Liu Hong

Who is Liu Hong?

Liu Hong is a Chinese race walker. She was the Asian record holder over the Olympic 20 km distance and won medals at the World Championships in Athletics in both 2009 and 2011.

She first came to prominence by winning the World Junior and Asian Games titles in 2006. After a poor global debut at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics, she rebounded with a fourth place finish at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She secured her first major medal at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics, taking the bronze medal. Later that year she took the national title at the 11th Chinese National Games.

Liu retained her title at the 2010 Asian Games and broke the Games record with a time of 1:30:06 hours. She opened her 2011 season with a win on the 2011 racewalking circuit at the Memorial Mario Albisetti. She followed this with a win in Taicang, equalling her personal best in the process. A third circuit win came in Dublin that year. She won the silver medal at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics, beaten only by Olga Kaniskina who won her third straight title. Liu broke the Asian record for the 20 km walk in Taicang in 2012, defeating Wang Yan's decade-old record with a time of 1:25:46 hours.