apart in the men&rsquo;s 110m hurdles. The World Championships fifth-place finisher clocked a season&rsquo;s best of 13.24 to win by 0.30.
In the women&rsquo;s shot put, Gao Yang came through in the final two rounds to take the title from Jiang Yue. Jiang set a PB of 17.63m with her opening throw, which stood as the leading mark for the first four rounds. Gao bettered it by one centimetre with her fifth throw and then improved to 17.98m in the last round to take the title.
Elsewhere in the field events, world finalist Wu Ruiting took the men&rsquo;s triple jump title with a season&rsquo;s best of 16.90m, while World University Games silver medallist Ma Qun won the men&rsquo;s javelin with 81.13m, also a season&rsquo;s best.
World University Games bronze medallist Li Ying added 20 centimetres to her PB to win the triple jump with 14.02 (1.3m/s). Asian Games bronze medallist Xu Xiaoling was just one centimetre shy of her outdoor PB in the long jump, winning the title with 6.63m (-0.7m/s).
Xie Zhenye, the Asian record-holder for 200m, won the men&rsquo;s sprint double. He took the 100m title in 10.31 (-0.2m/s) and two days later added the 200m crown to his collection, stopping the clock at 20.72 (-0.4m/s). 17-year-old Yan Haibin was second in a PB of 20.86, moving him to eighth on the Asian U18 all-time list.
Ge Manqi, the national indoor record-holder over 60m, won the women&rsquo;s 100m in 11.35 (-0.2m/s).
Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics

World silver medallist Liu Shiying and 2015 world bronze medallist Wang Jianan produced the highlights of the Chinese Championships, which drew to a close on Friday (18) after four days of action in Shaoxing.

Wang and Liu impress at Chinese Championships

Liu Shiying of China broke the Asian record in the javelin to highlight the Golden Grand Prix, an IAAF World Challenge meeting, in Kawasaki, Japan on Sunday (21).
Opening the competition with a 63.75m effort, the 23-year-old, who took silver at the 2012 IAAF World Junior Championships, reached 66.47m in the third round to eclipse the previous continental mark of 66.13m set by her compatriot Lyu Huihui at the IAAF World Championships Beijing 2015.
"The conditions today were good but I didn't expect to see 66.47," said Liu, who arrived in this city on the outskirts of Tokyo with a 65.64m best set last year. "I'll continue to set high goals but right now I want to focus on making my form and technique more consistent."
Olympic finalist Kathryn Mitchell of Australia was second, reaching a 63.23m season's best.
Liu set the tone for Chinese athletes who captured four events on the pleasant but windy afternoon at Todoroki Stadium, where more than 15,000 spectators gathered.
In the long jump, world bronze medallist Wang Jianan produced an 8.14m winning effort in the fifth round to overtake compatriot Huang Chanzhou, who controlled the competition from the second round when he sailed 8.06m.
Wu Ruiting won the triple jump at 17.18m (1.7m/s), the first career leap beyond 17 metres for the 21-year-old. Donald Scott of the USA was second at 16.97m (2.1m/s).
The fourth Chinese victory came in the men's 110m hurdles, where Xie Wenjun, facing a -1.8m/s wind, clocked 13.51 to edge Olympic finalist Milan Trajkovic of Cyprus by a scant 0.01.
<h3>Berry takes first 2017 Hammer Throw Challenge laurels</h3>
Beyond Liu's record-breaking heroics, infield action included the women's hammer, which kicked off the 2017 IAAF Hammer Throw Challenge.
In a close competition, Olympian Gwen Berry of the USA edged Olympic bronze medallist Sophie Hitchon with a 74.13m best. Hitchon threatened the US record-holder in the final round with a 73.97m effort, but came up 16 centimetres short. Joanna Fiodorow of Poland finished third with 71.46m.
In the men's javelin, Germany's Thomas Rohler, who threatened the event's 94-metre barrier in his season's debut in Doha two weeks ago, reached 86.55m to win by nearly four metres over Shih-Feng Huang of Taipei.
"It was hot today and the wind was different from yesterday's practice, but the atmosphere at the venue was good and I threw well," said Rohler, who bounced back from a disappointing fourth place finish at a throws meeting in Offenburg, Germany, eight days ago.
Tianna Bartoletta's attempt at a third straight 100m/long jump double victory in Kawasaki got off to a good start in the long jump but was foiled later on in the short dash.
Competing in her specialty for the first time this year, Bartoletta was the picture of consistency, reaching 6.79m on both her first and second jumps and 6.74m on her fourth to secure the victory over Great Britain's Shara Proctor who reached 6.65m in the fourth round of her 2017 debut.
"I'm always happy to win but today I had several good jump so I was particularly pleased with that," said Bartoletta, the world and Olympic champion in the event.
But in the 100m, the third event from the last on the afternoon programme, Bartoletta could do no better than third with a modest 11.47 in a race where Ivet Lalova-Collio was completing a double win of her own. The Bulgarian won in 11.40 from Tawanna Meadows of the US who clocked 11.44, ninety minutes after winning the 200m in 22.98.
Queen Harrison produced the day's most dominant performance on the straight, taking the 100m hurdles in 12.65, well clear of Tiffany Porter who clocked 13.00.
Justin Gatlin of the US and Canada's Aaron Brown won the men's sprints, the former clocking 10.28 (-1.2m/s) to take the 100m and the latter 20.62 (-2.0m/s) over the half lap.&nbsp;
Quincy Downing of the USA won the 400m hurdles in 48.96, comfortably ahead of Takatoshi Abe of Japan who clocked 49.20.
Kenyans swept the middle distances. Tomothy Kitum won the 800m in 1:47.03, Paul Tanui the 3000m in 7:52.67, Jairus Birech the 3000m steeplechase in 8:19.54 and Nelly Jepkosgei the women's 1500m in 4:06.86.
Elsewhere, Canada's Michael Mason won the high jump at 2.30m on countback over Japan's Takashi Eto. Hiroki Ogita led a 1-2-3 sweep in the pole vault for Japan at 5.60m. And Jeneva Stevens of the US, a 2015 World Championships finalist, won the shot put by nearly a metre with 18.48m.
Bob Ramsak for the IAAF

Liu Shiying of China broke the Asian record in the javelin to highlight the Golden Grand Prix, an IAAF World Challenge meeting, in Kawasaki, Japan on Sunday (21).


Liu breaks Asian javelin record in Kawasaki

Hosts China collected four more gold medals to finish on top of the medal table with 15 titles at the 2015 Asian Championships, which concluded in heavy rain in Wuhan on Sunday (7).Thanks to the powerful home stretch from 400m champion Yang Huizhen, the anchor leg runner in the women&rsquo;s 4x400m relay, China rallied to run down defending champions India in the final few metres, snatching victory in 3:33.44.&ldquo;My plan was to follow in the first 200 and then charge for the win after the final curve. I have given everything. With such rainy weather, we are satisfied with the time,&rdquo; said the 22-year-old Yang, who set a personal best of 52.37 to win the individual 400m title on Thursday.Despite the absence of Olympic and world championships medallist Gong Lijiao, China&rsquo;s rule in the women&rsquo;s shot put was still unshakable. The 2011 world youth and 2014 world junior champion Guo Tianqian improved her best by two centimetres to win with her fourth round effort of 18.59m.China&rsquo;s Gao Yang took the silver with 17.98m while her countrywomen Bian Ka finished third with 17.78 and completed a clean sweep for the hosts.<h3>Chinese triple jump medal takeaway</h3> The women&rsquo;s triple jump event also witnessed a 1-2-3 by China.Wang Wupin claimed the title with 13.76m, followed by Li Yanmei and Wang Rong with 13.57m and 13.44m respectively&ldquo;I planned to jump over 14 metres but the rain was too heavy and the runway was wet and slippery, making it impossible to compete to my best level,&rdquo; reflected Wang, who improved her best to 14.10m last month in Beijing.Javelin thrower Liu Shiying contributed the fourth gold for China as she reached 61.33m with her fifth round effort to seal the victory, beating the championship record of 60.65 set by her compatriot Li Lingwei two years ago.The biggest surprise of the day and perhaps the whole championships, was the defeat of Qatari high jump star and 2015 world-leader Mutaz Essa Barshim.Barshim, whose Asian record is 2.43m, struggled to find his form in the rain and failed to go higher than 2.20m.Japan&rsquo;s Takashi Eto, a modest 11th last autumn at the Asian Games in the South Korean city of Incheaon when Barshim took the gold medal, took an unexpected gold medal when he went over 2.24m.Hsiang Chunhsien, of Chinese Taipei, also went over that height but had to settle for the silver on count-back.&ldquo;It's not my best. I don&rsquo;t like competing in this weather,&rdquo; bemoaned Barshim, who suffered his first defeat in right competitions in 2015.<h3>Two more golds for Ogunode</h3> Fellow Qatari Femi Ogunode was also bothered by the wet conditions but managed to win the men&rsquo;s 200m. &ldquo;Breaking the 200m Asian record was my plan before the rain started this morning. So my goal was just going for the win, not the record because I do not want to push myself and get injured,&rdquo; said Ogunode after winning the race in 20.32, just 0.04 shy of the championship record he set in the semi-final on Saturday.As the winner of men&rsquo;s 100m and 200m events, Ogunode added a third title to his name in Wuhan as he helped Qatar win the men&rsquo;s 4x400m gold with a championship record of 3:02.50.The men&rsquo;s 800m was also won by Qatar with reigning champion Musaeb Abdulrahman Balla clocking 1:49.40.United Arab Emirates distance runner Alia Saeed Mohammed added the continental title to her Asian Games gold as she clocked 31:52.29 to win over 25 laps of the track, slicing 35 seconds from the previous championship record by Bahrain&rsquo;s Shitaye Eshete of Bahrain at the last edition of the championship in 2013. Defending champion Viktoriya Zyabkin,a of Kazakhstan, shrugged off a laboriously slow start with a reaction time of 0.351 seconds to win the women&rsquo;s 200m in 23.09. India&rsquo;s Tintu Lukka produced a season&rsquo;s best of 2:01.53 to win the women&rsquo;s 800m while Japan&rsquo;s Nakamura Akihiko took the decathlon gold medal with 7773 points.Vincent Wu for the IAAF

Hosts China collected four more gold medals to finish on top of the medal table with 15 titles at the 2015 Asian Championships, which concluded in heavy rain in Wuhan on Sunday (7).

Wang and Liu impress at Chinese Championships

Liu breaks Asian javelin record in Kawasaki

China add four gold on final day to finish on top at Asian Championships