But fortunately, recognizing the problems and gaps, China's racewalking at the World Athletics Championships faced reality: they did not win back what they had lost to the world | World Championships | racewalking
Recently, at the Budapest Athletics World Championships, the Chinese Athletics Corps made a comeback - the Chinese racewalking team failed to win the podium in both men's and women's 20 kilometer race, especially the most stable winning spot in previous competitions, the women's 20 kilometer race, which failed to win. "We need to reflect and have a sense of urgency, but the style of daring to fight and rush cannot be lost. We need to catch up with the pace of world race walking and catch up!" said veteran Liu Hong, who ranked 17th in the women's 20 kilometer race walking after the race.
Race walking has always been a traditional advantage and gold medalist in Chinese athletics. However, in both the Tokyo Olympics and the Oregon World Championships, China's race walking failed to continue its gold medal winning momentum.
At this World Championships, China's racewalking team sent a combination of old and new players, achieving full participation in all four events. The Chinese women's 20 kilometer race walking lineup includes experienced Olympic champion Liu Hong, 2017 World Champion Yang Jiayu, and 2022 World Race Walking Team Champion Ma Zhenxia. The women's 35 kilometer race is led by the famous general Qieyang Shijie, in addition to the team world championship runner up Li Maocuo and the young player Bai Xueying who stood out in the selection competition. In terms of men's race walking, the Chinese team dispatched National Games champion Zhang Jun, as well as emerging players Wang Chaochao and Niu Wenchao, in the 20 kilometer race. The 35 kilometer race walking lineup includes He Xianghong, who set an Asian record in March and achieved the world's best result of the season, as well as famous players Wang Qin and Zhaxi Yangben.
So before embarking on the expedition, the outside world's expectation for China's racewalking was to win back what was lost.
Unfortunately, reality and expectations are far apart.
In the men's 20 kilometer race, although the three contestants from the Chinese team completed the race, their overall performance did not meet expectations. Zhang Jun, who once achieved the world's best result of this season, only managed to walk 1 hour, 23 minutes, and 13 seconds this time, ranking 29th. Wang Chaochao and Niu Wenchao, who participated in the World Championships for the first time, ranked 37th and 44th respectively. Chinese men's 20 kilometer race walking used to be at the forefront of the world. Wang Hao and Chen Ding had previously won gold medals in the world and Olympic 20 kilometer race walking, but their performance declined in this competition. After the competition, Chinese players stated that the postponement of the competition due to weather conditions had affected their performance. By observing the performance of the top 10 contestants, it can be judged that if handled properly and prepared adequately, the weather at that time is conducive to creating good results. In this regard, Chinese athletes should face up to the gap, strive to catch up, further improve their adaptability on the field, group combat ability, and physical reserves, and strive to narrow the gap with world famous players as soon as possible.
In the women's 20 kilometer race, three Chinese female athletes showed signs of weakness in the latter half of the race. As Spanish athlete Perez accelerated again, the group gradually got separated. In the end, Ma Zhenxia ranked 7th, Yang Jiayu ranked 12th, and Liu Hong ranked 17th.
In this project, at the previous World Championships, Sister Che Yang also won a bronze medal. At this World Championships, the Chinese team has no advantage at all. Although Ma Zhenxia achieved her best personal ranking in the tournament, she is two minutes behind champion Perez's performance. In this year's World Championships, Chinese athletes fell behind at a distance of 15 kilometers in both men's and women's 20 kilometer race walking. Three female athletes also mentioned after the race that they experienced faster physical exertion after 15 kilometers and were unable to keep up with the first group.
In recent years, European athletes have made significant progress. At the Tokyo Olympics, Italian athletes Stano and Palmisano won gold medals in the men's and women's 20 kilometer race walking, respectively. At this World Championships, Spanish athletes Martin and Perez respectively won the men's and women's 20 kilometer race walking championships. Rio Olympic champion Liu Hong, as a veteran of the Chinese team, said the most after the game about reflection. She said, "Due to time constraints and injuries before the competition, it is not possible to adjust to a good state, and the preparation is not sufficient, which is worth reflecting on. In addition, in recent years, the level of European players has been constantly improving, and we need to have a sense of urgency." In addition, Liu Hong believes that in the past two years, the Chinese team has been out of touch with the international level of race walking. She pointed out that due to the fact that Chinese athletes have participated in fewer international competitions in the past two years, while European athletes have always maintained a high-density competition rhythm, this has led to the widening gap between Chinese athletes and international players. Regarding the defeat at this World Championships, Liu Hong candidly stated that it can help the team better identify problems in actual combat and provide valuable reference for the preparation for the Paris Olympics.
