Zhang Guowei (; born June 4, 1991) is a Chinese high jumper. He holds the Chinese indoor record of 2.33 metres, and has jumped 2.38 metres outdoors. He was the 2015 World Championship silver medallist and the silver medallist at 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 Febr ...

. He has been a finalist at the

World Championships in Athletics The World Athletics Championships (until 2019 known as the World Championships in Athletics) are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics (formerly IAAF, International Association of Athletics Federations). Alongside the Ol ...

and the

IAAF World Indoor Championships The World Athletics Indoor Championships are a biennial indoor track and field competition served as the global championship for that version of the sport. Organised by the World Athletics, the competition was inaugurated as the ''World Indoor G ...

and represented China at the 2012 Summer Olympics and 2016 Summer Olympics.

Career

Born in Penglai, Zhang began to train in the high jump at the age of 15. His first season of international competition came in 2010 and with his best jump of the year (2.23 metres) he took the silver medal at the

2010 Asian Junior Athletics Championships The 2010 Asian Junior Athletics Championships was the 14th edition of the international athletics competition for Asian under-20 athletes, organised by the Asian Athletics Association. It took place from 1 to 4 July 2010 at the My Dinh National St ...

, finishing behind

Mutaz Essa Barshim Mutaz Essa Barshim ( ar, معتز عيسى برشم, Muʿtazz ʿĪsā Baršim; born 24 June 1991) is a Qatari track and field athlete who competes in the high jump and is the current Olympic Champion (2020). He is also the current World Champion ...

. He was runner-up to Huang Haiqiang at the

Chinese Athletics Championships The Chinese Athletics Championships ( zh, 全国田径锦标赛) is an annual track and field competition which serves as the national championship for the People's Republic of China. It is organised by Chinese Athletic Association, China's nation ...

that year. He was undefeated on the Asian Athletics Grand Prix circuit in 2011 and placed eighth at the

Asian Championships An Asian Championship is a top level international sports competition between Asian athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. List of Championships (Summer Olympic Sports) ;Aquatics * Asia ...

. He was selected for the

2011 World Championships in Athletics The 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () was an international athletics competition that was held in Daegu, South Korea. It started on 27 August 2011 and finished on 4 September 2011. The United States topped the medal standings in th ...

, where he cleared a personal best 2.31 m in the qualifying and went on to finish tenth in the final.Guowei Zhang
. IAAF. Retrieved on 2013-03-17. A jump of 2.28 m at the national championships gained him his first Chinese high jump title. At the

Zhang repeated his regional placing behind former junior rival Barshim and was the silver medallist. His good form continued at the

2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics was the 14th edition of the global-level indoor track and field competition and was held between March 9–11, 2012 at the Ataköy Athletics Arena in Istanbul, Turkey. It was the first of fou ...

as he finished joint fourth with a Chinese record-equalling mark of 2.31 m (tying with former world record holder

Zhu Jianhua Zhu Jianhua (; born 29 May 1963) is a retired Chinese high jumper. His personal best of 2.39 metres is a former world record for the event, and is still the Chinese record. In Helsinki 1983, Zhu became China's first man to win a medal in t ...

). He was selected to represent China at the

2012 London 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 from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

but did not progress to the final. He defended his national title in September by equalling his personal best mark. Zhang overhauled Zhu's 26-year-old Chinese indoor record in March 2013, clearing 2.32 m to become the outright record holder. Zhang narrowly failed to equal Zhu's national record of 2.39 m when he came second at 2.38 m behind Mutaz Essa Barshim (winner at 2.41 m) in the Eugene Oregon IAAF Diamond Meet on 30 May 2015. The 2015 World Championships were held in Beijing, and there Zhang achieved his best World Championship result, second place with a jump of 2.33 m. This was the first World Championship high jump medal China had won since Zhu Jianhua's medal in 1983. In 2016, he again represented China at the Olympics. Zhang announced his retirement via social media in April 2020.

Competition record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zhang, Guowei 1991 births Living people Chinese male high jumpers Olympic athletes for China Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Yantai Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Asian Games World Athletics Championships athletes for China World Athletics Championships medalists Asian Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Asian Games silver medalists for China Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games Athletes from Shandong 21st-century Chinese people