Zhang Wei (; born 22 March 1994) is a Chinese male

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

athlete who competes in the

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the Myc ...

. He has a personal best of , set indoors in 2013. He was a silver medallist at the

Asian Indoor Athletics Championships The Asian Indoor Athletics Championships were held for the first time in 2004 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships, 2004. Run by the Asian Athletics Association, the championships take place biennially in different cities all over Asia.

in 2012 and won the regional title at the

2015 Asian Athletics Championships The 21st Asian Athletics Championships was held at the Wuhan Sports Center in Wuhan, China from 3–7 June 2015.Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...

on the east Coast of China. He first came to prominence nationally with a win at the Chinese youth championships in 2010. He proceeded to win the Chinese junior championships and the China City Games title the following year.Zhang Wei
Tilastopaja. Retrieved on 2015-06-06. A best of came as part of a fourth-place finish at the Chinese Athletics Championships. He competed abroad for the first time in 2012 and managed a new best of indoors in

Villeurbanne Villeurbanne (; frp, Velorbana) is a commune in the Metropolis of Lyon in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in eastern France. It is situated northeast of Lyon, with which it forms the heart of the second-largest metropolitan area in France after tha ...

. This served a preparation for the

2012 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships The 2012 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships was the fifth edition of the international indoor athletics event between Asian nations. It took place at the Vocational and Technical College Athletics Hall in Hangzhou, China, between 18 and 19 Febru ...

, where the 17-year-old was runner-up behind his older compatriot (and national record holder) Yang Yansheng. Another indoor best of followed at the Chinese Taipei vs. China international match a month later.Wei Zhang
IAAF. Retrieved on 2015-06-06. In the 2012 outdoor season, he defended his Chinese junior title. A debut on the

IAAF Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fourteen of the best invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics (formerly known as the IAAF) one-day mee ...

circuit came shortly after and he managed to finish seventh at the

Shanghai Golden Grand Prix The Diamond League Shanghai is an annual athletics event at the Shanghai Stadium in Shanghai, China as part of the Diamond League. The meeting was founded as the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix in 2005. The meet assumed its current name in 2010. From ...

meet. He had an outright personal best at the Chinese Athletics Grand Prix meeting in his home province in

Zibo Zibo (, ) is a prefecture-level city in central Shandong province, China. It borders the provincial capital Jinan to the west, Tai'an to the southwest, Linyi to the south, Weifang to the east, Dongying to the northeast, and Binzhou to the nor ...

, winning with a mark of . He became the continental champion at the

2012 Asian Junior Athletics Championships The 2012 Asian Junior Athletics Championships was the 15th edition of the international athletics competition for Asian under-20 athletes, organised by the Asian Athletics Association. It took place from 9 to 12 June at the Sugathadasa Stadium in ...

with a championship record height. In spite of this success, he failed to register a valid mark at the

2012 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 2012 World Junior Championships in Athletics was an international athletics competition for athletes qualifying as juniors (born 1993 or later) which was held at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, on 10–15 ...

. At the end of the season, he equalled his best to place third at the Chinese Championships, behind Yang and

Xue Changrui Xue Changrui (; born 31 May 1991) is a Chinese track and field athlete who competes in the pole vault. His personal best is 5.82 m. He was the champion at the Asian Athletics Championships in 2013 and at the Asian Games in 2014. Career ...

. Still eighteen, he cleared an Asian junior record of at the start of 2013. He won the national junior title for a third time running, but failed to record a height at the

2013 World Championships in Athletics The 14th IAAF World Championships in Athletics (Moscow 2013) () was an international athletics competition held in Moscow, Russia, from 10–18 August 2013. Initially, Russia won the most gold medals to top the table for the first time since 200 ...

– his senior global debut. He dropped down the national rankings at the 12th Chinese Games, taking sixth place. He topped the national scene for the first time at the 2014 Chinese Championships, taking the national title in a personal best of . Zhang maintained his form into the following season and built upon his 2012 junior regional title with a senior gold medal at the

2015 Asian Athletics Championships The 21st Asian Athletics Championships was held at the Wuhan Sports Center in Wuhan, China from 3–7 June 2015.Wuhan Wuhan (, ; ; ) is the capital of Hubei, Hubei Province in the China, People's Republic of China. It is the largest city in Hubei and the most populous city in Central China, with a population of over eleven million, the List of cities in China ...

, matching his best to see off a challenge from Japan's

Seito Yamamoto is a Japanese pole vaulter. He competed in the pole vault event at the 2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held ...

.Qatari sprinters dominate at Asian Championships
IAAF (2015-06-04). Retrieved on 2015-06-06.

Personal bests

*Pole vault outdoor: (2015) *Pole vault indoor: (2014)

National titles

* Chinese Athletics Championships **

Pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the Myc ...

: 2014

International competitions

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zhang, Wei Living people 1994 births Athletes from Shandong Chinese male pole vaulters World Athletics Championships athletes for China