NANJING: Wu Yanni has set her eyes on breaking more records in her career and admitted that securing an Olympic medal is out of her reach as of the moment.
Recently, the track and field athlete won third place in the semi-finals of the women’s 60-m hurdles at the World Athletics Indoor Championships. She finished with a time of 8.01 seconds, just 0.01 seconds behind Jamaica’s Ackera Nugent. Despite breaking a new Chinese record, she did not reach the final round.
With her current impressive performances, Wu aims to break the national record for the 100-m hurdles set by Yu Xhang with a time of 12.64 seconds in 1993. Her personal record at the said event is 12.74 seconds, which she won at the national championship last year in Rizhao.
On becoming a champion
Wu is confident that she can be a champion in China. To achieve this, she plans on avoiding making mistakes and surpassing the current Asian record. However, she knew that competing against top athletes from Europe and the US would be a challenge.
With this, the athlete told the South China Morning Post: “Overall, my differences with the Europeans and Americans are too much. It wasn’t on the technical side but my absolute speed and strength were far too behind… They have strong thighs and upper body strength whereas Asian athletes feel like a child standing next to them on the field.”
Wu’s Olympic performances
During the Paris Olympics, the Chinese failed to reach the 100-m hurdles final with her final record of 12.97 seconds. Masai Russell of the US, who finished in 12.33 seconds, won the gold medal.
Wu admitted that being part of the Olympic top three and securing a medal was part of her goals, but it was not beyond her reach currently. Now, her main goal is to make it to the top eight.
“I went to the Olympics just to learn and earn more experience, I lack the experience competing in big tournaments… So, I always go to international competitions hoping to learn more,” Wu remarked.
She added: “We need to go out and compete more, that’s how we can be better, and I believe we will be better.”
Recently, Wu’s bold personality, tattoos, and use of makeup during competitions have sparked mixed opinions within the Chinese sports community. However, she remains true to herself and stays grounded. She told Xinhua: “I’m here to make China’s hurdling known… Public attention fades, hard results stay. I won’t let noise distract me. My job is to leave no regrets.”