The 会长's last PB was still Osaka 2024 (2:08:04). After two and a half years, he finally bridged those few seconds. Those seconds were earned by the 会长 giving everything in Berlin.Although he remains China's fifth-fastest, he is now also the fifth Chinese ever to run in the 2:07s.

Since 2026 there has been a clear acceleration in Chinese marathon times, especially in the men's field. The Wuxi Marathon has swept through like a gale, with multiple athletes breaking 2:10 and even 2:09, and the level of the country's top elites has continued to rise. For the 会长, Berlin's 2:07:55 has smoothly propelled him once again into the top-tier elite ranks.

By raising the fifth-place threshold from 2:08:04 to 2:07:55, the 会长 has meant that other athletes now must run sub-2:08 to enter the top five. That makes the chase target more concrete — who will be the next Sub208?

Another newcomer to the list is Wang Jiahao— at the February 2026 Seville Marathon he set a PB of 2:11:17. Seven months later in Berlin, Wang Jiahao ran 2:08:21, lowering his PB by 2 minutes 56 seconds, a result that also made him the country's 14th runner to break 2:09.

Unlike the 会长, Wang Jiahao is an outside-system athlete; although currently registered in Heilongjiang, his day-to-day training is still overseen by his personal coach Han Gang.

Coincidentally, the fastest outside-system athlete until now was 贾俄仁加, whose PB of 2:08:32 was set at the 2024 Berlin Marathon — a time that happened to be the previous tenth-fastest. Now Wang Jiahao has taken up that banner with a faster time; the ceiling for outside-system runners keeps rising. After Berlin, Wang Jiahao has lifted the top-ten threshold by 11 seconds in one go.

The appearance of Jia Erenjia and Wang Jiahaomeans that competition in Chinese men's marathon is no longer confined to the state system; the boundary between amateur and professional is being further eroded. Widening the view, grassroots elites like Hong Yue, Li Jian (铁蛋) and others have already reached or are on the road to Sub210.

Rankings are always changing, and the 2026 season is far from over. Wang Jiahao was only one second behind Suolang Cairen ahead of him, but three Sub209 runners behind him were already working hard to mount a counterattack. Among them was Jia Erenjia, who had just returned from Nagoya.

贾俄仁加 gave up the opportunity to chase fast autumn courses for the sake of his national team dream. However, in a post-Nagoya Asian Games interview he explicitly said he will choose a race in the fourth quarter of this year to go after a PB.

In addition,Yang Kegu (PB 2:08:48) andHong Yue (PB 2:08:50) will likewise focus on races in the second half of the year.