On day three of the National Athletics Championships in Zhejiang, Chinese sprinter Xie Zhenye dashed to victory in 20.72 seconds to win the men's 200 meters, adding to his 100-meter title.

Xie ranked first in the preliminaries and was at lane three in the final. The 27-year-old is the men's 200-meter Asian record holder after he broke Femi Ogunode's record at the London Stop of last year's Diamond League with a time of 19.88 seconds, also becoming the first Chinese to finish the distance within 20 seconds.

Rain poured heavily in the evening, which caused trouble for every athlete, but Xie still presented his dominance and led from the start and finally crossed the line in 20.72 seconds. This is Xie's second gold after winning the 100 meters with a time of 10.31 seconds in the opening day of the event.

Despite the victory, Xie said the result did not meet his expectations, as he was thinking about finishing with 20.50 seconds or so.

Affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, track and field competitions worldwide have met with great challenge as many world-level events could not be held as scheduled and athletes were also having difficulties remaining in good shape. 

(Cover image: Men's 200-meter Asian record holder Xie Zhenye looks on at the National Athletics Championship in Shaoxing, east China's Zhejiang Province, September 17, 2020. /VCG)