Chinese sprinter Su Bingtian won the gold medal in the men’s 60m final in his season debut at the Gothenburg Games, part of the World Athletics Indoor Tour, in Gothenburg, Sweden on Thursday.
Su secured the first place in his group in 6.75 seconds in the heat, and the 33-year-old finished the final with a time of 6.59 seconds, 0.01 seconds ahead of Japanese sprinter Akihiro Higashida, while Even Meinseth of Norway finished third in 6.69 seconds.
Su Bingtian (1st R) of China competes during the men’s 60m final A during the Gothenburg Games of World Athletics Indoor tour in Gothenburg, Sweden, February 2, 2023. /Xinhua
Su, the current holder of both the 60m and 100m Asian records, routinely starts the season indoors.
He will compete in two more indoor meetings in Mondeville and Lievin in France. The Asian sprinter, who holds the fifth fastest record of all time in the 60m event, faces world championships 4x100m relay silver medalist Elijah Hall of the United States in Mondeville on February 8.
In the Lievin competition on February 15, Su will meet Italy’s Olympic 100m champion Lamont Marcell Jacobs.
Sweden’s Olympic champion and world record holder Armand Duplantis competes during the Mondo Classic pole vault competition in Uppsala, Sweden, February 2, 2023. /CFP
Also on Thursday, Olympic champion pole vaulter Armand Duplantis said he “feels close” to setting a new world record after opening his 2023 season with a convincing win on home soil.
The 23-year-old was only thwarted by his own world record at the Mondo Classic indoor meeting in Uppsala, failing to clear 6.22 meters and settling for the highest jump at 6.10 meters.
He said after the match, “I feel close, I can do it, 100 percent. But it’s not so simple, I need to do a little better on the approaches.”
Since 2020, Duplantis has broken his own world record five times.
American KC Lightfoot took second place with a jump of 5.91 meters at the second attempt, while Ernest Obiena of the Philippines came third with the same height achieved after three jumps.
Duplantis is expected to compete in Berlin next week and at two further events in France this month.
Meanwhile, Greek Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou emerged victorious in the men’s long jump with 8.12m and Olympic 400m hurdles champion Karsten Warholm won the 400m competition in 45.31 seconds, his second-best indoor time.
Source: Athletics: China’s sprinter Su wins gold medal in season debut