Lu Minjia

Lu Minjia
Medal record
Women's athletics
Representing  China
Asian Athletics Championships
2015 Wuhan Long jump
2011 Kobe Long jump
East Asian Games
2009 Hong Kong Long jump

Lu Minjia (born 29 December 1992) is a Chinese female track and field athlete who competes in the long jump. She was the 2009 World Youth Champion and set an Asian youth record of 6.74 m (22 ft 1 1⁄4 in) that same year. After an Asian Junior title, she was runner-up at the 2011 Asian Athletics Championships. She won gold medals at the 2012 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships and the 2015 Asian Athletics Championships.

Lu represented her country at the Asian Games in 2010 and 2014, and has also represented the Asia-Pacific region at the IAAF Continental Cup (2014). She was the winner of the long jump at the 2009 National Games of China.

Career

Youth and junior career

Lu, from the eastern province of Zhejiang,[1] first took up athletics while at primary school and her talent for long jumping was noticed. She continued with the discipline in the region, joining the provincial level athletics club and went on to study at Zhejiang University.[2]

Lu established herself at national level in 2008 when she won the Chinese Olympic trials event, improving a personal best by a large margin with a jump of 6.44 m (21 ft 1 1⁄2 in). At fifteen, she was the youngest athlete in the field and defeated Asian indoor champion Chen Yaling, but had not performed well enough to earn qualification.[3][4] She was the world's number one ranked long jumper in the youth category in 2009 and claimed the gold medal at the 2009 World Youth Championships in Athletics with a jump of 6.22 m (20 ft 4 3⁄4 in).[5] She again defeated Chen in Chinese competition, winning the 2009 Chinese Games title with an Asian youth record mark of 6.74 m (22 ft 1 1⁄4 in).[6] In her first senior international competition she performed less well, but still managed a bronze medal at 2009 East Asian Games while Chen was the winner.[7] She was the second highest ranked Asian woman that year, after Korea's Jung Soon-ok.[8]

She made her global senior debut at the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships, still seventeen years old, and set an indoor best of 6.25 m (20 ft 6 in) in qualifying.[9] She had her season's best jump of 6.47 m (21 ft 2 1⁄2 in) at the 2010 Asian Junior Athletics Championships, where she comfortably won the gold medal. She also shared in the 4×100 metres relay silver medal with Chen Lin, Jiang Shan, and Wu Shuijiao (having been upgraded from bronze after Kazakhstan was disqualified).[10] In her last major performance of the year, she placed sixth at the 2010 Asian Games, clearing 6.36 m (20 ft 10 1⁄4 in) which was 17 cm short of Jung Soon-ok's winning result.[11] Lu won her first national title at the Chinese Athletics Championships that year.[12]

Asian senior medals

At the start of the 2011 indoor season she set an indoor best of 6.58 m (21 ft 7 in) to win in Nanjing.[13] Going into the outdoor season, she was runner-up on countback to Japan's Saeko Okayama at the Golden Grand Prix in Kawasaki.[14] Her outdoor best that year came in national competition in Jinan, where she won with a jump of 6.54 m (21 ft 5 1⁄4 in).[15] She was close to this at the 2011 Asian Athletics Championships, a mark of 6.52 m (21 ft 4 1⁄2 in) being the best of her series, and was ahead of Okayama but beaten into second place by Mayookha Johny.[16] Afterwards, she defended her national title at the Chinese Championships.[17]

She won her first senior title at the 2012 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships, beating Kazakhstan's Anastassya Kudinova to the gold.[18] Turning to the outdoor track and field circuit, she missed the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix meeting, but made her IAAF Diamond League at the Prefontaine Classic in the United States, finishing tenth.[2] Her best of the year came at the Kanchanaburi leg of the Asian Athletics Grand Prix, at which she jumped 6.64 m (21 ft 9 1⁄4 in) to win ahead of India's Johny.[19] She was herself beaten into second at the following leg in Bangkok by Uzbek Juliya Tarasova.[20] She struggled the following year, failing to register a mark beyond six metres, and lost her title at the 12th National Games of China by ending the contest in eleventh place.[9][21]

Lu returned to action in the 2014 season with her first appearance at the Shanghai Diamond League (coming tenth) and a third-place finish at the IAAF World Challenge Beijing.[2] She was chosen as Asia's representative at the 2014 IAAF Continental Cup, finishing seventh,[9] and placed sixth at the 2014 Asian Games.[22] With her season's best of 6.57 m (21 ft 6 1⁄2 in) she ranked in the top fifty globally that year and was joint best Asian athlete alongside her compatriot Jiang Yanfei.[23]

Building on her silver from four years earlier, on home soil in Wuhan Lu won the long jump title at the 2015 Asian Athletics Championships by a five-centimetre margin over South Korea's Jung Soon-ok.[24]

Personal bests

National titles

International competitions

Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
2009 World Youth Championships Bressanone, Italy 1st Long jump 6.22 m
East Asian Games Hong Kong, China 3rd Long jump 6.24 m
2010 World Indoor Championships Doha, Qatar 17th (q) Long jump 6.25 m
Asian Junior Championships Hanoi, Vietnam 1st Long jump 6.47 m
2nd 4×100 m relay 45.87
Asian Games Guangzhou, China 6th Long jump 6.36 m
2011 Asian Championships Kobe, Japan 2nd Long jump 6.52 m
2012 Asian Indoor Championships Hangzhou, China 1st Long jump 6.33 m
2014 Continental Cup Marrakech, Morocco 7th Long jump 6.14 m
Asian Games Incheon, South Korea 6th Long jump 6.28 m
2015 Asian Championships Wuhan, China 1st Long jump 6.52
World Championships Beijing, China 30th (q) Long jump 6.01 m

References

  1. ↑ Lu Minjia wins women's long jump. CCTV (2009-10-26). Retrieved on 2015-06-03.
  2. 1 2 3 Lu Minjia. Incheon2014. Retrieved on 2015-06-03.
  3. ↑ Jalava, Mirko (2008-06-27). Chinese Olympic Trials start quietly in rain - Day One. IAAF. Retrieved on 2015-06-03.
  4. ↑ OT Suzhou CHN 27 - 29 June. Tilastopaja. Retrieved on 2015-06-03.
  5. ↑ Martin, David (2009-07-12). Williams and James achieve unprecedented doubles as Kenya steals the show in middle distance - Day Five - Evening report. IAAF. Retrieved on 2015-06-03.
  6. ↑ Jalava, Mirko (2009-10-24). 16-year-old wins women's long jump in Jinan – National Games of China, Day 3. IAAF. Retrieved on 2015-06-03.
  7. ↑ Krishnan, Ram. Murali (2009-12-11). Liu Xiang and Chinese throwers dominate - East Asian Games, Day 2. IAAF. Retrieved on 2015-06-03.
  8. ↑ Long Jump - women - senior - outdoor - 2009. IAAF. Retrieved on 2015-06-03.
  9. 1 2 3 Minjia Lu. IAAF. Retrieved on 2015-06-03.
  10. ↑ 14th Asian Junior Athletics Championship 2010 1-4 July, Hanoi, Vietnam. Asian Athletics (2010-07-04). Retrieved on 2015-06-03.
  11. ↑ Women Long Throw Athletics Asian Games 2010 Guangzhou (CHN) - Tuesday 23.11 . Todor66. Retrieved on 2015-06-03.
  12. ↑ Jalava, Mirko (2010-08-09). National record for Yang Yansheng in men's Pole Vault - Chinese Champs & Asian Games Trials. IAAF. Retrieved on 2015-06-03.
  13. ↑ Long Jump - women - senior - indoor - 2011. IAAF. Retrieved on 2015-06-03.
  14. ↑ Nakamura, Ken (2011-05-08). Pars defeats Murofushi, Japanese women's 4x100m Relay record falls in Kawasaki - IAAF World Challenge". IAAF. Retrieved on 2015-06-03.
  15. ↑ Long Jump - women - senior - outdoor - 2011. IAAF. Retrieved on 2015-06-03.
  16. ↑ Bahrain takes both 10,000m titles in rainy Kobe - Asian champs, Day 1. IAAF (2011-07-08). Retrieved on 2015-06-03.
  17. ↑ Jalava, Mirko (2011-09-11). Women's throws, men's 100m national record highlight the Chinese championships". IAAF. Retrieved on 2015-06-03.
  18. ↑ Krishnan, Ram. Murali (2012-02-18). Chinese dominate but there is double-delight for Iran at the Asian Indoor Championships – Day 1 . IAAF. Retrieved on 2015-06-03.
  19. ↑ Jiang Fan impresses in Kanchanaburi - 2012 Asian Grand Prix, 2nd leg . IAAF (2012-05-12). Retrieved on 2015-06-03.
  20. ↑ Thanh Hang sets meeting record in Bangkok - 2012 Asian Grand Prix, 1st leg. IAAF (2012-05-09). Retrieved on 2015-06-03.
  21. ↑ Jalava, Mirko (2013-09-11). National Games of China end with exciting Triple Jump contests. IAAF. Retrieved on 2015-06-03.
  22. ↑ Athletics Women's Long Jump Final . Incheon2014. Retrieved on 2015-06-03.
  23. ↑ Long Jump - women - senior - outdoor - 2014. IAAF. Retrieved on 2015-06-03.
  24. ↑ Four golds for hosts China on first day of Asian Championships. IAAF (2015-06-03). Retrieved on 2015-06-03.
  25. ↑ Minjia Lu. IAAF. Retrieved on 2015-06-03.
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