Short-lived glory: China’s minute-old Asian relay record smashed by Japan in very next heat

China’s 4x100m relay team broke the Asian men’s record in Rio on Thursday – but they held it for just a few minutes before it was smashed again by their rivals from Japan.

Tang Xingqiang, Xie Zhenye, Su Bingtian and Zhang Peimeng crossed the finish line in their qualifier in 37.82 seconds to secure a place in the final.

They broke the old Asian record of 37.92 seconds which was also set by a Chinese team of runners, at the world championships in Beijing last year.

“I did not expect that we could break the Asian record. Before the race, I knew that four other teams in our heat were very strong – they ran under 38 seconds before,” Su told state-run China Central Television after the race.

But within a few minutes the next heat got underway and just 37.68 seconds later the Japanese team crossed the line to set a new Asian mark.

“Our new record was broken in like a minute? We will definitely take it back in the final!” said Su.