Who is Ziyi Yan? Everything you need to know about the Chinese javelin thrower who will not play in the Olympics despite breaking a world record

Ziyi Yan is a 15-year-old Chinese javelin thrower who smashed the World U-20 record in the Javelin throw. She was born on May 22, 2008 and was surpassing the 60m mark regularly in her throws.

In 2024, Yan surpassed the 60m mark in four out of her five events. She also recorded her personal best of 62.23m in Chengdu earlier this month. On Monday, Yab shattered the World Under-20 record with a throw of 64.28 meters but missed the Chinese national record by eight meters.

Ziyi Yan created the record at the China Athletics Grand Prix, breaking Cuban thrower Yulenmis Aguilar's record of 63.86m. The Cuban athlete achieved the feat during the Pan American Junior Edmonton in 2015.

With the record-breaking throw, the Chinese javelin thrower met the qualification standard for the Paris Olympics 2024. However, she won't be competing at the upcoming Olympic Games as throwers under the age of 18 are not permitted to compete at the quadrennial event as per World Athletics rules.

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Ziyi Yan becomes the youngest player to break the World U20 record in javelin throw

Chinese player Ziyi Yan was just 15 years and 328 days old when she broke the World U20 record in women's javelin throw at the Chinese Athletics Grand Prix 2 on April 14, 2024.

Greece player Elina Tzengko was the second youngest, as she was aged 17 years and 334 days. She had a throw of 63.96 meters at the Pan Hellenic U20 Championships on August 1, 2020.

However, her throw was unratified by the World Athletics because doping control was not conducted until the next day.

The next on the list is Cuba's Yulenmis Aguilar, who threw 63.86 meters on August 2, 2015, at the Pan American Junior Championships. She was 18 years and 364 days old when she got her name in the record books.

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