Shot put Olympic champion Gong opens season with two titles

CHENGDU -- China's Olympic shot put gold medalist and two-time world champion Gong Lijiao opened her 2023 season in high spirits as the 34-year-old collected two titles here this week.

The vastly experienced Gong opened her season with a world leading mark of 19.30 meters to take victory in the first leg of the Chinese Throws Meeting at the Sichuan Xipu Training Base in Chengdu on Tuesday.

It was her first competition since winning a silver medal at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon, United States last July.

Thanks to her last-round effort of 19.66m, Gong rallied to beat national teammate Song Jiayuan at the same venue on Saturday and further improved the world-leading mark en route to claiming the title at the Southwest China Athletics Invitation Meeting.

Song, 25, finished second with 19.47m, representing the second-best mark in the world so far this season. Zhang Mengdi of Liaoning took third place with 17.35m.