Today (June 11), China’s women’s javelin thrower, rising star Yan Ziyi, won the Diamond League Oslo meeting with an opening throw of 67.11 m, adding another Diamond League meet victory in the event.
In the Diamond League, you'll also hear the term "season-long champion." How is that different from a "single-meet champion"?
These refer, respectively, to the Diamond League's individual-meet winners and the overall season champions (also the season-final champions).
Notably the latter — the season champion — is the Diamond League's highest honor. From 2010 to 2016, the annual champion was decided by a points-based ranking; starting in 2017, it was changed so the final directly selects the overall champion. After the rule change, the finals of each Diamond League event became much more prestigious.
Since its founding in 2010, the World Athletics Diamond League has been the stage for the sport’s top stars. Chinese athletes have kept pushing the envelope — from Liu Xiang’s commanding victory in the 110m hurdles, which put Chinese speed and power on the Diamond League podium for the first time, to Su Bingtian and Xie Zhenye’s historic wins in the 100m and 200m, and Gong Lijiao’s three-time overall season title... Chinese competitors are leaving an increasingly clear mark on this premier athletics series.
China has produced two athletes who have claimed four Diamond League overall titles between them, and both compete in field events.They are Gong Lijiao, who specializes in the women's shot put, and Lu Huihui, who specializes in the women's javelin.
Gong Lijiaois arguably the brightest achiever among Chinese athletes in the Diamond League season titles. Her unprecedented feat of winning the overall title three years in a row in 2017, 2018 and 2019 is unrivaled. Viewed on the world stage, her accomplishments are equally spectacular.
Image source: Diamond League
Aside from her Diamond League achievements, Gong Lijiao is the women's shot put gold medalist at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and a two-time World Championships winner (2017 and 2019).
Another athlete, Lu Huihui, is the first Chinese woman in javelin to win the Diamond League overall title, and the second Chinese athlete to earn this honor after Gong Lijiao; she won it in 2019.
China currently has 39 individual Diamond League meeting victories (two of them in relay events), spanning nine track and field disciplines.
The first Chinese athlete to reach the top of an individual event on the Diamond League stage was Liu Xiang. He not only claimed the 110m hurdles title at the 2011 Shanghai meeting as a home competitor, but went on to win the event a total of three times, including the following year's home meeting and the Eugene meeting in the United States.
The most recent single-meet champion is the young Chinese javelin thrower mentioned at the start, Yan Ziyi, who won at today’s Oslo leg. It’s worth noting that not long ago, at the Xiamen stop of the Diamond League in May, she threw 71.74 m to break the Asian record — kicking off her Diamond League journey and securing her first Diamond League single-meet title. The future looks very promising.
Also notable was Su Bingtian's 10.11s in the men's 100m at the 2017 Shanghai Meeting, becoming the firstChinese athlete; Xie Zhenye at the 2019 London Meeting ran 19.88s to set a new Asian record in the men's 200m and take the win; Zhang Guowei's winning 2.36m at the 2015 Oslo Meeting in the high jump.
Also at the 2016 Shanghai Meeting the Chinese men's 4×100m relay team (Chen Shiwei / Xie Zhenye / Su Bingtian / Zhang Peimeng) ran 38.71s to win and break the meet record. At the same meeting the Chinese women's 4×100m relay team also won with 43.04s, similarly breaking the meet record.
Below is a record of Chinese athletes who have won individual event titles at the Diamond League:
From Liu Xiang’s pioneering rise to the top, to Gong Lijiao, Su Bingtian, and Xie Zhenye’s ongoing breakthroughs, and on to the onward momentum from the new generation led by Yan Ziyi. Every step Chinese track and field athletes have taken to the top in the Diamond League is a vivid reflection of China’s speed and the healthy development of Chinese athletics — the future promises many more outstanding performances!
