Today, the Chinese Athletics Association officially announced that national records have been formally established for the half marathon and the 10 km road race; previously the official system listed them as "best performances".
In recent years, road-running results in China have surged, and the best marks for both men and women in the 10 km and the half marathon have been broken. This sparked a long online debate over whether these performances should be considered "best performances" or "records".
One reason they may not have been established earlier is that the half marathon and the 10 km are not official events at the Olympics, the World Championships, or the National Games, so they haven't received the same level of attention.
However, World Athletics had already established a 10 km world record in 2003 and a half marathon world record in 2004; it had previously marked Wang Wenjie’s half marathon time, Mao Jinhu’s 10 km time and Zhang Deshun’s half marathon time as "NR" (national record).
On one hand there is World Athletics certification; on the other, the domestic athletics association only described results as "best performances". This mismatch between international and domestic standards once sparked debate among runners — now that debate can be put to rest.
That's because the Chinese Athletics Association's latest national records lookup has officially added the half marathon and 10 km events.
Current Chinese men's 10 kmnational record: Mao Jinhu 28:49 set at the 2025 Valencia 10 km road race.
Chinese women's 10 km national record：Zhang Deshun 31:54 set at the 2025 Chinese Athletics Association 10 km Elite Final.
Chinese men's half marathon national record：Wang Wenjie 1:01:15 set at the 2026 Beijing Half Marathon.
Chinese women's half marathon national record: Zhang Deshun 1:07:55 set at the 2024 Meishan Renshou Half Marathon.
Since 2022, when the Chinese Athletics Association standardized the term "marathon" to "road running" and clarified that standard race distances include 5 km, 10 km, and the half marathon, now formally including 10 km and the half marathon in the national record system marks a further institutional alignment of China's road running with international standards.
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