byLarry EderWe hope that you are enjoying our Nike Talks World Indoors 2018 series. We have written about over 20 athletes from around the world and will publish pieces on sixty athletes plus 24 historic moments from the World Indoors.
Su Bingtian, Portland World Champs 2016, photo by PhotoRun.net
This is Nike Talks World Indoors 2018: Week 4, Day 5. Here is our Asian athlete for the week (we write about US, British, European, African, Asian, then, on weekends, history of world indoors)! We are writing about the Nike athletes who are planning on competing in Birmingham, March 1-4, 2018. For Friday, January 26, 2018, we are writing about Su Bingtian, who will be making his fourth World Indoor Championships . For more on the World Indoors 2018, please go to www.wicbirmingham2018.com. We thank Nike for sponsoring this three month long program!
Su Bingtian, World Indoors 2016, photo by PhotoRun.net
Su Bingtian is the fastest man in the worlds’s most populous country. Su has run 9.99 for the 100 meters , and 6.50 for 60 meters indoors.
I added a video to a @YouTube playlist https://t.co/gEJjQky93h Su Bingtian 100M Sprint Breakdown | Performance Labs
— Performance Labs (@PerformanceLab_) December 20, 2017
Sprinting since 2003, when in junior high, Su Bingtian changed his start in 2015, with the support of his coach, Yuan, and the rest, they say is history.
Su Bingtian is a fine example of the high quality athletes and the focus of the same athletes, from the People’s Republic of China.
In 2014, Su Bingtian took 4th in the World Indoors in Sopot, Poland with a swift time of 6.52. In 2015, Su Bingtian took 8th in the final and then, compted in the PRC’s 4×100 meters where the team ran 38.01 and took the silver medal in front of 80,000 screaming fans in the Birds’ Nest.
Su Bingtian ran a 9.99 NR in the semi finals for the World Championships, with a legal wind. His 9th place in the final, in 10.06, was, as he told the media, a highlight of his career.
In 2016, in the Stadio Engenhao Olimpico, Su Bingtian, again, on the relay team, took 4th in 37.90! A brilliant run in a tight, cold final.
“I do not think I am a hero. I am just a stepping-stone, a stepping-stone like my coach Yuan and all the country’s sprinting foregoers, a stepping-stone to pave the way for more youngsters to push the speed limit for China,” said Su Bingtian to the IAAF in 2015 (from Focus on Athletes, by Vincent WU, https://www.iaaf.org/athletes/pr-of-china/bingtian-su-228422).
In 2017, Su Bingtian continued his fine improvement, running a wind-aided 9.92 at the Pre Classic in May 2017. At the London World Championships, Su Bingtian finished 8th in the 100 meter final, and ran on the Chinese 4x100m relay team, taking a fine 4th, in 38:34.
With National records at the 60 meters (6.50) and 100 meters (9.99), Su Bingtian takes his position in the world’s largest country seriously. He spoke to Vincent WU for the IAAF about his role in sport:
“I hope my story can encourage those young people who have been training or are about to train in sprinting, encouraging them to believe that Chinese can also run fast and maybe even reach the podium at the World Championships or Olympic Games one day,” commented Su Bingtian.
(Update January 26, 2018): On January 26, in Berlin, Su Bingtian ran 6.55 for the 60 meters at the ISTAF Berlin.
[speed of China! Su Bingtian, 6 seconds, 55, Berlin won the first prize. In the early morning of Beijing time, the indoor track and field competition held in Berlin, Germany, the Chinese man Su Bingtian won 6 seconds 55 in the men’s 60 meter final. @CCTV pic.twitter.com/GcAT1np7n1
— Lee Guangsin (@LeeGuangSin) January 27, 2018
How will Su Bingtian do in Birmingham? Well, Su Bingtian took fourth in Sopot 2014, and then, 5th in Portland 2016. The finest sprinter in China should be in the thick of the 60 meter battle in Birmingham.
We wish him much luck.
Su Bingtian, photo by PhotoRun.net
