The Asian Games champion paced himself
perfectly from start to finish at the event, which also served
as an Olympic qualifier, taking 42 seconds off the national
record previously held by 2016 Rio Games champion Wang Zhen.
"My expectation for the race was to break the national record,"
the 27-year-old said. "There's still room for me to improve."
Only Japan's Yusuke Suzuki, who set the world record when he
clocked 1:16:36 at an event in his home town of Nomi in 2015,
and Russian Sergey Morozov (1:16:43) have registered faster
times.
"I am confident that I can break the world record one day," Wang
said, adding that he was looking forward to competing in his
first Olympics.
"Everything can happen in such a high-level competition. I will
go all out to fight for the best result," he said.
Cai Zelin, the Rio runner-up, and former under-20 world 10 km
champion Zhang Jun took the second and third spots respectively
after clocking identical times of 1:17:39.
(Reporting by Arvind Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Hugh
Lawson)
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