Fan Wei of China at the Australian youth festival (© Getty Images)
The Chinese, as usual, have a very strong youth age group available for 2005. However it remains to be seen whether they live-up to their tradition and only send a handful of their best available athletes to the World Youth Championships in Marrakech with the rest being a long way behind the top.
One thing is very clear, with more than ten World youth leading marks in 2005, China will surely end up with several medals from the championships.
Although it's not an official rule, those who competed in the National Youth Championships in 2005 have a better possibility of ending up in Marrakech than those who opted just to compete in senior events. It's a National Games year again, and even some youth athletes are looking for a medal position there which will probably see them dropping the World Youths off their list of competitions during the summer.
Some of China's strongest medal prospects:
Boys
100 m
Zhao Haohuan, b. 20 Feb 1988, Guangdong
10.32 as a 16-year-old in 2004, 10.54 in the only competition of this season in April. Also has an indoor pb of 6.68 over 60m in 2004.
400 m
Liu Xiaosheng, b. 5 Jan 1988, Guangdong
World leading 46.91 personal best in April, ran 47.35 last season.
High jump
Huang Haiqiang, b. 8 Feb 1988, Zhejiang
Has jumped 2.15m twice already this season, personal best 2.21m from last season. National Youth Champion 2005. World leading youth athlete in 2004.
Jumped 2.00m as a 14-year-old in 2002.
Pole vault
Yang Yansheng, b. 5 Jan 1989, Shandong
Has jumped 5.15m twice this season, also his world leading mark. Outdoor personal best of 5.20m from last season as a 15-year-old and a massive 5.30m from indoors in February 2005.
Liu Junjie, b. 8 Jan 1988, Beijing
Personal best of 5.00m in April 2005.
Long jump
Lin Huadeng, b. 15 Jan 1988, Fujian
Personal best of 7.79m in May 2005. Second place in the world youth lists 2005.
Triple jump
Jiang Wei, Guizhou
National Youth Champion 2005 with a world leading mark 15.98m in May 2005.
Shot
Wang Like, b. 2 Apr 1989, Shandong
National Youth Champion 2005 with a personal best of 20.20m.
Fan Wei, b. 10 Sep 1988, Beijing
2nd in the National Youth Championships with a personal best of 20.00m.
Discus
Xin Jia, b. 1 Mar 1988,
World leading 61.97m personal best in the Australian Olympic Festival in Sydney in January 2005. Also has a personal best of 54.57m with the 2kg implement in May 2005.
10,000 m walk
Zhu Zhiqiang, b. 1 Jul 1988, Jiangsu
National Youth Champion 2005 with a personal best of 42:18.9h in February 2005, also a world leading mark.
Yang Tao, b. 12 Dec 1989, Yunnan
2nd in the National Youth Championships with a personal best of 42:38.4, also 2nd in the world in 2005.
Although Li Gaobo (b. 23 Jul 1989) is surely the best youth walker in the world right now, he will surely miss the World Youth Championships. He has already qualified for the World Championships in Helsinki and the National Games as well. Li walked 1:18:07 20km, world youth best and 2nd best by a junior in the IAAF Race Walking Challenge in Cixi in April 2005. He is also the National Junior Champion in 20km road walk.
Girls
800 m
Xue Shuang, b. 22 Apr 1988, Liaoning
2:05.73 personal best in May 2005, third place in the 2005 world lists.
1500m/3000m
Lin Yuan, b. 11 Feb 1988, Qinghai
World leading personal best of 4:16.09 in April 2005. National Youth Champion 2005 in both 1500m and 3000m. Personal best of 9:26.72 in the 3000m, the winning mark in the National Youth Champs.
400 m Hurdles
Chen Yumei, 10 Jan 1988, Guangdong
World leading personal best of 58.20 in April 2005, ran 58.27 last season.
High jump
Zheng Xingyuan, b. 29 Mar 1989, Guangdong
Absolutely the brightest star of the Chinese youth age group. Only 16 years old, already broke the 13-year-old National Junior Record in high jump, jumped 1.92m in April 2005 and followed that with a 1.90m in May. Jumped 1.87m last season as a 15-year-old and 1.84m indoors being 14 years old at the time. A clear world leader for 2005.
Gu Biwei, b. 17 Feb 1988, Zhejiang
National Youth Champion 2005 at 1.84m. Broke the National Junior Indoor Record with 1.88m in March 2005, recorded outdoor personal best of 1.88m finishing second to Zheng Xingyuan in the National Grand Prix in Yixing on 22 May 2005.
Pole vault
Yu Shuo, b. 14 Jan 1988, Liaoning
World leading mark of 4.15m outdoors in April, which of course will be challenged by 15-year-old Ekaterini Stefanidi (GRE), who jumped 4.37m indoors. Yu also has a better indoor mark, 4.20m in March 2005.
Triple jump
Sha Li, b. 14 Aug 1988, Heilongjiang
World clear leader with a 13.83m personal best in April 2005. Double winner in long/triple jump in the Australian Olympic Festival in January. Also has a personal best of 6.20m in the long jump in 2004 and 6.23 indoors in 2005. Jumped 13.66m already last season winning the 2004 National Youth Champs.
Hu Qian, b. 14 Jan 1989, Fujian
National Youth Champion 2005 with a personal best of 13.39m in May.
Shot
Ma Qiao, b. 28 Sep 1989, Hebei
Only 15 years old, a world leader in 2005 with a personal best of 16.29, her winning mark in the National Youth Championships.
Discus
Pan Saili, b. 4 Dec 1988, Hebei
A massive world leader and personal best of 58.52m in April 2005. Was only 6th in the 2004 Youth Championships, but has thrown over 55m in each of her four competitions in 2005, including the National Youth Championships, which she won by 55.16m throw in Huainan on 14 May.
Tan Jian, b. 22 Jan 1988, Sichuan
Winner of the Australian Olympic Festival in Sydney with 57.01m, a personal best. Has four competitions over 56m in 2005.
Javelin
Zhang Li, b. 17 Jan 1989, Jiangxi
16 years old, a world leader and personal best of 57.56m in April 2005. All of her four competitions in 2005 over 55m. Already threw 53.98m last season as a 15-year-old.
Zhang Ying, b. 5 Jan 1988, Zhejiang
National Youth Champion 2005 with 53.69m, her only competition of the season so far. Won the National High School Championships in July 2004 with a personal best of 54.14m.
5000 m walk
Qin Aihua, b. 22 Sep 1988, Shanxi
World leading personal best of 22:13.8 while winning the National Youth Championships in February. Also won the Youth Champs over 10000m distance in 44:08.9h and has a 20km road walk personal best of 1:43:20 from 2004
(1:44:56 in 2005).
Mirko Jalava for the IAAF
