ZJU sprinter runs from a village track to the world stage

ZHU Junying, an undergraduate at the School of Public Affairs of Zhejiang University (ZJU), has been named a 2025 “Self-Improvement Star” for Chinese college students, an award for students who keep moving forward through hardship. Her story began on a field path in Songming county, Yunnan province, and has taken her to the podiums of the National Games and the Asian Athletics Championships.

The path started almost by chance. On her school’s running track she felt the wind rush past her ears and something in her heart was stirred. From then on she ran. The routine was punishing: close to 30 hours of training a week, with sprained ankles and strained muscles as constant companions. She never backed off, turning sheer will into power at every starting block. In 2022 she was admitted to ZJU, leaving the village fields behind.

University brought a test of its own: finding a rhythm between the classroom and the track. Her form dipped during her first-year break, when training became less systematic. “It was Coach LYU Ping who woke me up,” she says. Support from the university freed her to focus on preparation, while a trusting coach, teammates running alongside her and a family watching from home became the platform she launched from.

The breakthrough came in May 2025 at the World Athletics Relays, which doubled as a qualifier for the World Championships in Tokyo. When a teammate was injured before the race, ZHU was called in as a substitute with one goal: securing China’s place in Tokyo. As she took her marks, spectators began chanting her name — “a feeling of being recognised that I will never forget”. Taking the bend with a calm beyond her years, she passed the baton cleanly to the anchor leg. China’s women’s 4x100m relay team won its heat in 43.03 seconds and booked its ticket to Tokyo.

“The 0.01 second on the track and every fact in a textbook deserve the same commitment.” A member of the Hubei provincial team, she trains in Wuhan and often boards a high-speed train straight after class — a two-city rhythm that forces her to make every minute count. “At ZJU I learned to analyse problems rationally and to adjust my condition more scientifically,” she says. Despite the constraints, she has collected honours including the National Scholarship.

Her medals have not changed where her thoughts go. During vacations she returns to rural schools near her home, where she has led more than ten free coaching sessions and run with over 1,000 primary and secondary school students. To children who remind her of her younger self, she says: “Do not be afraid to chase your dreams. If you never give up, an ordinary life can shine.”

For ZHU, running is not only a sport but an attitude: giving everything to a goal and stepping up when it counts. “The spirit of sport is not only about winning titles, but about passing strength on,” she says. Her sights are set further ahead — a higher world ranking, and more to come on the international stage.

Adapted and translated from the article written by JI Siyu and CHEN Qilisha
Translator: DING Chenwei
Editor: DING Chenwei