Shi Dongpeng keeps hurdling centre stage in Yixing – 3rd Chinese GP

Most of the biggest stars passed by the third leg of the Chinese outdoor grand prix series in city of Yixing, Jiangsu province, China, 21-22 May, but still some young athletes showed promising form in the competition which concluded the spring part of the Chinese season.

Fast hurdling

Although Olympic champion Liu Xiang was not taking part, still the men's 110m Hurdles was in the spotlight with 21-year-old Shi Dongpeng finally getting back to form by equalling his personal best of 13.40 which he set in September 2003, as a junior. Shi has been struggling a bit ever since, although he did make the Chinese Olympic team last year and also took part in the 2003 and 2004 World Indoor Championships.

The Hebei athlete was a super prospect in 2001 when he clocked the best Youth mark in the world over the senior hurdles, 13.43, and also took the third place in the National Games at the age of 17. Of course Shi is still far away from challenging Liu Xiang, but a fast time in the early part of the season is a good sign. It was a high quality race for other athletes as well, the next three finishers behind Shi all recorded personal bests, Liu Lilu 13.63, Wu Youjia 13.65 and Chen Ming 13.85.

Zhang Wenxiu continues beyond 70m

Zhang Wenxiu, IAAF World Ranked 5th in her event, the world’s leading athlete in the women's Hammer Throw so far this season with a best of 72.34m, is without competition in China right now. With Gu Yuan - World Ranked 10 - not competing in Yixing, Zhang was left with another easy victory. That didn't stop her from getting another 70m throw, winning mark on Sunday (22 May) was 70.81m. She has now left the field having broken the 70m line in each of her four competitions during 2005.

New High Jump star

Women's High Jump was a very low key event in China for several seasons, but that has dramatically changed during the past two years. Last season two athletes were able to think about breaking the Asian High Jump record of 1.97m. Jing Xuezhu and Jiang Haiyan both jumped 1.94m in the National Championships and Jing was just millimetres away of reaching the final in the Athens Olympics.

This season both of these athletes have started quietly, but that's not worrying the Chinese. Two youth athletes have come forward very strongly, Zheng Xingyuan, who jumped 1.87m last season, less than a month after her 15th birthday, has really taken a big step forward in 2005. Now 16 years old, Zheng broke the 13-year-old national junior record in Zhongshan in April by jumping over 1.92m and took another win in Yixing on Sunday evening, this time her result was 1.90m.

It's very rare for a someone aged 16 to be competing at this level, but even more surprising that another youth athlete, 17-year-old Gu Biwei took the second place in Yixing with her outdoor personal best of 1.88m. Earlier in the winter Gu jumped the national junior indoor record, the same 1.88m, in Tianjin in March. Gu also won the National Youth Championships a week ago and both athletes have to be considered as favourites in the 2005 World Youth Championships.

Men's Shot Put hope

Another young athlete, 21-year-old Zhang Qi, from Shanxi province, is beyond any other in the men's Shot Put. During most seasons, the 19m line has been too much for the Chinese men's shot putters in meetings other than the National Games, but for Zhang it's not a big deal.

Zhang, who already conquered 19m indoors in 2004 with a 19.03m personal best and followed that with 18.95m outdoors, has started in four competitions during 2005, two indoors and two outdoors. He has finished the competition with a 19m+ mark in each of these with his personal best now standing at 19.55m from Zhongshan in April.

In Yixing he took another win just slightly below that mark, 19.53m. Ma Yongfeng's 15-year-old national record of 19.78m was set in the National Championships in 1990 and when Zhang's starts the competition in men's championships in Shijiazhuang in less than a month, China should finally see its first 20m shot putter.

Young distance runner

18-year-old Lin Xiangqian is hot property in his native Zhejiang province. This real prospect for the men’s distance running in China is a candidate to go for medals in three different events in the 2005 National Games. In Yixing he was not running fast, just for the win, on Saturday (21 May) he easily took the 5000m in 14:18.36 and on Sunday he emerged as the winner of the 3000m Steeplechase in 8:49.66. Although these results hardly impress anyone, he has already shown what he is capable of earlier this season. He won the 5000m in the Zhongshan GP in April in a personal best of 13:46.42.

Rare defeat for Li Meiju

The best Chinese women's shot putter, Li Meiju, was handed a rare defeat In Yixing. Li Fengfeng recorded a season's best of 18.19m to win ahead of Li's 18.15. In a tight competition 20-year-old Li Ling took the third place with a personal best of 18.09m.

Problems continue for former stars, as Cheng Xiaoyan is still well under 18m. In Yixing she finished 6th with 17.17m. For Zhang Xiaoyu who competed in the Olympics last season, it's been a very difficult season. She started with a very low mark of 15.18m indoors, but was not able to do much more in Yixing where her result was only 15.33m. Zhang has been one of the big young names in the Shot and it seems that she is having big problems. A promising 18.73m as a 20-year-old in 2003, was followed with a much lower 18.00m last season, but of course 2005 is a total disappointment for her.

Song Aimin continued her good form in the Discus Throw with a 62.66m winning throw. Ma Shuli was another thrower over the 60m line at 60.51m for the second place.

Xue Juan getting back on form

In the women’s Javelin Throw, the World junior record holder Xue Juan, still a junior this season, is slowly progressing. After opening her season with a 53m result, she won in Yixing with 58.81m and is definitely closer to the marks she should be throwing. Her World junior record stands at 62.93m from 2003.

Tricky wind

Difficult wind messed up both the men's and women's Triple Jumps. The Best athletes Gu Junjie (men) and Huang Qiuyan (women) were not competing this time. In the women's competition the best junior in the world in 2005, 18-year-old Xie Limei took a wind assisted 14.23m jump. Xie moved to 8th place in the world junior all-time list earlier this season with 14.26m which gave her the second place in the Zhongshan GP in April.

Li Yanxi was the best jumper in the men's Triple Jump. His winning mark in the opening outdoor competition was 16.63m into a strong headwind. Li is the reigning national champion, he won the 2004 title with a personal best of 17.09m and also jumped 16.89m indoors this winter.

The Chinese athletics season will continue with the national championships held in separate cities for men and women in June. These meetings will also decide the athletes who can compete in the 10th National Games in October 2005.

Mirko Jalava for the IAAF

Chinese outdoor grand prix meeting,
Yixing, Jiangsu province 21-22 May 2005

Results

Men

100 m (21,  +0.6): Liu Dapeng 10.32.

200 m (22,  -0.1): Chen Huaming 21.26.

400 m (22): David Geddes AUS 46.96; 2 Ni Zhenjie 47.18.

800 m (22): Zhou Wei 1:52.72.

1500 m (22): Sun Wenli 3:51.81.

5000 m (21): Lin Xiangqian (87) 14:18.36; 2 Zhao Bing (89) 14:24.50.

10,000 m (22): Zheng Kai 29:53.46; 2 Wang Shili (86) 30:02.46.

3000m Steeplechase (22): Lin Xiangqian 8:49.66; 2 Shi Linzhong 8:55.70.

110m Hurdles (22,  +0.4): Shi Dongpeng 13.40; 2 Liu Lilu 13.63; 3 Wu Youjia 13.65; 4 Chen Ming 13.85; 5 Wang Hui 13.98; 6 Cao Jing 14.01; 7 Liu Zhu 14.01; 8 Li Dong 14.12.
400 m hurdles (22): Zhang Shibao 51.15.

High Jump (21): Wang Zhouzhou 2.20; 2 Cui Kai 2.15; 3 Xu Xin 2.15.

Pole Vault (22): Liu Feiliang 5.30; 2 Wu Jun 5.30; 3 Yang Quan 5.15; 3 Yang Yansheng (89) 5.15.

Long Jump (22): Zhang Xin 7.83/0.3; 2 Lin Huadeng 7.79/0.4; 3 Song Jian 7.75/0.6; 4 Jin Zutao 7.74/0.4; 5 Wang Minsheng 7.70/0.4; 6 Ding Jie 7.68/0.3; 7 Li Runrun 7.67/0.3; 8 Wang Zhuzhang 7.66/0.4; 9 Chen Daming 7.62/0.9; 10 Cai Peng 7.60/0.3.

Triple Jump (21): Li Yanxi 16.63/-1.3; 2 Zhu Shujing 16.50/-0.2; 3 Lin Mujie 16.31/0.6; 4 Hu Haiqiang 16.22/0.3; 5 Wu Ji 15.90/-0.3.

Shot Put (21): Zhang Qi 19.53; 2 Tian Yingchun 18.25; 3 Zhang Heng 18.18; 4 Yao Yongguang 17.86.

Discus Throw (22): Xu Yongyi 59.10; 2 Kong Fancheng 56.93; 3 Wu Jian (86) 55.93.

Hammer Throw (21): Ye Kuigang 67.65.

Javelin Throw (22): Li Rongxiang 79.81; 2 Chen Qi 76.23.
4x100 m (21): Jiangsu 39.99.

Women
100 m (21,  +0.6): Qin Wangping 11.40; 2 Chen Jue 11.80; 3 Liang Yi 11.81; 4 Nongnuch Saenrat THA 11.86; 5 Fiona Cullen AUS 11.89.

200m (22,  0.4): Qin Wangping 23.61; 2 Liang Yi 24.06.

400m (22): Sun Hongfeng 53.86; 2 Xie Qing 54.00; 3 Caitlin Willis AUS 54.14; 4 Renee Robson AUS 54.52; 5 Li Yuanyuan 54.64.

800m (22): Xie Sainan 2:05.44; 2 Yang Xiaocui 2:05.65; 3 Xue Shuang 2:05.73; 4 Yan Junli 2:06.56; 5 Zeng Minfang 2:07.61; 6 Liu Li 2:07.78.

1500m (22): Xie Sainan 4:16.84; 2 Yan Junli 4:21.17; 3 Zhu Xiaolin 4:21.29; 4 Lan Hongmei 4:21.31; 5 Wang Chunmei 4:23.44.

5000m (21): Xi Qiuhong 15:55.81; 2 Wang Shijuan 15:59.08; 3 Wu Chenxi 16:07.76.

10,000 m (22): Zhou Chunxiu 32:35.92; 2 Sun Weiwei 34:20.50.

100m Hurdles (22,  +0.2): Su Yiping 13.05; 2 Fiona Cullen AUS 13.47; 3 Xiong Yanhua 13.80; Feng Yun DQ.

400m Hurdles (22): Huang Xiaoxiao 56.33; 2 Song Yinglan 58.05; 3 He Yu 58.12; 4 Wang Hui 58.50.

High Jump (22): Zheng Xingyuan (89) 1.90; 2 Gu Biwei (88) 1.88; 3 He Yanhong 1.84; 4 Li Rong 1.84.

Pole Vault (21): Gao Shuying 4.30; 2 Zhao Yingying 4.30; 3 Katrina Miroshnichenko AUS 4.00; 3 Wu Sha 4.00; 3 Sun Minna 4.00; 3 Yu Shuo 4.00.

Long Jump (21): Liu Huahua 6.41/-2.4; 2 Zhang Yuan 6.25/0.2; 3 Gu Ying 6.24/0.8.

Triple Jump (22): Xie Limei 14.23/2.5; 2 Qiu Huijing 14.02/1.8; 3 Wu Lingmei 13.68/1.5; 4 Liu Yanan 13.60/1.4; 5 Qu Lei 13.44/1.8; 6 Li Qian 13.32/2.2; 7 Zhang Chunxiao 13.25/1.6.

Shot (22): Li Fengfeng 18.19; 2 Li Meiju 18.15; 3 Li Ling 18.09; 4 Jiang Ping 17.34; 5 Wang Yawen 17.32; 6 Cheng Xiaoyan 17.17; 7 Li Li 16.97; 8 Lu Ying 16.83; 9 Zhang Chunjing 16.74; 10 Zhang Qiang 16.53; 11 Liu Yingfan 15.95; 12 Jia Lina 15.54; 13 Jiang Limin (88) 15.48; 14 Li Bo (88) 15.42; 15 Zhang Xiaoyu 15.33.

Discus Throw (21): Song Aimin 62.66; 2 Ma Shuli 60.51; 3 Li Qiumei 59.77; 4 Sun Taifeng 59.30; 5 Wang Yu 58.09; 6 Tao Hongbo 57.59; 7 Lin Xiaojing 57.04; 8 Lin Qingping 56.10; 9 Xiao Yanling 55.87; 10 Ma Xuejun 55.55; 11 Cheng Xianhong 55.30; 12 Wang Bin 54.72; 13 Tan Jian 54.66; 14 Azi Guli 51.82.

Hammer Throw (22): Zhang Wenxiu 70.81; 2 Yang Qiaoyu 64.30; 3 Yang Meiping 62.74; 4 Liu Yinghui 61.29; 5 Wei Xiaoyan 60.92; 6 Hao Shuai 59.60; 7 Zhao Wei 58.51; 8 Li Xiaoxue 57.80; 9 An Yi 56.05; 10 Hong Mei 55.70; 11 Maria Airaksinen FIN 54.29.

Javelin Throw (21): Xue Juan 58.81; 2 Ma Ning 57.83; 3 Zhang Li 56.35; 4 Chu Chunxia 55.95; 5 Zhang Li 55.34; 6 Kim Mickle AUS 53.54; 7 Zhang Cuiduo 51.99; 8 Zhu Jingya 51.85.

Heptathlon (22): Wang Hailan 5654; 2 Cao Lan 5598; 3 Fu Pengcheng 5543.

4x100 (21): Thailand National Team 44.77; 2 Jiangsu 45.01.