On August 10, Beijing time, in the men's marathon of the Paris Olympic Games, three Chinese runners, Wu Xiangdong, Yang Shaohui and He Ming, challenged the marathon track known as the most difficult in history. In this race, which brought together the world's best marathon runners, Wu Xiangdong finished 40th in 2 hours, 12 minutes and 34 seconds during his first Olympic journey, creating the fastest finish for a Chinese male runner in an Olympic marathon, which is also the first official appearance of Xtep 160X 6.0 PRO in an international competition.

The most difficult track, fearless battle

At 8 a.m. local time in Paris, the men's marathon began in front of the town hall. With temperatures of 19 degrees in the morning and slightly higher humidity, as well as a cumulative climb of more than 430 meters on the course, the opportunities and challenges are equal for each runner, and the rest is just a matter of performance and determination. In the first 5 kilometers 15 minutes 44 seconds, 10 kilometers 31 minutes 05 seconds, there are more than 50 people in the leading echelon, and the process of the race is ever-changing with the ups and downs of the track. Yang Shaohui and He Jie rushed to the front of the team, Wu Xiangdong maintained the rhythm with a follow-up run, and the Chinese players showed their strength in their own ways. The race went into the zone of more climbing, and more and more people slowed down. Wu Xiangdong passed the halfway course with 1 hour 05 minutes and 30 seconds, ranking 35th among all the competitors; The better pace made Wu Xiangdong more comfortable in the second half of the race. After a huge 29-kilometre uphill climb, he completed what is probably the hardest 5-kilometre section in marathon history in 16 minutes and 11 seconds. After stepping over the towering hills, the view of the city of Paris and the end of the road are in front of you.

In the end, Wu Xiangdong finished in 2 hours, 12 minutes and 34 seconds, which was the fastest finish of the Chinese men's marathon on the Olympic stage. The Xtep 160X 6.0 PRO made its debut in the Grand Prix and was once again part of a milestone moment for marathons in China.

"Chinese Race" Boosts the "Golden Age" of Marathon

The marathon has entered an unprecedented fast lane, and Chinese runners have caught up with the pace of the world's acceleration in time.

It all starts from 2019: in the Berlin Marathon that year, Dong Guojian created the best result in 12 years for Chinese people in 2:08:28, and many Chinese runners set new PBs; It was also in that year that the Chinese Athletics Association and Xtep launched the "Chinese Race" strategy and related incentive programs, and so far, Xtep has issued more than 10 million yuan in cash and in-kind rewards to Chinese marathon runners.

The plan of that year undoubtedly injected vitality into the Chinese marathon that had been dormant for many years - the million-record prize money made people see the determination of China's marathon to forge ahead, and the original intention of the "Chinese Race" also included promoting the development of China's marathon level, which not only included the pursuit of national records, but also the efforts made for the benign development of China's marathon: promoting the performance of the top elite runners, driving the emergence of grassroots talents in the professional echelon, showing a situation of "multi-point flowering".

Thanks to the continuous accumulation of talent reserves, the results of China's marathon have ushered in a historic leap, and the 210 mark, which was once considered difficult to reach, has now been achieved by more than 10 people; The overall level of mass runners has also exploded in the hot era of marathons, and more and more mass runners have run for 3 hours.

In the time since 2020, although the marathon standard of the world series has increased year by year, the Chinese runners have caught up and appeared on the Olympic and World Championships stages with full quotas.

Not only that, during the 2023-2024 season, He Jie and Yang Shaohui broke the Chinese men's record three times, bringing the Chinese marathon into the 206 era. In 2023, He Jie also won the first marathon gold medal for the Chinese men, adding another stroke to this beautiful era.

Xtep running shoes, to the world stage

The "Chinese Racing" strategy has also witnessed the renewal of Xtep's brand running shoes and the five years to the world stage.

In Berlin's "ice-breaking trip" in 2019, Dong Guojian's pair of Chinese red racing 160X on his feet became the pioneering work of Chinese brand carbon plate running shoes; This series of running shoes also witnessed the historical moment of China's marathon: He Jie wore a 160X PRO to break the 5,628-day Chinese marathon record in Wuxi, and Yang Shaohui and He Jie wore 160X 3.0 PRO to continue to improve the marathon limit of Chinese people in Fukuoka and Wuxi respectively.

When the time came to the Paris Olympics, Wu Xiangdong and the 160X 6.0 PRO experienced the test of the most difficult track, and once again showed the strength of Chinese runners on the world stage.

With the re-ignition of domestic marathon events, racing products based on Xtep Champion Edition running shoes have won honors in different arenas; In many ultramarathon weekends, Xtep's brand running shoe platform has become a habit, which is not only the first choice for elite runners to hit the results, but also favored by many public runners, and has been at the top of the list of "breaking 3" for many popular runners in major events.

The choice and trust of runners also promote the continuous optimization of products. Today, Xtep's running shoe matrix has completed the coverage of needs from racing to ordinary road running, and will continue to witness China's marathon efforts to a higher level.

Xtep running shoes, which have repeatedly won global running shoe awards and helped Chinese runners write new chapters again and again, will accompany China's marathon to continue to forge ahead towards a faster and farther future!