The Chinese Winter Walking Championships will take place tomorrow in Huangshan (Anhui). Competitions valid as qualifiers for the Olympics. The first three of each competition will be selected for Tokyo.
Huangshan is a city of about 10 million inhabitants and is located at the foot of the mountain range called Huangshan (yellow Mountains), one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The city is known as the treasure land of animals and plants. There are over 3,000 types of plants and more than 490 species of wild animals. Many of them are so valuable that they are under state protection. There are also over 30 famous tea brands.
The races will start at 8.00 (Chinese time - 1:00 in Italy) with the 20km. men. In the afternoon at 16:00 (9:00 Italian time) the highly awaited women's race. Sunday morning at 6:30 (23:30 in Italy the 50km.)
All three races feature athletes of absolute value at the start.
In the 20km male the big favorite is Wang Kaihua. Possible outsiders: Zhang Jun (who in December beat Wang Kaihua on the 15 km) and the evergreen Chen Ding and Cai Zelin.
Many young people at the start with high hopes and who could prove to be the great surprises of the race.
The 20km female is the most awaited race. All the best at the start. Five of these are in the top 8 of the World Athletics World Ranking.
The predictions are for a very close fight between Liu Hong, Yang Jiayu and Qieyang Shenjie. The others seem a step below.
Expectations are for a world-class mark, around or below 1:25:00.
The 50km. men has in Wang Qin the big favorite. His main opponents of him Lu Yadong and Niu Wenbin. A particularly tactical race is expected where everyone will be looking for the first 3 places rather than the great time.
Together with the 3 absolute competitions there will also be competitions for U18 and U20. More than 300 athletes at the start.
The weather forecast for tomorrow and Sunday gives light rain. The temperature between 12°C and 15°C degrees for Saturday; between 8°C - 10°C degrees for Sunday.
Some of the best entry athletes:
20km. men = Iscritti: 79
| 1 | Chen Ding | 1992 | Guandong | 1:17:40 | 2012 |
| 2 | Wang Kaihua | 1994 | Guangdong | 1:17:54 | 2017 |
| 3 | Cai Zelin | 1991 | Junnan | 1:18:47 | 2012 |
| 4 | Xu Hao | 1999 | Inn-Mongolia | 1:19:57 | 2019 |
| 5 | Zhu Guowen | 1997 | Yunnan | 1:20:04 | 2019 |
| 6 | Gao Wenkui | 1995 | Inn-Mongolia | 1:20:07 | 2019 |
| 7 | Zhang Jun | 1998 | Junnan | 1:20:17 | 2019 |
| 8 | Zhu Xiaoqiang | 2000 | Yunnan | 1:20:17 | 2019 |
| 9 | Niu Wenchao | 1998 | Yunnan | 1:20:30 | 2019 |
| 10 | Gao Yingchao | 1998 | Shandong | 1:20:30 | 2018 |
| 11 | Yin Jiaxing | 1994 | Junnan | 1:20:41 | 2019 |
| 12 | Li Xiaobin | 1999 | Zhejiang | 1:20:43 | 2019 |
20 km. women = Iscritte: 70
| 1 | Liu Hong | 1987 | Guangdong | 1:24:38 | 2015 |
| 2 | Lu Xiuzhi | 1993 | Anhui | 1:25:12 | 2015 |
| 3 | Qieyang Shenjie | 1990 | Qinghai | 1:25:16 | 2012 |
| 4 | Yang Jiayu | 1996 | Inner Mongolia | 1:25:34 | 2019 |
| 5 | Wang Na | 1995 | Heilongjiang | 1:26:29 | 2017 |
| 6 | Yang Liujing | 1998 | Shaanxi | 1:27:15 | 2019 |
| 7 | Wu Quanming | 2001 | Shaanxi | 1:27:24 | 2019 |
| 8 | Ma Zhenxia | 1998 | Shandong | 1:28:00 | 2019 |
| 9 | Wang Yingliu | 1992 | Yunnan | 1:28:15 | 2017 |
| 10 | Ma Li | 2001 | Sxaanxi | 1:28:55 | 2019 |
50km. men - Iscritti 33
| 1 | Wang Qin | 1994 | Shanxi | 3:38:02 | 2019 |
| 2 | Niu Wenbin | 1991 | Junnan | 3:41:04 | 2019 |
| 3 | Luo Yadong | 1992 | Gansu | 3:41:15 | 2019 |
| 4 | Wang Rui | 1996 | Shandong | 3:42:08 | 2019 |
| 5 | Bian Tongda | 1991 | Shandong | 3:43:06 | 2019 |
| 6 | Luo Dongpo | 1995 | Tianjin | 3:45:38 | 2019 |
Streaming of the events: click here