Wang Chunyu

Wang Chunyu (Chinese: 王春雨; born 17 January 1995) is a Chinese track and field athlete who specialises in the 800 metres. She has a personal best of 1:57.00 minutes. She was the gold medallist at the Asian Athletics Championships in 2013 and the runner-up at the 2011 World Youth Championships.

Wang Chunyu
Medal record
Women's athletics
Representing  China
Asian Championships
Gold medal – first place2013 Pune800 m
World Youth Championships
Silver medal – second place2011 Lille800 m
In this Chinese name, the family name is Wang.

Born in Suzhou in China's Anhui province, Wang had her first successes at provincial level winning a series of events in 2010. She began entering national competitions in 2011 at the age of sixteen and became the youngest ever winner on the national indoor circuit with a victory in Nanjing in February.[1]

She entered the 800 m at the 2011 World Youth Championships in Athletics and improved through the rounds, reducing her best from 2:07.13 to 2:03.23 by the end of the competition. In the final she nipped Jessica Judd at the line to take the silver medal behind the favourite Ajeé Wilson.[2] The sixteen-year-old Wang set a personal best of 2:01.34 minutes to win at the China City Games junior competition – this was the fastest run by a Chinese athlete in over five years and the best by a Chinese youth since Ma Junren-trained Lin Na ran at the 1997 Chinese Games.[3]

Chunyu competed exclusively on the national circuit in 2012 and her best run of the season came at the Chinese Athletics Championships, where she was just two hundredths of a second behind Zhao Jing, with a time of 2:01.48 minutes.[4] At the start of the 2013 outdoor season she placed sixth in the 800 m at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Shanghai then went on to win her first major title in the form of the 800 m gold medal at the 2013 Asian Athletics Championships. She beat Bahrain's Ethiopian-born Genzeb Shumi by a margin of almost two seconds.[5]

On 31 July 2021, she qualified for the final of women's 800 metres at 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo with her personal best of 1:59.14, thus becoming the first Chinese athlete to ever have reached the Olympic final of this competition.[6] She finished 5th in the final with 1:57.00, her personal best.[7]

References
  1. 宿州小将王春雨勇夺亚锦赛800米冠军 (in Chinese). Szyq.gov (2013-07-10). Retrieved on 2013-07-14.
  2. Arcoleo, Laura (2011-07-09). Girls' 800m Final - US as expected but gold goes to Wilson. IAAF. Retrieved on 2013-07-14.
  3. Jalava, Mirko (2011-10-25). Asian junior men’s Shot Put record in Nanchang as Chinese City Games Conclude. IAAF. Retrieved on 2013-07-14.
  4. Jalava, Mirko (2012-09-26). Chinese championships close out domestic season well. IAAF. Retrieved on 2013-07-14.
  5. Desalegn lands distance double at Asian Championships. IAAF (2013-07-07). Retrieved on 2013-07-13.
  6. "Athletics – Final Results". Tokyo Olympics Official Website. 2021-07-31. Archived from the original on 2021-08-09. Retrieved 2021-07-31.
  7. "Athletics – Final Results: Women's 800m". Tokyo Olympics Official Website. 2021-08-03. Archived from the original on 2021-08-09. Retrieved 2021-07-31.
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