The 14th Chinese Games are underway. They are disputing in Xi’an, a city of more than 10 million inhabitants in the Shaanxi province in Central China.
Xi'an is famous for the archaeological sites that arise in the surrounding plains where the famous Bingmayong (the terracotta army) is located: these are thousands of life-size statues, shaped by hand, which were buried together with the first emperor of the China, Qin Shi Huang.
The Chinese Games are of great importance to Chinese athletes. After the Olympics, they are the event that an athlete aims for the most.
About 9,000 athletes are expected to compete in all Olympic specialties, for a total of over 400 events distributed in 35 sports.
China Games began on September 15 in the presence of President Xi Jinping.
This morning the men's individual 20km walking race took place. and the 20 km race for women's provinces. for seniors and on 10 km. for juniors.
The final classification by provinces is made on the basis of the 3 best times on the 20 km. and the 3 best times on the 10 km.
On Friday, September 24th, the women's individual 20 km race will be held. and the race for male provinces.
A short report
20km men individual
The departure is given punctually at 8:00
At that time in Xi'An the temperature was 17 ° Celsius, with a humidity of 84%. By 9:00 the temperature would have risen to 19° Celsius while the humidity would have dropped to 80%.
The favorites are immediately in the lead: Wang Kaihua, Zhang Jun, Sun Shuai, Chen Ding, Cai Zelin.
- at 5km
He is already in the lead to make the pace Cai Zelin with a slight advantage (2 seconds) on Wang Kaihua and Zhang Jun in 20:08 (4:04, 3:59, 4:03, 4:00 and 4:02 ).
A few seconds after them are a small group consisting of Sun Shuai, Chen Ding and Wen Yongjie
- at 10km
The leading trio remained together until 8km when Zhang Jun forces the pace (two laps in 3:51 and 3:56) and both the young Chinese star and Wang Kaihua passed in 40:07 at half race (5km seconds in 19:59).
Cai Zelin lost to the leading pair over 20 seconds and decides to abandon the race.
The immediate chasers are Sun Shuai, Chen Ding, Wen Yongjie and Li Xiaobin in no particular order with delays ranging from 10 to 20 seconds.
- at 15km
Zhang Jun continues in his progression and covers three more laps in 3:53, 3:57 and 3:56 by passing three quarters of the race in 59:56 while Wang Kaihua fails to do better than an average of 4:00/km losing a few seconds.
Sun Shuai also approaches the pair of leaders and is now no more than twenty meters away
- last 5 km
Zhang Jun's progression knows no crisis (3:59, 4:03, 4:04, 4:07, 4:03) and goes, after scoring a 20:16 in the last 5km, quiet towards the coveted victory (also for in rich prizes).
Whang Kaihua must instead be careful to defend the silver in the last 4km (1:20:54) from the return of Sun Shuai who wins the bronze in 1:20:56
Fourth place to Wen Yongjie in 1:22:14
Then placed to Chen Ding in 1:22:36
Sixth place to Li Xiaobin in 1:22:57
Seventh place to Zhang Jiaxu in 1:23:06
Eighth place in Xin Chaoyang in 1:23:16
20km women team
The departure is given punctually at 9:50
At that time in Xi'An the temperature was 20° Celsius, with a humidity of 72%. By 11:00 the temperature would have risen to 23° Celsius while the humidity would have dropped to 57%.
At the start 49 athletes who will compete in the 20km and other 36 U20s who will end their fatigue after 10km.
The team standing will be drawn up after taking into consideration the best four results of the athletes who competed on the 20km and the best three results of those who competed on the 10km.
It is amazing how the athletes from Shaanxi province (who competed at home) were able to dominate the team event by placing their athletes as follows:
- Yang Lyujing 1st classified in 1:30:35
- Wu Quanming 2nd place in 1:30:35
- Ma Li 3rd classified in 1:30:35
- Ni Yuanyuan 6th classified in 1:31:21
In the overall standing, the Shaanxi team won in 6:01:36, defeating the Qinghai second-placed team by 9:26 (6:10:00)
Much more detached the two teams that fought for the bronze that went to the Yunnan team (6:11:26) in front of that of Shandong in 6:27:06 which slightly preceded that of Chongqing in 6:27:28 .
In sixth place the Jiangsu Team in 6:28:21
Seventh place for the Guizhou Team in 6:29:42
Eighth place in Henan Team in 6:34:11
For those who, like us, know the Chinese philosophy in this kind of competition, having participated in an exciting edition in 2013 in Shenyang (Liaoning), know that it is not enough to participate, but only to win.
Honor to the Shaanxi walkers !
Women Shaanxi Team
