(Reuters) – Su Bingtian has confirmed his strong form by clocking 9.98 seconds to win the 100 metres at China’s national athletics trials for the Tokyo Olympics in Shaoxing, local media reported.
The 31-year-old, the first Asian-born athlete to go under 10 seconds in the blue-riband sprint, ran the same time at Zhaoqing in April.
“The result was satisfying, though my body was not in top form,” Su told China’s state news agency Xinhua after Friday’s run.
The time, the seventh legal sub 10-second run of Su’s career, was the joint 13th fastest in the world this year.
Su is set to compete in his third Olympics in Tokyo this summer and will be a key member of China’s 4x100m relay team, which he helped to a silver medal at the 2015 world championships in Beijing and fourth at the Rio Games.
“We are not satisfied that we were ranked the fourth at the 4×100 metres relay event last time,” Su added. “It’ll require a great effort if we want to take a medal this time, but our goal has not changed.”
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney; Editing by William Mallard)
