- He Jie broke the men’s marathon national record that had been in the dust for more than 15 years
- 2023-03-20 11:54:14.0 Source: Xinhua Net
Author: Wang Hengzhi, Gu Yiping
Chinese players He Jie and Yang Shaohui both set a national record for the men’s marathon that has been dusty for nearly 15 years and five months at the 2023 Wuxi Marathon on the 19th. The new record created by He Jie is 2 hours, 7 minutes and 30 seconds. He Jie and Yang Shaohui also qualified for the Paris Olympics and the Budapest World Championships together with the women’s champion Bai Li.
This Wuxi Marathon is “five-in-one” with the National Marathon Championships (Wuxi Station), the Budapest Athletics World Championships Marathon Trials, the Hangzhou Asian Games Marathon Trials, and the Grand Canal Marathon Series (Wuxi Station), attracting many domestic experts to participate. The temperature in Wuxi was suitable that day. He Jie and Yang Shaohui followed the foreign masters after the start and were always in the first group.
In the end, Enok of Kenya won the men’s championship in 2 hours, 7 minutes and 19 seconds, setting a new tournament record. Surprisingly, He Jie, who won the runner-up, broke the national record of 2 hours, 8 minutes and 16 seconds set by Ren Longyun in the Beijing Marathon on October 21, 2007 with a time of 2 hours, 7 minutes and 30 seconds. Third runner-up Yang Shaohui’s time of 2 hours, 7 minutes and 49 seconds also exceeded the original record. With their outstanding performance in this competition, both of them reached the Paris Olympics (2 hours, 08 minutes and 10 seconds) and the Budapest World Championships (2 hours, 09 minutes and 40 seconds).
After the game, He Jie said that he had achieved this result because he “did enough to practice”: “We have been very well prepared for the entire winter training, and I would like to thank the national team and the entire team for their efforts.”
The women’s group also had surprises. Chinese player Bai Li won the championship with a time of 2 hours, 26 minutes and 33 seconds, which also reached the Paris Olympic Games (2 hours, 26 minutes and 50 seconds) and Budapest World Championships (2 hours, 28 minutes and 00 seconds).
