| Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, November 19, 2001 |
Three Chinese Athletes Surpass Asian Best Time in Women's 20 Kilometers |
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Three athletes from Northeast China's Liaoning Province surpassed the Asian best time here on Monday in women's 20 kilometers walking race at the on-going China's Ninth National Games, and finished top three among the 22 contenders.
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Three athletes from Northeast China's Liaoning Province surpassed the Asian best time here on Monday in women's 20 kilometers walking race at the on-going China's Ninth National Games, and finished top three among the 22 contenders.
Wang Yan, runner-up at the 1999 World Athletics Championships in Spain, beat two of her teammates, Wang Liping and Liu Hongyu, and clocked 1 hour 26 minutes and 22 seconds to win.
Wang Liping, the Sydney Olympic champion in the same event, led most of the time in the race on Monday morning but lagged behind in the final part, trailing behind Wang Yan to the second place at 1:26:23. Liu Hongyu, champion at the 1999 World Athletics Championships, finished at 1:26:35.
The official Asian best time is 1:27:30 created by China's Liu Hongyu in Beijing on May 1, 1995.
All the three Liaoning athletes walked to their best time in recent years. At the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000, Wang Liping walked to the gold in 1:29:05.
While Liaoning was considered powerful enough to grab the walking race gold, the 30-year-old Wang Yan's triumph was surprise to many experts.
"This gold should go to Wang Liping," said an all-beaming Wang Yan after the race. "Perhaps she did not show her best today to give me the last chance to become the champion, as I will retire after the games."
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