Chinese sprinter Su Bingtian faces hectic schedule before 2019 World Championships in Doha
- The sprint sensation begins his 100 metre season next week on home soil
- Su will compete in six Diamond League meets before this summer’s World Championships
Chinese sprint sensation Su Bingtian faces a hectic outdoor season in the build-up to the 2019 World Championships in Doha, including a highly-anticipated race against Christian Coleman of the United States in Shanghai next week.
The Asian record co-holder in the men’s 100 metres will embark on a busy run of six Diamond League meets. But he will be brimming with confidence going into the Shanghai Stadium after twice equalling the continental mark of 9.91 seconds last summer when he also won the Asian Games in Jakarta with a Games record time of 9.92.
After Shanghai, Su, 29, will also run two Diamond League races (Oslo and Eugene) in June, then three in July (Lausanne, Monaco and London) before returning home for China’s World Championships selection trial in Shenyang in August. He will wrap up the season with Doha over September 28 to October 6.
Of the six Diamond League meets, the Lausanne leg result will not count towards the overall qualification for the men’s 100 metres final in Zurich in late August. But Su can accumulate sufficient points from his five legs before making himself eligible for the final.
Su is in China’s six-member squad for the World Relays in Yokohama, Japan this weekend. But the sprinter will be eager to kick off his 100-metre campaign in front of home crowds as the Shanghai event attracts a strong field of sprinters including Coleman and fellow Americans Ronnie Baker, Noah Lyles and Mike Rogers, who all ran under 9.90 last year and filled spots two, three and four on last season’s world list.