by sportswriters Cao Yibo, Yue Chenxing, Wang Qinou
NAGOYA, Japan, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- With a roar, Yan Ziyi sent her javelin flying into the rainy night sky in Nagoya.
The crowd gasped as the big screen showed 70.46 meters, a result that secured the 18-year-old the women's javelin title at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Sunday.
The throw, on Yan's Asian Games debut, broke the Games record by 4.37 meters. The previous mark of 66.09 meters was set by Chinese athlete Liu Shiying at the 2018 Jakarta Games.
It was also Yan's only throw of the final. She passed on her remaining five attempts, and nobody else came close. Olympic champion Haruka Kitaguchi of Japan took silver with 62.70 meters.
"I didn't expect to finish it with one throw. My plan was just to make my first two throws count," she said in the mixed zone, with tears still in her eyes.
The tears had a reason. Two weeks earlier, at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest, Yan threw 68.05 meters on her first attempt before withdrawing with a foot injury. Kitaguchi passed her with 68.92 meters to take the title.
Yan said she felt she had let people down. After claiming victory at the Asian Games, she said the weight was finally gone.
"I'm actually a pretty calm person. I don't show my feelings much," Yan said.
She has nothing but respect for Kitaguchi, a rival she has faced many times. Yan said she watches and learns from the Japanese star and feels more admiration than pressure.
"I can't say I'm stronger, because we are all chasing each other," Yan said. "Everyone is a target for me to chase."
Yan's journey began in a primary school PE class. After she once threw a softball farther than her classmates, a coach put her on the field team. At sports school, she started with the shot put before switching to the javelin.
People often call Yan a javelin prodigy, but she does not fully agree.
The road was not always smooth. "At the beginning it was really tiring, and I thought about giving up. But I stuck with it," Yan told Xinhua.
"Having talent isn't enough. I have to train so that my talent can show," she added.
Her body keeps changing, and so must her training. As she grows taller and heavier, she has to keep working on her run-up speed and adjusting her technique. Training, she noted, is not simply about repetition. "Learning new moves and new ways to train" is something she enjoys.
Age restrictions once kept Yan out of some senior international events. She said the wait gave her time to sharpen her technique and gain experience.
The results followed quickly. In 2024, Yan threw 64.28 meters at a national grand prix, setting a world U20 record. She won the U20 World Championships the same year.
In 2025, she threw 65.89 meters at the national championships despite carrying an injury. It was the fourth time she had broken the world U20 record.
In May this year, she threw 71.74 meters on her first attempt at the Diamond League meeting in Xiamen, breaking the Asian and world U20 records. It was also the second-best throw in women's javelin history, just 54 centimeters short of Barbora Spotakova's world record of 72.28 meters set in 2008.
Yan kept winning. Xiamen, Oslo, Paris and Monaco all went her way, with each winning throw exceeding 67 meters. In September, she came from behind in Brussels to win the Diamond League final and claim the season title.
Yan is now ranked No. 1 in the world. After her Monaco victory, the Diamond League posted a comment in all capital letters on social media: "ABSOLUTE DOMINATION."
Back in 2024, at 16 and too young for the Paris Olympics, Yan told Xinhua with a smile: "In the future, let's start a new era that belongs to me."
Two years later, that line sounds less like a wish and more like a plan.
"I can start a new era, because I'm still young. I have more time and more chances," she said.
Yan remains modest when the conversation turns to Chinese shot put great Gong Lijiao. "I don't think I can compare myself to her. She's a role model for me. I still have to keep learning from her and chasing what she's achieved," Yan said.
Yan's next targets are already clear: the world championships in Beijing, followed by the Olympics the year after.
"I plan to save the new record for the world championships in Beijing," Yan said after Sunday's competition. "So stay tuned for that." ■
