They may have a population of 1.4billion, but China has never managed to get a sprinter into a 100m, 200m or 400m final across the past 14 editions of the IAAF World Championships.But with the 15th edition of the championships due to be held for the first time in China in August, the host nation&rsquo;s sprinters are hoping to cause a few surprises at the Birds&rsquo; Nest Stadium this summer.Wei Yongli, winner of the 100m at the 2014 Asian Games and 2013 Asian Championships, is arguably the most in-form sprinter in China at this early stage of the season.The 24-year-old equalled the national indoor 60m record of 7.19 on three consecutive occasions last month. The first of those marks came at the National Grand Prix meeting in Shanghai where she tied the mark set by Li Xuemei at the 2001 IAAF World Indoor Championships.One week later, Wei raced to another 7.19 to win in Xianlin before matching that time again in Beijing the following week.&ldquo;It was definitely a pity,&rdquo; said Wei, who is currently at a training camp in Fuzhou in southeast China. &ldquo;I really wanted to break the record.&ldquo;I started my indoor season in Europe where I competed in four events and then returned to China to run in three meets,&rdquo; she added. &ldquo;My results had been improving competition by competition. The three races in China, as dramatic as they were, proved my progress. Now I am looking forward to the outdoor season.&rdquo;Wei will run her first 100m race of 2015 at the Seiko Golden Grand Prix next month in Kawasaki, where she will try to meet the 11.33 entry standard for the World Championships in Beijing.&ldquo;I know compared with my PB of 11.29, the entry standard is a little bit high for me, but I am confident that I can meet the standard,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I will compete in the World Championships and hopefully I can make history this time.&rdquo;Wei set her PB in the Indian city of Pune when she claimed the 100m title at the 2013 Asian Championships. She also won last year&rsquo;s Asian Games title in Inchon in 11.48. But Wei is under no illusion about the difference in the quality of competition on the global level compared to the continental circuit.&ldquo;Winning in Pune and Incheon helped to boost my confidence, but there is still a huge gap between Asian sprinting and world sprinting,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;In Asia only a few women can sprint to sub 11.20, but in the world dozens of female sprinters can run sub-11.00. So the World Championships in August will be a different experience for me.&rdquo;Wei has competed at the past two editions of the World Championships, but only in the 4x100m. She had something of a baptism of fire on her debut appearance. Aged just 19 at the time, she false-started in her 4x100m heat to end China&rsquo;s chances in the event before it even began.Two years later, and this time running the anchor leg, the Chinese team safely got the baton around, but their 44.22 clocking was only good enough for seventh place in their heat.This year in Beijing, not only does Wei want to contest an individual event; she also wants to make amends in the relay.&ldquo;Our relay team ran 42.83 in 2014,&rdquo; said Wei of China&rsquo;s gold-medal-winning run at the Asian Games. &ldquo;I believe we have established ourselves as a serious contender on the world stage. Making the final in Beijing is our goal.&rdquo;<h3>Men&rsquo;s sprints on the rise</h3>Also in Inchon, China&rsquo;s men&rsquo;s 4x100m team broke the Asian record as the quartet of Chen Shiwei, Xie Zhenye, Su Bingtian and Zhang Peimeng crossed the finish line in 37.99, beating the previous mark of 38.03 set by Japan.&ldquo;For me, the 100m and relay events are equally important,&rdquo; said Zhang, who holds the Chinese 100m record at 10.00. &ldquo;Now we have three members from our team that can run 10.30 or faster. I think that shows our competitiveness.&rdquo;Aside from his national 100m record, Zhang is also the second-fastest Chinese sprinter ever in the 200m after his former national record of 20.47 was beaten by 2010 Youth Olympic champion Xie Zhenye last October with his 20.44 clocking.Zhang and Xie are just two of China&rsquo;s up-and-coming sprinters. Two-time Asian champion Su Bingtian broke the national indoor 60m record last year when he just missed out on a medal at the IAAF World Indoor Championships by less than a hundredth of a second.One year before that, Mo Youxue became the first Chinese athlete to win a global 100m title when triumphing at the IAAF World Youth Championships in Donetsk. Mo will still be a junior in 2015, but showed good progress during the indoor season to suggest he might make it on to China&rsquo;s team for Beijing this summer.After breaking the national 100m record at the 2013 World Championships to narrowly miss the 100m final by the margin of 0.009, 28-year-old Zhang experienced a relatively lacklustre year in 2014. His season&rsquo;s best in the 100m was 10.17 and he finished outside of the medals at the Asian Games. But Zhang believes everything is still under control.&ldquo;We had expected the decline in performance last year,&rdquo; said Zhang, who is also currently at the training camp in Fuzhou. &ldquo;On the one hand, I was bothered by the injury in my right knee. But on the other hand, I was on the peak of my performance curve in 2013, and 2014 could be seen as the trough, which is quite necessary if I want to reach another peak this season.&ldquo;Although I am not a young sprinter any more, I feel I still have room to improve,&rdquo; he added.Zhang will also start his outdoor season in Kawasaki. His focus this year is on the 100m and relay and he won&rsquo;t compete in any 200m event internationally.&ldquo;The Beijing World Championships is our most important task this year,&rdquo; said Zhang&rsquo;s coach Li Qing. &ldquo;The competition in men&rsquo;s 100m is always brutal and Zhang will stand little chance (of reaching the final) if he is not at his highest level.&rdquo;&ldquo;We will try to keep him in good form and avoid injuries or sickness,&rdquo; added Li. &ldquo;Hopefully he can give his best in Beijing.&rdquo;Vincent Wu for the IAAF

They may have a population of 1.4billion, but China has never managed to get a sprinter into a 100m, 200m or 400m final across the past 14 editions of the IAAF World Championships.

Chinese sprinters looking to impress in Beijing

Qatari sprinter Femi Ogunode provided the biggest highlight of an entertaining second day of the 2014 Asian Games athletics programme when he sped to an Asian 100m record of 9.93 in the South Korean city of Inchon on Sunday (28).With a slight 0.4m/s breeze on his back, and despite a far-from-perfect start, Ogunode quickly got into his running before taking 0.06 off the Asian record that had been held by his compatriot Samuel Francis since 2007. "I had a feeling that I would break the Asian record and I promise I'll win more gold medals here," said the ebullient Ogunode, who is also running the 200m and the 4x100m relay. "Look out for me in the World Championships in China in 2015 and the Rio Olympic Games in 2016."Ogunode had given notice that he was ready to go into new territory when he clocked 10.02 in his semi-final earlier in the day. A distant second in the final was China’s Su Bingtian in 10.10. Former Asian record-holder Francis, who appeared to be struggling with a leg injury, finished last in the final. Asian records almost fell in two other events.Saudi Arabia’s Youssef Masrahi, the bronze medallist at the last Games four years ago, set an impressive Games record in the men’s 400m of 44.46, taking 0.47 off the previous mark and coming home just 0.03 outside his own continental standard set at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Lausanne earlier this summer. Bahrain’s Abbas Abubakar Abbas, still only 18, couldn’t quite reignite the fireworks he let off in his semi-final on Saturday, when he clocked 45.17, but still grabbed the silver medal with 45.62.Abbas’ countrywoman Kemi Adekoya won the women’s 400m comfortably in 51.59, although she was slower than her Games record of 51.11 set in Saturday’s heat. Quach Thi Lan got a rare athletics medal for Vietnam as she surprised to take the silver medal in 52.06, her second personal best over one lap of the track in as many days.China took the remaining five titles on Sunday.China’s Asian record-holder Wang Zhen got the first of the day’s gold medals in the men’s 20km race walk, winning in a Games record of 1:19:45.Wang duelled with Japan’s Yusuke Suzuki from the halfway point until 17 kilometres, when the Chinese race walker started to pull away from his rival before clinching the victory.Suzuki hung on to claim the silver medal in 1:20.44 with local star Hyunsub Kim taking the bronze medal for South Korea in 1:21:37.The women’s race three hours later didn’t quite have the same depth but Lu Xiuzhi made it a double for China in the discipline with a win in 1:31:06, finishing more than two minutes ahead of the Indian silver medallist Kaur Khushbir, who was second in 1:33.07.China also dominated the women’s hammer later in the day with three-time world bronze medallist Zhang Wenxiu winning with a Games record of 77.33m to retain the title she had also won in 2006 and 2010.The distance added 34cm to her personal best and smashed her own Games record set eight years ago by more than three metres. Zhang was also only 35cm away from the Asian record of her compatriot Wang Zheng, set earlier this year on home soil in Chengdu.Wang, the 2013 Asian champion, briefly took the lead in the third round with 74.16m, after Zhang had reached 74.14m with her first throw, but the latter responded immediately with 74.27m.Zhang then asserted her authority in the second half of the contest with successively improving throws of 75.96m, 76.20m and then 77.33m while Wang could not improve and eventually had to settle for the silver medal.Xue Changrui, second for Asia-Pacific at the IAAF Continental Cup two weeks ago, fulfilled his role as the men’s pole vault favourite and added to China’s burgeoning gold reserves as he took the title with 5.55m.Japan’s Daichi Sawano cleared the same height before both men failed three times at what would have been a Games record-equalling height of 5.65m but Xue got the gold medal thanks to his flawless record and first-time clearances at 5.45m and 5.55m, the only other heights he attempted.Wei Yongli, from China, got the verdict after a tight finish in the women’s 100m, winning in 11.48, into a -0.5m/s headwind. Japanese record-holder Chisato Fukushima was second with 11.49 and Olga Safronova of Kazakhstan took the bronze medal in 11.50.Phil Minshull for the IAAF

Qatari sprinter Femi Ogunode provided the biggest highlight of an entertaining second day of the 2014 Asian Games athletics programme when he sped to an Asian 100m record of 9.93 in the South Korean city of Inchon on Sunday (28).

Ogunode sets area 100m record of 9.93 at the Asian Games

Four Games records were broken – three of them by Chinese athletes – on Wednesday (9), the final day of athletics at the East Asian Games in Tianjin.It brought to a close three days of action that had been dominated by Chinese athletes as the host nation won more than two thirds of the gold medals on offer. The Chinese women were particularly impressive, taking all but two of the titles.Exactly one month after winning the National Games title, Zhao Qinggang added to his medal tally by winning the Javelin. His winning throw of 82.97m was the second-best mark of his career after the 83.14m he threw to win the National Games in September.It also broke the Games record set by compatriot Li Rongxiang 12 years ago and maintained China’s winning streak in this event, dating back to the inaugural edition in 1993.Chinese Taipei’s Huang Shih-Feng, the 2009 World youth champion, provided a stiff challenge and smashed his own national record with 82.11m, his first throw in excess of 80 metres.Zhao wasn’t the only National Games winner to triumph in Tianjin. China’s Wu Shujiao improved on the PB she set when winning the National Games 100m Hurdles title last month, taking gold with a Games record of 12.93, the fastest time in the world this year by an Asian athlete. She finished more than a quarter of a second ahead of Japan’s Eriko Soma, who set a PB of 13.22.Su successfully defends 100m title, Wei secures sprint doubleWorld and Olympic semi-finalist Su Bingtian successfully defended his 100m title, but it did not come easily.World University Games silver medallist Ryota Yamagata of Japan got off to a good start before Su reeled him in with millimetres to spare. The pair were both given the same time of 10.31 but Su was awarded the victory.“I tried my best to run and gradually narrow the gap between us. Finally I won,” said Su, who set a PB of 10.06 earlier this year.“This result is of course not my best, but after the National Games last month I didn’t have time for training. I felt that I could not gather all my energy this morning, but my coach said that my form looked better this afternoon before the final.”Yamagata avenged the defeat the following day as he formed part of a winning Japanese quartet in the 4x100m, smashing the Games record in the process. He ran the first leg before handing over to 200m silver medallist Shota Iizuka, who then passed on to 200m champion Asuka Cambridge. 100m bronze medallist Kazuma Oseto brought the team home in 38.44, just 0.05 slower than their time from the World Championships final where they finished sixth.China’s Wei Yongli took double gold in the women’s sprints, winning both the 100m (11.57) and 200m (23.71) with comfortable margins.Jiang maintains Chinese tradition in sprint hurdlesEver since the inaugural East Asian Games in 1993, China has won every gold medal on offer in the 110m Hurdles. Asian champion Jiang Fan ensured that record remained intact, although it came under serious threat from Korea’s Kim Byung-Jun.Jiang won in 13.58, just 0.03 ahead of his Korean rival. China’s Ji Wei was also in contention for much of the race, but hit the last hurdle and had to settle for third place in 13.70.“It was tough, but I told myself that I must win at home,” said Jiang. “China boasts the advantage in the men’s 110m Hurdles in Asia and we should never lose it.”Liu Xiang, winner of the past three East Asian Games titles, was not able to defend his title. The former World record-holder has only just recently returned from an 11-month rehab programme in the US.Aside from the men’s Javelin and 110m Hurdles, other events where China won a sixth successive gold medal were the women’s 800m, women’s 1500m, women’s 4x400m and the women’s Shot. The latter – won by Liu Xiangrong with 18.40m – was the only field event for women.Elsewhere, the fourth Games record of the competition was set by Li Zhenzhu in the women’s 3000m Steeplechase with 9:53.17. World finalist Seito Yamamoto won the men's Pole Vault with 5.50m, and Cheng Wen clocked a season's best of 49.66 to win the men's 400m Hurdles. Jon Mulkeen for the IAAF

Chinese athletes dominate on home soil at East Asian Games

Four Games records were broken – three of them by Chinese athletes – on Wednesday (9), the final day of athletics at the East Asian Games in Tianjin.

China had two reasons to rejoice on the second day of the 20th Asian Championships in Pune, India, as they took both 100m titles on Thursday (4).Su Bingtian&rsquo;s victory in the men&rsquo;s 100m underlined their recent dominance in the event and Wei Yongli&rsquo;s success in the women&rsquo;s short sprint broke a barren spell dating back to 2005.Su successfully defended the gold medal he won in Kobe with a convincing performance, emerging ahead of Qatar&rsquo;s Samuel Francis in 10.17All eyes were on Su and Francis at the start but the Chinese sprinter capitalised on a quick start to dash the Qatari&rsquo;s hopes. Francis, the Asian record-holder at 9.99 and the winner in 2007, lost ground to Su and Oman&rsquo;s Barakat Al Harthi in the early stages of the race. Although the powerful Qatari quickly caught up with Al Harthi, Su proved a little too hot on the day.Running into a breeze of -0.3m/s, the 23-year-old Chinese sprinter pulled away strongly in the second half of the race to seal his victory as Francis finished second in 10.27 while Al Harthi, the bronze medallist at the 2010 Asian Games, finished third in 10.30. Su&rsquo;s win was China&rsquo;s third straight gold in this event.Wei, the silver medallist two years ago, simply dominated the women&rsquo;s 100m field, clocking 11.29 for the gold medal.She was a cut above the rest of field. Japan's Chisato Fukushima, winner of the sprint double at the 2010 Asian Games, had no chance against the thundering strides of the Chinese and had to settle for silver at 11.53. Golden GowdaIndian discus thrower Vikas Gowda had been knocking on the doors of success for quite a while now and his moment finally arrived on Friday as the rain stayed away and the conditions became almost perfect. Gowda had won two silver medals in the past, in 2005 and 2011 but the absence of Iran&rsquo;s Olympic silver medallist Ehsan Hadadi &ndash; a four-time Asian champion &ndash; meant he was the firm favourite here and the US-based thrower did not disappoint the home fans, throwing 64.90 in the fourth round to win by almost three metres.It was the perfect early birthday present for Gowda, who turns 30 on Friday but the Indian had no time to celebrate, rushing off to catch a flight to Paris for Saturday&rsquo;s Diamond League meeting in the French capital.&ldquo;Listening to the national anthem on the podium, all those years of hard work came rushing to my mind,&rdquo; said Gowda, who was eighth at the London 2012 Olympic Games.Kazakhstan&rsquo;s Dmitriy Karpov won his first Asian Championships gold medal with a composed performance in Decathlon. Just 28 points separated the Karpov from Japan&rsquo;s Akihiko Nakamura at the halfway point overnight but the 2004 Olympic Games bronze medallist pulled away on day two.Karpov tallied 8037 points, way below his best but still well ahead of Nakamura&rsquo;s 7620 and it was also a championship record.Al-Masrahi retains 400m titleSaudi Arabia&rsquo;s Youssef Al-Masrahi retained the gold medal in the men&rsquo;s 400m to underline his status as the best in Asia over one lap of the track. The 26-year-old took control over the race early and had the strength to sustain his pace in the home straight, stopping the clock at 45.08.Bahrain&rsquo;s young 18-year-old prospect, Ali Khamis, fought hard for the silver in a personal best of 45.65 and soon afterwards his excited father Khamis Abbas ran on to the track to hug his son, shedding tears of joy.China picked up their third gold of the day through Zhao Yanmin in the women&rsquo;s 400m. Yanmin dashed the hopes of India&rsquo;s M R Poovamma with a powerful surge to deliver her season&rsquo;s best performance of 52.49 that put her on top of the Asian lists as well. Poovamma, who had swept the Asian Grand Prix series in May, was expecting gold but misjudged her pace badly to end in second spot, timing 53.37. It was a Bahrain one-two in the men&rsquo;s 10,000m, with Alemu Bekele taking the gold in 28:47.26, followed by Bilisuma Shugi in 28:58.67.&nbsp; A thin field of just seven runners heard the starter&rsquo;s gun and it was the three Indians &ndash; Kheta Ram, Ratiram Saini and G Lakshmanan &ndash; who set the early pace. Bilisuma and Bekele quietly followed the Indian trio before shifting gears with eight laps to go. Bekele then injected another dose of pace with a little over 1600 metres left to pull away from Bilisuma and emerge a comfortable victor. Saini fetched another bronze for India in 29:35.42.Uzbekistan&rsquo;s Nadia Dusanova won the women&rsquo;s high jump when she was the only competitor to go clear at 1.90m. Dusanova&rsquo;s compatriot and former world junior champion Svetlana Radzivil edged Kazakhstan&rsquo;s Marina Aitova on countback for the silver medal after both had cleared 1.88m.

China had two reasons to rejoice on the second day of the Asian Championships in Pune, India, as they took both 100m titles on Thursday (4).

Chinese sprinters looking to impress in Beijing

Ogunode sets area 100m record of 9.93 at the Asian Games

Chinese athletes dominate on home soil at East Asian Games

Chinese sprinters take 100m titles at Asian Championships