While Jamaican Usain Bolt stunned the world with his sensational 100m run at the Berlin World Championships, Chinese athletes have also surprised with a good start to the competition.
After race walker Wang Hao claimed a silver in the men’s 20km on the opening day, his female’s counterpart, Liu Hong, added a bronze on Sunday in her 20km walk and women’s shot putter Gong Lijiao also finished third with a personal best of 19.89m.
The three medals mark China’s best start since they first took part in the event in 1983.
Boosted by the unexpected results of the first two days, officials are now changing their forecasts for the remainder of the Championships.
“The three medals were a little bit out of our expectations but they were not that surprising,” said Feng Shuyong, vice-director of the Chinese Athletics Administrative Center. “The results of race walking are difficult to predict but we are happy our athletes performed up to their potential.”
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