Athletes pound the road as the first leg of the 2023 National Race Walking Grand Prix is held in Huangshan city on March 4-5. [Photo/WeChat ID: huangshanribao]
The first leg of the 2023 National Race Walking Grand Prix and trials of World Athletics Championships in Budapest – to be held on Aug 19-28 – kicked off in Huangshan city in Anhui province on March 4.
It was also trials of the 19th Asian Games Hangzhou scheduled for Sept 23 to Oct 8 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang's provincial capital.
Race waking is a long-distance road sport that features in the Olympics. It is sometimes called heel-and-toe racing and is different from running, in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times.
The competition lasted two days and the participants were 484 athletes from 28 provincial and municipal teams.
He Xianghong sets a world record in the men's 35-kilometer race walking event on March 4. [Photo/WeChat ID: huangshanribao]
He Xianghong from Chongqing team set a world record in the men's 35-kilometer race walking event on March 4. He left the meet as the world champion and championship record holder with a time of 2 hours, 22 minutes and 55 seconds.
That performance broke the Asian record previously held by Japanese athletes and also surpassed Italian Massimo Stano's world record – of 2 hours 23 minutes 14 seconds – set at the World Athletics Championships held in the US college town of Eugene last year.
In the women's 35-km race walking competition, Bai Xueying from Shaanxi team overtook powerful opponents at the final stages and won with a time of 2 hours, 40 minutes and 59 seconds.
This is the 10th time that Huangshan city has hosted a national race walking competition. It is the only city in the world with two world records in race walking – the women's 50km and 20km categories.
The city was also awarded the "Contribution Award for Athletics Project Preparation for 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games", conferred by the Chinese Athletics Association.