On Monday night at China’s National Games in Guangzhou, a 16-year-old sprinter made history in the women’s 100m, breaking a record that had stood since 1997.
Yujie Chen, born in 2008, quietly produced the fourth-fastest U18 100m time in history, running 11.10 seconds (+0.7 m/s) to win national gold. Her performance shattered the Chinese and Asian U20 record of 11.17 seconds, a record that had stood for 28 years.
https://t.co/zIC8u4Jb4v pic.twitter.com/jWrG2Ids4D
— YSL (@contestedmid) November 17, 2025
Chen dominated the race from the gun, beating the silver and bronze medallists by nearly three-tenths of a second. She will pursue the sprint double on Wednesday at the National Games, also competing in the women’s 200m event.
Earlier this year, Chen was the youngest female athlete to compete at the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo, where she ran the 200m heats and was on China’s women’s 4x100m relay squad.
Only one U18 female athlete in history has broken the 11-second barrier: American sprinter Candace Hill. She ran 10.98 seconds at 16, which still stands as her personal best to this day. Jamaican Olympians Briana Williams and Tina Clayton (newly crowned world 100m silver medallist) are the only other U18 athletes to have run faster than Chen.
Sixteen-year-old sprinter Chen Yujie from China’s Zhejiang won the women’s 100m with a new Asian U20 record, while Gong Debin of Fujian broke the men’s 400m hurdles national record at the 15th National Games in Guangzhou on Monday https://t.co/KaMWSLukcY pic.twitter.com/RuZbE5TUFe
— Xinhua Sports (@XHSports) November 17, 2025
China’s National Games serve as the country’s domestic version of the Olympic Games, which is a premier multisport event held every four years. The Games showcase the best athletes from across China and feature around 14,000 athletes across 34 sports and 419 events.