Chinese race walker Qieyang Shijie competes in the 35km race walk mixed team event at the Hangzhou Asian Games on Oct. 4, 2023. (Xinhua/Jiang Wenyao)
Bahrain's Birhanu Yemataw Balew clinched his second Asian Games gold with a new men's 5,000m record, while Qieyang Shijie spearheaded China to win the 35km race walk mixed team gold.
HANGZHOU, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- Bahrain's distance-runner Birhanu Yemataw Balew clinched his second gold at the Hangzhou Asian Games by winning the men's 5,000m in a new Games record time, while China won the maiden 35km race walk mixed team event on Wednesday.
The 35km race walk mixed team event features four athletes - two males and two females in each team, and the final result of each team is calculated by the sum of the results from its best male and female athletes.
Qieyang Shijie, Bai Xueying, He Xianghong and Wang Qin helped China secure the gold medal in five hours 16 minutes and 41 seconds. Japan ranked second with five and a half minutes behind, followed by India in 5:51:14.
"I'm very happy with my performance, because I maintained my pace to the end, which was great," said Qieyang, who also received her reallocated 20km race walk gold medal from the 2012 London Olympic Games on Wednesday, after the original top two finishers had been stripped of their medals for doping.
Birhanu Yemataw Balew of Bahrain celebrates winning the men's 5,000m gold. (Xinhua/Sun Fei)
Following his triumph in the 10,000m race four days ago, Balew set a new 5,000m Asian Games record of 13 minutes 17.40 seconds.
India's Avinash Mukund Sable finished second in 13:21.09, while Balew's compatriot Dawit Fikadu Admasu won the bronze in 13:25.63.
Bahrain also emerged victorious in the women's 4x400m relay, setting a new Asian Games mark of three minutes 27.65 seconds. India came second in 3:27.85, while Sri Lanka took the third place in 3:30.88.
India sprinted to the men's 4x400m relay gold in 3:01.58, while Qatar and Sri Lanka came second and third respectively.
China's Wang Chunyu celebrates winning a bronze in the women's 800m. (Xinhua/Jiang Han)
In the women's 800m, Chinese runner Wang Chunyu was overtaken in the last 100 meters, finishing third behind Tharushi Dissanayaka Mudiyanselage of Sri Lanka and India's Harmilan Bains.
Junior world champion Sharifa Davronova of Uzbekistan won the women's triple jump crown at 14.09 meters, with China's Zeng Rui taking silver at 13.92m and Mariko Morimoto of Japan finishing third at 13.78m.
In the men's high jump, Qatar's Olympic champion Mutaz Barshim continued his supremacy by clearing the bar at 2.35 meters, equaling the Games record that he set at Incheon 2014.
South Korea's Woo Sang-hyeok attempted to challenge Barshim at 2.37m but failed, settling for silver at 2.33m. Japan's Tomohiro Shinno ranked third with a season-best 2.29m.
"This is my third Asian Games gold medal. Though I did not break the record, I feel no regrets. I enjoy today's competition," Barshim said.
In the men's javelin throw, Indian duo Neeraj Chopra and Kishore Kumar Jena swept the gold and silver medals, while Japanese thrower Roderick Genki Dean won the bronze. ■
