Shi Shengji wins the half marathon at the Chinese Race Walking Grand Prix (© Organisers)
Teenager Shi Shengji claimed his first individual senior title by cruising to a 1:22:33 half marathon race walk victory at the Chinese Race Walking Grand Prix, the first World Athletics Race Walking Tour Gold meeting of 2026, in Taicang on Sunday (1).
China’s 19-year-old Shi, who owns a 20km race walk personal best of 1:19:23 set last November when he finished runner-up at the Chinese National Games, paced the race soon after the gun.
After covering the first 1.0975km in 4:21, Shi kept his pace at around four minutes per loop. He launched his first surge in the eighth loop with a split time of 3:57 and found himself in a clear sole lead position with a margin of more than 10 seconds.
Although facing a quality field that included Brazil’s world 20km race walk champion Caio Bonfim, Oceanian champion Declan Tingay of Australia and Asian Games gold medallist Zhang Jun of China, Shi showed great confidence as he improved his pace to around 3:55 in the second half of the race and kept extending the gap between him and the chasing group.
Bonfim tried to narrow the gap and pulled clear from the other chasers with five loops to go, but Shi further improved his pace to 3:44 in the last two kilometers to wrap up the convincing win.
Bonfim settled for second in 1:23:00, followed by China’s Zhao Xiangfei in 1:23:10.
Shi previously managed to reach the top of the podium in Taicang last March when he teamed up with Olympic champion Yang Jiayu, wife of his coach Wei Xinmeng, to win the marathon race walk mixed relay. The duo also won the gold medal in the relay at the National Games last year.
With Yang stepping away from competitions due to pregnancy, Shi is keen to prove his worth in the individual event.
“When I knew I would be competing with world champion Caio Bonfim, I was filled with excitement rather than nervousness,” Shi said. “I was reminded by my coaching team that Bonfim tried to close in in the final kilometres. They told me he is a very strong race walker and that I need to speed up in the last two laps. So, I did as they said.
“I talked about the world record with my coach before the race,” he added, referring to the world record of 1:20:34 set by Toshikazu Yamanishi in Kobe, Japan, two weeks ago. “But he believes I am still too young and still have a lot to improve. He told me it was not the time yet. I need to stay patient and my first goal should be to break 1:21:30.”
In the women’s half marathon race walk, a three-strong Chinese lead pack that included 2019 world bronze medallist Yang Liujing and Wu Quanming, eighth-place finisher at last year’s World Championships in Tokyo, paced the race to 16km. Then, Jiang Yunyan, the U20 10km champion at the 2022 World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships in Muscat, broke away with a powerful charge during the 17th loop and never looked back before hitting the line in 1:31:39.
Yang trailed 29 seconds behind to take the second place. Wu received her third card in the 20th loop and had to quit the contest for a podium position. Ji Haiying, also from China, rallied to finish third in 1:32:22.
The men’s and women’s marathon race walk events were contested under wet and windy weather conditions on Monday (2) with only local race walkers toeing the line.
Gao Yanlong, 21, broke away from He Xianghong, fifth-place finisher in the men’s 35km event at the 2022 World Championships in Oregon, with 7km to go, to build up an untouchable advantage and eventually crossed the line in 3:02:50.
Wang Jinxi surpassed He in the final kilometres and took the silver in 3:03:23, with the latter finishing third in 3:04:07.
In the women’s marathon race walk, Chen Mengyuan came out of the chasing group and caught leading duo Yin Lamei and Xi Ricuo. The 22-year-old kept pushing ahead with Xi and Yin fading away one after another.
Chen took the victory in 3:24:48. Yin finished second in 3:25:22, followed by Xi in 3:25:38.
Vincent Wu for World Athletics
