**Achieve a personal best and win the championship**
*Young race walker Ma Zhenxia looks forward to realizing her dream of Paris*
China Sports News reporter Li Dongye
On March 3, in the first leg of the 2024 World Race Walking Tour and Paris Olympic Race Walking Trials held in Taicang, Jiangsu, Chinese teenager Ma Zhenxia won the women’s 20-kilometer race walking event with a personal best time of 1 hour, 26 minutes and 7 seconds. Winning the championship gives him an advantage in qualifying for this year’s Paris Olympics. Not only that, this result is more than 3 minutes faster than the winning time of Italian star Palmisano at the Tokyo Olympics.
The women’s 20-kilometer race walk is a traditional advantage event of the Chinese track and field team. Ma Zhenxia, who was born in 1998, has performed well in recent years. At the 2014 Youth Olympic Games, Ma Zhenxia made a splash when she first entered the public eye. She won the gold medal in the women’s 5,000-meter race walking and was regarded as a “star of hope.” In the subsequent Asian Junior Championships and World Junior Championships, she lived up to expectations and won gold medals one after another. In 2023, Ma Zhenxia won two gold medals at the World Race Walking Championships, both individual and team. At the World Championships in Budapest, she also won seventh place, the best record of the Chinese team in the women’s 20-kilometer race walk.
Although the Hangzhou Asian Games was Ma Zhenxia’s first time participating in the Asian Games, she also performed well in the 20-kilometer race walking competition. In the end, she lost to her teammate Yang Jiayu by only 1 second and won the runner-up. Although she failed to win the championship, Ma Zhenxia admitted that she still gained experience in the competition. After the Asian Games, Ma Zhenxia devoted herself to preparing for the Paris Olympics.
In this competition, Ma Zhenxia achieved her personal best and climbed to the top podium as she wished. Yang Jiayu finished second with a slight disadvantage of 0.258 seconds. Two Olympic champions Liu Hong and Sister Qieyang finished third and fourth respectively.
“The training camp after the Asian Games was relatively systematic, and my personal physical fitness, technical level, and psychology have all improved a lot. Being able to win the championship with my personal best result this time is also the best reward for the previous stage of training,” Ma Zhenxia expressed.
The race walking events of the Paris Olympic Games have been adjusted in terms of items. In addition to the 20 kilometers for men and women, there is also a 35-kilometer mixed team event for men and women. This is also the first time this event has appeared at the Olympics. Due to such changes, the race walking selection competition, known as the hot spot for China’s track and field Olympic gold medals, has become extremely fierce. This win also gave Ma Zhenxia an advantage in the Olympic selection. Ma Zhenxia looks forward to contributing to the Chinese team at the Paris Olympics. “It is every athlete’s dream to represent China in the Olympics. I will go all out and strive to get a quota.”