Watersports blog

Yang Wenjun, an Olympic canoeing champion, proved that he’s the best in the sport by clinching three titles at the qualifiers event of the 11th Chinese National Games Canoe and Kayak on Friday, June 26.

Yang dominated the men’s individual 500 meters event by clocking in one minute, 50.95 seconds to edge out Fujian’s Huang Shaokun and Beijing’s Mao Xiaojie who clocked one minute, 52.14 seconds and one minute, 53.74 seconds respectively.

Later in the day, the Olympian and his partner Zhang Zhiwu won the men’s doubles 500 meters event by clocking in one minute, 39.43 seconds. In second place were Guangdong’s Huang Maoxing and Li Qiang. Settling for third were Shandong’s Zhao Jian and Xia Zhigang. His third title was the men’s individual 1,000 meters event which took place last Thursday.

Despite all of these accolades, the Chinese Olympian said that this is just a beginning since the main show happens in October where the National Games officially begin. The canoeing event was attended by more than 400 athletes comprising 22 teams across China. Fifteen teams from each event will battle for glory at the 11th National Games in China later this year.