Tracking future stars

As the first Chinese man born after 2000 to qualify for the 100m at the worlds, the 21-year-old Deng's appearance represents fresh hope for the country in the marquee discipline, after China's golden generation led by Asian record holder and Tokyo 2020 finalist Su Bingtian faded away.

"I tried too hard to bring out my best today. I didn't manage to start as smoothly as I would've wanted, and I obviously messed it up in the final stretch," Deng said of his 10.23 performance in the heats, 0.17 seconds behind his PB set at the national championships in August.

In the men's 110m hurdles, the collective rise of the young trio Liu Junxi, Xu Zhuoyi and Chen Yuanjiang, who all advanced to the semifinals in Tokyo, has proved that the country's training expertise in the technically demanding sprint event, which had produced the legendary 2004 Olympic champion Liu Xiang, is still working.

Though none of them made it into the final, their collective presence has left fans intrigued, as it was the first time at least three Chinese hurdlers had reached the semis since Liu led a three-man Chinese trio to do so in 2011.

sunxiaochen@chinadaily.com.cn