The 9th Xi'an Marathon broke many competition records, with more than 30,000 runners "jumping" through the ancient city

China News Service, Xi'an, October 18 (Reporters Zhang Yichen, Yang Yingqi, Dang Tianye) At 7:30 on the 18th, the 2026 Xi'an Marathon started. After fierce competition, Shaanxi player Wu Mingyao won the men's full marathon championship with a time of 2 hours, 10 minutes and 16 seconds, and Zhang Shuihua, a full marathon women's team player, won the championship with a time of 2 hours, 29 minutes and 07 seconds. Both of them broke the competition record and became the biggest highlight of this event.

The 9th Xi'an Marathon has the theme of "Nine Years New and Chang'an Full of Love". The total number of participants is 36,000, and there are two events: marathon and half-marathon, including 24,000 places for the marathon and 12,000 places for the half-marathon.

The picture shows the runners taking a group photo before competing. Photo by Yang Yingqi

The starting point of the race track is located at Yongning Gate, the iconic landmark of Xi'an, the end point of the full marathon is at the Xi'an Olympic Sports Center Stadium, and the end point of the half marathon is at the Xi'an International Convention and Exhibition Center. The entire track connects city landmarks such as the Ming Dynasty City Wall, Bell Tower, Daming Palace National Heritage Park, and Xi'an International Convention and Exhibition Center, allowing contestants to immerse themselves in the cultural heritage and modern vitality of the thousand-year-old ancient capital while running.

It is understood that this year's event adopts the "three-gun start" zoning starting mode for the first time. Three starting guns are fired at the starting point of Yongning Gate at 7:30, 7:40, and 8:00, which effectively alleviates the congestion problem at the start and ensures orderly traffic on the track. At the same time, the event has added special rewards for breaking the competition record, taking into account the public participation experience and professional competitive standards.

A total of 40 cultural gas stations are set up along the track, which combine Xi'an's urban cultural characteristics and landmark buildings and focus on presenting Qin opera, drum music, Huayin opera, "warriors" on the city wall to welcome guests, Hanfu performances, etc., making the track a mobile window to showcase urban culture.

The picture shows more than 30,000 runners participating in the 2026 Xi'an Marathon. Photo by Yang Yingqi

"I have been working in Xi'an for nearly 20 years and I really like the cultural environment of this city. This is my fifth time competing. I don't care about the results. I just want to enjoy the process and experience the 'travel' journey from historical running to modern times." Huang Zhiping, a runner from Fujian, said that compared to many marathon events, the special thing about "Xima" is its strong urban cultural atmosphere.

"This result really exceeded my expectations." said Zhang Shuihua, the women's champion who participated in the "Western Marathon" for the fourth time. She previously said when participating in pre-match activities that the goal of this competition was to test the training results and strive to reach new heights. Men's champion Wu Mingyao said that he "knew when he ran 40 kilometers that he would definitely set a new best result today." He said that after the game, he "thought of going home immediately." (over)