The 26th edition of the Asian Athletics Championships got underway on Monday in Gumi, South Korea, with strong performances across distance, field, and sprint events. China set the tone early, claiming multiple golds and two meet records on the opening day.
In the men’s 20km race walk, Wang Zhaozhao of China led from the front to win in a new championship record of 1:20:37. The Paris 2024 qualifier was followed by Japan’s Kento Yoshikawa in 1:20:46, while Servin Sebastian of India earned bronze in 1:21:14.
The women’s 20km walk also produced a new meet record. Yin Hang, a world medalist from China, clocked 1:30:44 to win ahead of teammate Ma Li, who finished in 1:32:08. Kazakhstan’s Yasmina Tokonbayeva secured bronze in 1:32:22, just ahead of Japan’s Ayane Yanai at 1:33:15.
India’s Gulveer Singh dominated the men’s 10,000m final. The national record holder pulled away in the closing laps to finish in 28:38.63, ahead of Japan’s Mebuki Suzuki (28:43.84) and Bahrain’s Albert Rop (28:46.82).
China continued its success in the field events. In the women’s hammer throw, Li Ji won with a mark of 72.98m, followed by Li Jiangyan at 69.13m. Ya Chien Yu of Chinese Taipei placed third with 64.25m.
The women’s javelin also went to China. Su Lingdan recorded a personal best of 63.29m to take gold. Japan claimed the remaining podium spots through Momone Ueda (59.39m) and Sae Takemoto (58.94m).
In the women’s triple jump, China’s Li Yi won with 13.80m (−0.9 m/s wind), narrowly ahead of Uzbekistan’s Sharifa Davronova (13.74m) and Japan’s Mariko Morimoto (13.65m).
The decathlon opened with India’s Tejaswin Shankar leading after five events. He totaled 4205 points, including a 2.19m high jump, as the standout performance of day one.
Preliminary rounds also began on the track. Fu Haoran of China had the fastest time in the men’s 400m heats with 46.21, but Japan’s Fuga Sato (45.74) and Sri Lanka’s Kalinga Kumarage (45.74) posted the quickest times in the semifinals.
In the women’s 400m heats, Nanako Matsumoto of Japan topped the times with 52.24.
The 100m heats saw Liang Xiaojing of China post the top women’s time of 11.22 (+0.9), while Thailand’s Puripol Boonson led the men with 10.22 (+1.4).
Day one set a competitive tone for the championships, with athletes using the event as preparation ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Action continues Tuesday with finals across hurdles, sprints, and the conclusion of the decathlon.
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