China won both race walks on the opening day of athletics at the 20th Asian Games in Nagoya on Wednesday 23 September. These were the first Asian Games titles over the half marathon distance (21.1km), which has replaced the 20km walk. Shi Shengji won the men's race in 1:23:32 and Yang Liujing won the women's in 1:33:40. Both races were held on the loop course between the Aichi Prefectural Government Office and Nagoya City Hall.
Shi, a 19-year-old from Jiangsu, won by almost four and a half minutes. Japan's Toshikazu Yamanishi, a two-time world champion over 20km and the biggest name on the start list, took silver in 1:28:01 in front of a home crowd. For a race of this length, a margin of that size is extraordinary, especially against a field that included Yamanishi.
South Korea's Choe Byeong-kwang took bronze in 1:28:35, his country's first athletics medal of the Games. The 35-year-old was at his fourth Asian Games and had never won a medal at one. He was fourth through the early checkpoints and moved into third with about 9km to go. Afterwards he said this could be his last Asian Games and that he had become emotional at the finish.
The women's podium was much closer. Yang finished well clear in 1:33:40, but Kazakhstan's Kristina Morozova (1:35:25) held off China's Jiang Yunyan (1:35:26) by one second for silver. Jiang's bronze gave China two of the three women's medals.
The first track finals follow on Thursday evening at Paloma Mizuho Stadium. They include the women's 10,000m, the men's triple jump, the men's discus and the mixed 4x400m relay, and the 100m heats also start on Thursday. The men's 10,000m and both 100m finals are on Friday. The remaining walks are on Sunday 27 September, and the athletics programme runs until Tuesday 29 September, with 50 medal events in total.