China’s ‘teen beauty’ wins women’s 100m hurdles at Asian U20 Championships in record time
Zhang Keyi falls short of her personal best, targets Asian Games later this year up against fellow high-profile hurdlers such as Wu Yanni
China’s Zhang Keyi broke the women’s 100m hurdles meet record on Friday at the 22nd Asian U20 Athletics Championships in Kai Tak, clocking 13.38 seconds to win gold on the second day of competition.
The 16-year-old finished just 0.03 seconds outside her personal best of 13.35, set last August, and bettered the time she clocked when she lowered the meet record at the Asian Youth Games last October, when she ran 13.51.
Japan’s Nana Ishihara took silver in 13.76, while Kazakhstan’s Alina Golovina claimed bronze in 13.93.
“This result was both expected and unexpected,” Zhang said after the race. “My preparations were not fully complete at this stage, and I did not originally plan to compete in this event. But I wanted to come here to gain experience.
“If I had run this time last year, I would have thought it was quite surprising. But this year, I feel this result is within my expectations, because I already had this level last year. I have trained for more than half a year this year, so it is more stable.”
Zhang, who has been nicknamed the “hurdles teen beauty” on Chinese social media, said she did not let comments about her appearance affect her.