Lu Xiuzhi breaks women's 20km race walk Asian record

BEIJING - China's Lu Xiuzhi built up a more than two-minute advantage to win the women's 20km title with a new Asian record at the Chinese National Race Walk Grand Prix Beijing meet here on Friday.

The 21-year-old Lu, reigning Asian Games and Chinese National Games champion, led from the start of the race and clocked one hour 25 minutes 12 seconds, bettering the former Asian record of 1:25:16 set by her national teammate Qieyang Shijie at 2012 Olympic Games in London.

"I didn't expect I can break the Asian record today. Before the race I just wanted to walk under 1:26:30," said Lu. "During the race my coach told me that I had the chance to break the record and I was feeling quite good. So I decided to speed up and give it a try."

Liu Hong, bronze medalist at Moscow worlds in 2013, finished second in 1:27:39. And Nie Jingjing, also from the national training team, was 12 seconds adrift to finish third. Qieyang Shijie finished fourth in 1:28:37.