Li Chenyang breaks China's national men's pole vault record with 5.86m

SHANGHAI, March 25 (Xinhua) -- Shandong athlete Li Chenyang set a new Chinese national record in the men's pole vault, clearing 5.86 meters at the fourth leg of the 2026 National Pole Vault Series here on Wednesday.

The mark improved the previous national record of 5.85m by one centimeter, a height jointly held by Li and Huang Bokai.

Li, who will turn 23 in May, has opened the 2026 season in strong form. He claimed titles in all of the first three stops of the domestic series and produced a season highlight of 5.82m at the third meet, his second-best career performance. In February, he also secured a silver medal at the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships held in Tianjin.

In February 2025, Li cleared 5.85m at an international meet in France, surpassing the previous record of 5.82m set in 2017 by his coach, Xue Changrui. Later that year, Huang, who finished seventh at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, matched the 5.85m mark in July, leaving the national record jointly held until Li's latest breakthrough.