China’s Zhang Keyi broke the women’s 100m record on Friday at the 22nd Asian U20 Athletics Championships in Kai Tak, clocking 13.38 seconds to win gold on the second day of the competition.
The 16-year-old finished just 0.03 seconds off her personal best of 13.35, set last August, and bettered the time she set when she lowered the meet record at the Asian Youth Games last October, when she ran 13.51.
Japan’s Nana Ishihara took the medal in 13.76 minutes, while Kazakhstan’s Alina Golovina took the bronze in 13.93 minutes.
“This result was both expected and unexpected,” Zhang said after the race. “My preparation is not fully completed at this stage, and I did not plan to participate in this tournament, but I wanted to come here to gain experience.
“If I had run this time last year, I would have thought it was amazing. But this year, I feel this result is within my expectations, because I already had this level last year. I have trained for more than half this year, so it is stronger.”
Zhang, who has been nicknamed “young beauty with restrictions” on Chinese social media, said she did not let comments about her appearance affect her.
