Asia’s fastest man Su Bingtian is China National Games champion finally
- Guangdong sprinter cruises home in 9.95 seconds, well clear of 2017 champion Xie Zhenye and 4x100m teammate Wu Zhiqiang
- Su, who took silver at 2013 and 2017 editions, romps to win in China National Games record time
Asia’s fastest man Su Bingtian continued his remarkable summer with gold in the 100-metre final at the China National Games in Xian.
Su came home first in 9.95 seconds at the Xian Olympic Centre Stadium, well clear of the defending champion and China relay teammate Xie Zhenye, who finished in 10.10 seconds.
The result was a reversal of the 2017 final where Xie, who also won the 200m four years ago, finished ahead of Su in a National Games record 10.04 seconds.
Guangdong sprinter Su smashed that as he brought home a first National Games gold, reacting fastest to the gun in 0.138 seconds and leading all the way.
The 32-year-old had never won at the China National Games instead finishing with silver medals in 2013 and 2017.
Back at the 2013 National Games in Liaoning, Su finished second to Zhang Peimeng, who also did the 100m and 200m double. Zhang won in 10.08 seconds.
Su set an Asian record as he sped in to the 100m final in Tokyo this summer in 9.83 seconds, becoming the first Chinese man into the Olympics’ blue riband event.
However, with the Olympic final and semi-final just hours apart, there was little time for Su to recover – unlike at the National Games where there was more than 24 hours between rounds.
He qualified in Xian in 10.05 seconds – well off his continental benchmark – but with plenty left in the tank as he proved in the final.
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As during Monday’s semi-final, thousands were there to cheer him on in his battle against Xie, which he won resoundingly.
Xie had praised Su going into the final.
“It is no doubt that he is at his peak, but it’ll be very fun for me to challenge him,” said Xie, though it might not have been as much fun as he hoped in the final.
“I am at my best. I was competing against myself, just like I did in Tokyo. I hope I can break the 10-second barrier in the final,” Su said after the semi and he rose to that challenge.
“Of course, my goal is to win the gold, but I think it will be the most competitive final in the history of the National Games, and I have to stay very concentrated,” he added.
Su had run 9.98 seconds three times this year before his Asian best time in Tokyo, making this his fifth sub-10 second time in 2021.
Xie has only been faster than Su’s National Games-winning time once in his career, running 9.97 in Montreal in 2018.
The Chinese relay team could yet be upgraded to Olympic bronze pending the results of a Court of Arbitration for Sport hearing on the drugs test of British sprinter Chijinda “CJ” Ujah.
Su’s Guangdong teammates Yan Haibin and Edison Chen finished in fourth and fifth, separated by a photo at 10.23 seconds.
