Li Ling (; born 6 July 1989) is a Chinese athlete, who specialises 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, bar. Pole jumping was already practiced by the ...

. She competed at the 2006 World Junior Championships, but no-heighted in the final. She achieved indoor and outdoor personal bests in 2008, clearing 4.45 metres indoors in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

in February and repeating the feat outdoors two months later in

Hangzhou Hangzhou, , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ; formerly romanized as Hangchow is a sub-provincial city in East China and the capital of Zhejiang province. With a population of 13 million, the municipality comprises ten districts, two counti ...

. She represented her country at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

but her mark of 4.15 m in the qualifying round was not enough to progress to the final. She fared better at the

2009 World Championships in Athletics The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () were held in Berlin, Germany from 15 to 23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenbu ...

, but her season's best mark of 4.40 m was ten centimetres off making the final competition. She matched her personal best to take the gold medal at the

2009 Asian Indoor Games The 2009 Asian Indoor Games (), officially the 3rd Asian Indoor Games () and also known as Vietnam 2009, were a pancontinential indoor multi-sport event held in Vietnam from 30 October till 8 November 2009. This was the last edition of the event ...

. The vault was one centimetre off Zhang Yingning's Asian record in the event. On September 8, 2013, she achieved a new Asian record at the Chinese National Games in

Shenyang Shenyang,; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ; formerly known as Fengtian formerly known by its Manchu language, Manchu name Mukden, is a sub-provincial city in China and the list of capitals in China#Province capitals, provincial capital of Liaonin ...

, China with 4.65 m. Since then Li had achieved Asian record in women's pole vault for another 3 times —— first time was 2015 Asian Athletics Championships in Wuhan which she raised her record by one centimeter to 4.66m, second time was

2016 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships The 2016 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships was the seventh edition of the international indoor athletics (sport), athletics event between Asian nations. It took place at the Aspire Dome in Doha, Qatar, between 19 and 21 February. Three new wome ...

in Doha she became the first Asian female pole vaulter to cross the height of 4.70m, last time in 2019 Diamond League Shanghai she finished second with 4.72m, a record that stands till now. Li won the women's pole vault event at the

2014 IAAF Continental Cup The 2014 IAAF Continental Cup was an international track and field sporting event that was held in Marrakech, Morocco, on 13–14 September 2014. It was the second edition of the IAAF Continental Cup since the name and format was changed from th ...

with mark of 4.55m, remarkably, this was the sole first-place finish for Asia-Pacific team at that tournament. After 4 consecutive Olympics appearances, Li suddenly withdrew from

2024 Olympic Games The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

before Team China's departure to France due to a ruptured Achilles tendon.

Career

Personal bests

*All information taken from IAAF profile.

References

External links