Jumping for joy

Chinese long jumper Wang Jianan over the moon to deliver golden National Day gift to the country with Asiad title defense

To celebrate National Day, star Chinese long jumper Wang Jianan delivered a dazzling gift — a gold medal. Through sheer determination and skill, he successfully defended his Asian Games title in the men's long jump at Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Stadium on Sunday.

The performance lived up to not only the expectations of the excited audience, but also himself — it's the first time that he has retained a title in a major competition.

"I've always had the desire to give a gift to our motherland on National Day. With this in mind, I was worried about being too nervous, but today I performed well," Wang said.

A month ago at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Wang was also the defending champion. He made the final in the Hungarian capital with his season's best jump of 8.34 meters in the preliminary, but couldn't secure a spot on the podium, managing only 8.05 m in the final.

In Hangzhou, the competition appeared to be more favorable for him. During the qualification round, Wang effortlessly advanced to the final stage of competition with a jump of 7.72m. Then, in the final, his first leap covered a distance of 8.22m, ultimately leading to his victory and the gold medal.

"I was able to go over 8.2 in my first jump, so that probably defined my state of mind for the rest of the competition. I wanted to further improve my final result, but the subsequent jumps were not executed satisfactorily," he recalled.

"I was really moved by the passion coming from the stands. But a distance of 8.22m was less than I expected, but I am happy with the gold," the 27-year-old said.

He said that he learned from the mistakes he made in Budapest, which were as much tactical as they were about execution, adjusting his strategy accordingly for Hangzhou.

"That's why, in the qualification round, I was jumping more conservatively, because in Budapest the qualification round consumed a lot of energy," he explained.

Wang has grown from a promising star to a leading figure in men's long jump, and his performances have become more consistent over the past decade.

Born in 1996 in Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning province, Wang started training in pole vault and men's decathlon.

The year 2013 marked a turning point for him. Shortly after shifting his focus to long jump, he represented China in the Asian Championships in Balewadi, India, and won the long jump event with a leap of 7.95m.

A year later, just a month before his 18th birthday, he demonstrated his aptitude for the sport by securing the gold medal (8.08m) at the world junior championships in Eugene, Oregon, in the United States.

In 2015, he made history by clinching the bronze medal with a jump of 8.18m at the world championships in Beijing, becoming the competition's first Asian to medal in men's long jump.

In 2018, he achieved a personal best with a remarkable effort of 8.47m, equaling the national record set by Li Jinzhe.

Last year, Wang became the first Chinese athlete to win a gold medal in any horizontal jumping event at the senior worlds by finishing with a season-best performance of 8.36m in Eugene. The Paris Olympics in 2024 is Wang's next goal. "The two major events I participated in this year will pave the way for Paris," he said. "I'll definitely do my best."