This weekend the World Athletics Platinum Label Yangzhou Half Marathon will take place; the race also serves as the 4th East Asian Half Marathon Championships and a leg of the Grand Canal Marathon Series (Yangzhou stop). Before this race begins, many of China’s top-10 half marathon performances came from another Platinum Label half marathon — the Meishan Renshou Half Marathon — where Zhaxi Ciren and Yu Shuiqing successively rewrote the national records, and Zhang Deshun also claimed the women’s national record there. All of China’s top-10 men’s half marathon times are from after 2024, which can rightly be called a brand-new chapter. Sun Yingjie’s national record, set when she won the World Half Marathon Championships in New Delhi, was broken by Zhang Deshun in 2024; Zhang Deshun is also currently the only domestic woman to have run into the 68-minute range. He Wuxia and Liang Tiantian also eclipsed veteran Sun Yingjie to enter the top three, in last year and this year respectively. Among the women’s top ten there are also two retired athletes: Zheng Guixia’s result at the All-Japan Corporate Team Half Marathon still ranks sixth, while Zhou Chunxiu’s 1:08:59 came at the Yangzhou Half Marathon. On March 29 at Yangzhou, Liang Tiantian, Li Meizhen, Ma Wenliang, Zhaxi Ciren, Jiang Fakun and Feng Peiyou from this list will all line up at the start. Will any of them rewrite their PBs in Yangzhou? Which newcomers will break into this ranking?