Student running for China's glory

Young marathoner will compete in global showcase

Peking University freshman Liu Qinghong has been selected to represent China in the women's marathon at this year's world athletics championships in London.

Liu clocked 2 hours, 43 minutes at the Shanghai International Marathon last October, meeting the qualification bar for the London competition in August, the Chinese Athletic Association said on Wednesday.

Liu's selection is a result of the CAA's "Wanna Run in the Olympics" program, which aims to scout Chinese athletic talent at the grassroots level.

The program, launched this month, will last through May 2020, and will select two amateur marathoners, one male and one female, to compete in the Asian Games, the world championships and the Olympics.

Selected athletes must be non-professionals, at least 20 years old by Dec 31 in the year of competition, who have not registered at the CAA.

To qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the athletes must attain the Olympic marathon qualifying standard or achieve a top 10 ranking in the IAAF gold label road race events during the Olympic qualification period.

The CAA will decide the final list based on the athletes' final ranking.

To be considered, amateur runners can take part in any of the IAAF gold label road race events in Beijing, Shanghai, Xiamen and Dongying Huanghekou, or six other designated events, including the national marathon championships.

"The Chinese Athletic Association sees this series as building a stage for amateur athletes to participate in the Olympic Games and make their Olympic dreams come true. This is an important reform on our Olympic selection regime, and at the same time is an important measure for the implementation of the national fitness strategy," said CAA vice-president and secretary-general Du Zhaocai.

"What's more, it's also very meaningful for promoting the integration of the development between elite sports and mass sports,"

Tsinghua University's Hu Kai, the 2005 Summer Universiade 100m winner, represented China at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Wang Yu, also from Tsinghua, is one of China's top two best high jumpers and won a bronze medal at the 2013 Summer Universiade in Kazan. Wang holds a personal best of 2.33 meters.

The popularity of long distance running has been skyrocketing in China over the past several years.

In 1981, the first International Beijing Marathon attracted just 188 runners, most of them fulltime athletes. By 2013, the event boasted a field of 30,000, including about 1,000 non-Chinese, and all the race slots were filled just 13 hours after registration opened. Only 1 percent of the runners were professionals.

In 2010, China had only 13 marathons. That number increased to 22 in 2011, 31 in 2012, 39 in 2013 and 51 in 2014. China hosted 134 marathons in 2015, and last year a total of 328 were registered with the CAA.

Xinhua

Liu Qinghong dons the Team China jersey in Beijing on Tuesday. Kong Hui / Xinhua