Recently, at the 2025 National Athletics Championships held in Quzhou, Zhejiang, 18-year-old Zhang Jiale from Shandong claimed the women’s hammer throw title with a superb mark of 77.24 meters, breaking her own World U20 Championship record by 2.1 meters. This achievement adds a bright spot to the development of China’s women’s hammer throw and injects fresh momentum into the National Games preparations at the Weihai Sports Training Center in Shandong Province.

In the competition, Zhang opened strong with a throw of 72.82 meters in the first round, immediately taking the lead. She continued to improve, hitting 77.24 meters in the third round. Her final three attempts were also impressive—73.89 meters, 71.55 meters, and 76.15 meters. Remarkably, all six of her throws exceeded 71 meters, with her last attempt of 76.15 meters also surpassing her previous World U20 record. Back in June, at a World Athletics Continental Tour event in Germany, Zhang had thrown 75.14 meters to break the World U20 record. This time, she raised it by another 2.1 meters.

Born in Zibo, Zhang’s winning throw at this championship was her personal best in the current National Games cycle and ranks as the third-best mark in Asian history. After the competition, she shared that she had told her coach the day before that she felt capable of pushing the World U20 record even further. During her warm-up, she sensed her form was strong. “I felt like a stick of dynamite—I blew myself away and shocked everyone else. Every time, I improve in a way that’s totally unexpected,” she said.

Zhang Jiale is now the third Asian athlete in history to achieve this level in the event, following Wang Zheng and Zhang Wenxiu. She is just 0.44 meters shy of Wang Zheng’s Asian record of 77.68 meters. Looking ahead to the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo this September, Zhang has set her initial goal as reaching the top eight.