On the morning of February 2, two days before the Chinese New Year, about 120 walkers from eight provinces took a group test in Chenggong, Kunming. Kunming has a mild winter climate, and with an altitude of 1900m, most of China's walkers choose to go here or nearby cities for winter training.
This is not a competition because there is no judge involved. However, there has never been a collective test of this scale.
Previous Chinese coaches preferred to train their walkers separately, which also shows that the new generation of coaches are more willing to communicate with each other.
The test was conducted on a 1.000 meter course and was very flat.
The 30/40 Km group starts at 8:30, the 20 Km group starts at 8:45, and 9:00 is the 10 Km course for some young athletes. The temperature was 8 to 15 degrees at that time, but it felt hotter under the plateau sunshine.
This test is worth paying attention to the national team ( plateau team ) led by Chen Helin, a coach from Yunnan province, who participated in the training of the London and Rio Olympics from 2010 to 2016 as Sandro Damilano's assistant. At present, all the athletes he coaches come from high altitude areas, including two Tibetan athletes: Li Maocuo and Qi Ji Zhuo Ma.
It is also worth mentioning that Liu Hong, who has trained in Kunming for three months, also took part in the test. She chose 30 kilometers and she didn't do her best this time because she had confirmed that she could take part in the Japan National Championship to be held in Kobe on February 17.
Among the final results, the most prominent was Tibetan athlete Li maocuo, who completed the 40km distance in 3:11:32. Although Tibetan athletes may adapt better to the plateau, this is still a remarkable mark. Even if this moment is not so friendly to the 50km , Li Maocuo, who finished the 50km three times last year, has reason to further improve her personal record after this winter training.