Su expected to surge back into contention

Chinese sprint star Su Bingtian failed to add another glorious chapter to his iconic career at the World Athletics Championships last week. However, Asia's fastest man has been backed to get back to his best in future races after his lack of international competition this year appeared to affect his performances in the US.

"The level of Su Bingtian's training remains very high and he still has great strength. So, at next year's Asian Games and the next world championships, fans still have more to look forward to," Tian Xiaojun, a vice-president of the Chinese Athletics Association, told reporters at the worlds in Eugene, Oregon, on Sunday.

As Team China's only representative in the 100m sprint at the worlds, Su failed to advance to the men's final, finishing eighth in his semifinal in a time of 10.30 seconds, far off his Asian record of 9.83.

Su's failure to break the 10-second mark in Eugene was attributed to injury and having not competed for months.

Su also ran in the 4x100m relay, along with teammates Tang Xingqiang, Xie Zhenye and Chen Guanfeng. Even with a season-best result of 38.83 sec in the heats, the Chinese quartet still failed to qualify for the final.

"Before the world championships, Su had not participated in any international meets this year. So all things considered, this was a useful outing for Su at the worlds," Tian added.

"Sprinters need to have an intense competition schedule to push their bodies to the limit and improve their performances. Without participating at any meets this year, no one could have produced a better performance than what Su has managed at the worlds."

The 32-year-old has arguably been China's biggest athletics star in recent years, especially after Tokyo 2020 when he became the first Chinese to reach an Olympic 100m final, refreshing the Asian record to 9.83 in the process in his semifinal.

In 2015, Su became the first-ever Asian-born sprinter to run under 10 seconds in the 100m. In 2018, he twice equaled the previous Asian record of 9.91, and clocked 9.92 to take that year's Asian Games 100m title in Jakarta.

Spearheaded by Su, the Chinese sprint team clocked a national record of 37.79 in the 4x100m relay final at Tokyo 2020 to finish fourth. In February, the Chinese squad was promoted to the bronze-medal position after the disqualification of the second-placed British team over a doping violation.

"The results we achieved at these world championships did not show our true strength. We will try harder at the Hangzhou Asian Games next year, and I believe we will have better results," said Su after the 4x100m race on Friday.

"I still remember, I represented Team China in the 4x100m relay for the first time in 2009. It has been 13 years. At the very beginning, it was very tough for us. But I think we have met fans' expectations.

"After all our hard work over the years, we finally reached the final of the Olympics and finished fourth in Tokyo. Many athletes across the generations have also made huge contributions.

"I really hope the younger generation of Chinese sprinters can compete at more meets and gain more experience."