History-making Olympian Liu Shiying continued her dream year after winning the National Games women’s javelin final at the Xian Olympic Sports Centre Stadium on Thursday.
The 27-year-old Shandong native gifted herself an early present ahead of her birthday on Friday when she scored 64.33 metres.
Liu won an unprecedented gold medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games last month, becoming the first Asian athlete to win an Olympic gold medal in the women’s javelin and the second Chinese athlete ever to win Olympic gold in any field event.
Though she had shown her skill set on the international stage, Liu had never been on the podium at a previous National Games.
Her scores in Xi’an were far below those of her Tokyo outing, where she registered a 66.34. The former world junior number one had been improving her distances since breaking the Asian Athletics Championships record in 2015, before winning Asian Games gold three years later.
At the Chinese Championships in Shaoxing earlier this month, Liu dominated with a 67.29m personal best.
Teammate Lu Huihui finished second with a score of 62.43m. Hubei representative Lu finished fifth in Tokyo with a score of 64.41m. Hebei’s Ge Lijuan saved her best throw for last to take the bronze with an attempt of 58.54m in her sixth.