The Chinese National Games produced a big surprise on Sunday as the favourite Su Bingtian lost the men's 100m race where Xie Zhenye of Zhejiang emerged as the surprise winner in 10.04 seconds.
As one of the most anticipated events at the Games, the men's 100m race attracted thousands of spectators to Tianjin Olympic Stadium, as it featured all the star sprinters in the country.
Xie, who majors in 200m race, clocked his winning time, 0.06 seconds ahead of Su, the finalist at the London worlds, and another famous sprinter Zhang Peimeng even concluded the last 100m race of his career without a podium finish, as Jiangsu's Xu Haiyang ranked third.
"It's unbelieveable that I take my first National Games gold medal. Normally Su and Zhang run faster than me but today I held on to my own rhythm and the strategy worked well," Xie said modestly.
Su considered the loss as a motivation, "I lost my rhythm in the race and feel a little regret, but it urges me to work hard in the future."
As the defending champion and an iconic figure, Zhang who is the first Chinese ever to beat the 10-second barrier when he clocked 10 seconds in the 2013 Moscow worlds semifinals, only ranked sixth in his farewell game of 100m race.
"To be honest, I am surprised by Xie's performance. He was injured during the World Championships and recovered so well in less than a month. I think this young man has a bright future," said Zhang.
The fastest women's title went to another star athlete Wei Yongli of Guangxi, who won the women's 100m title in 11.31, a never better redemption for the disappointing silver in the last editon.
Shanghai's Xie Wenjun dominated the men's 110m hurdles for the second consecutive time in 13.52, 0.26 ahead of Jiangsu's Jiang Fan and Henan's Zhang Honglin.
Xie said, "I have participated in three National Games and won the last two, it was not easy for me to defend the title because I'm no longer in my top form after 2013. I'm happy I can make it."
Newly crowned London worlds champion Yang Jiayu collected one more heavyweight title when the debutante lifted the women's 20km race walk title.
The 21-year-old representing the People's Liberation Army, clocked one hour, 28 minutes and 29 seconds to edge London Olympic silver medalist Qieyang Shijie to the second place in 1:28:33.
Another up-and-coming star Wang Kaihua of Guangdong claimed the men's 20km race walk in 1:20:52.
Wang admitted that the win took a lot of pressure off him after the title favorite just placed seventh at the London worlds.
"I wanted to prove with a convincing win at the National Games, and it was not a coincidence I created a world lead time this year," said the 23-year-old who walked to a world lead time of 1:17:54 in March.
Li Lingwei, the silver medalist in London worlds, lifted the women's javelin title for Shandong, setting a winning mark of 64.07 meters, while the Asian record holder Lv Huihui from Hubei placed second with 62.70.
