A new Asian women’s javelin record of 71.74 meters has served as an age gift for China’s Yan Ziyi, achieved a day after turning 18 at the Xiamen Diamond League.
On Saturday night, the youth event raised the Asian record by nearly four meters to claim gold in her first attempt before clearing the remaining five jumps, while also moving up to second on the world all-time list.
The performance shattered the previous Asian mark of 67.98m held by Lyu Huihui since 2019, while also breaking the under-20 world record of 65.89m that Yan himself set at the 2025 China National Athletics Championships.
In the history of women’s javelin, only Barbora Spotakova of the Czech Republic has thrown more, recording 72.28 meters in 2008.
Before Yan, only five female athletes worldwide had ever crossed the 70m mark in the competition.
When the world record was set, Yan was only three months and 22 days old. Eighteen years later, he was only 0.54 meters short.
