The National Athletics Championships concluded with a thrilling finish at the Quzhou Sports Center in Zhejiang. Xu Zhuoyi from Shanghai secured his first national title by winning the men's 110m hurdles, clocking an impressive 13.31 seconds.
Competing in lane 6, Xu faced tough competition from the defending champion Zhu Shenglong of Hubei in lane 5 and rising 18-year-old star Chen Yuanjiang in lane 4, who had set a personal best in the semifinals.
At the start, Zhu was the quickest to react, but it was Liu Junxi from Jiangsu in lane 8 who initially took the lead after the first three hurdles. However, Xu's powerful finish enabled him to overtake the pack and claim the top spot.
Liu finished second with a time of 13.41 seconds, while Chen secured third place in 13.49 seconds, earning his first medal in a senior national championship.
Responding to his victory, Xu said, \"The result of today's race was within my expectations. During the pre-race warm-up, there was a minor incident—my ankle suddenly started hurting. I managed to deal with it in time, so it didn’t have much of an impact. The race went on as usual, and my plans weren’t disrupted. Since returning from the Paris Olympics, I haven’t been training systematically and prepared for the race in a half-adjusted, half-practicing way.\"
He added, \"I think the result of 13.31 seconds is acceptable. I had hoped to finish in 13.27 seconds to qualify for the World Championships next year, but given that I haven’t been training properly, I feel the result is still acceptable.\"
Reference(s):
Xu, Wu win hurdles titles at National Athletics Championships
cgtn.com
