Rao Xinyu (middle), a girl from Zhoushan, East China's Zhejiang province strikes gold in the women's 800 meters race at the third Asian Youth Athletics Championships in Hong Kong on March 17. [Photo/Wechat account of Zhoushan Radio and Television Station]

Teenage Chinese athletes showed their track and field sports strength by bagging seven gold medals on March 17, the last day of competition for the third Asian Youth Athletics Championships held in Hong Kong. Rao Xinyu, a girl from Zhoushan, East China's Zhejiang province struck gold in the women's 800 meters race.

Rao also broke the record kept in the history of the championships for the race by running in only 2.09.03 minutes.

In addition, Rao ran the last leg of the Swedish relay, an athletics track event in which the four runners of a team run 100, 200, 300 and 400 meters, respectively, and helped the Chinese team win the gold, in 2.10.71 minutes.

Rao Xinyu runs the last leg of the Swedish relay at the competition. [Photo/Wechat account of Zhoushan Radio and Television Station]

Aged 18, Rao is 1.71 meters tall and studies at the Zhoushan High School. She takes part in long-term intensified training as a member of the provincial athletics team.

Rao has shown her talent for track and field since she was in primary school, during which she bagged golds for all the athletics events at the school sports meetings.

"She really has a gift for this, and maintains a good cardio-pulmonary function when running on the track. She ran the national third in the 400 metres race for 15-year-olds when she was only 14," said Shen Kefeng, a coach of Rao at the Zhoushan Youth Sports School.

Rao also won the championship at the women's 400 metres race in the qualifier (Asian zone) for the third Youth Olympic Games in 2018, and ran the third at the women's 800 metres race in the 2018 National Athletics Championships.

The Asian Youth Athletics Championships, initiated in 2015, is currently the most important youth track and field competition in Asia, and is held every two years. It provides a good platform for teenagers in different Asian countries to communicate and learn from each other.

This year's championships were held from March 13 to 18 in Hong Kong.

China sent a team of 67 participants for the competition, and finished first in the medal tally for the third consecutive time, with 12 golds, 11 silvers and eight bronzes, followed by the Indian team with eight golds, nine silvers and nine bronzes, and the Japanese team with six golds, eight silvers and six bronzes.