Xue Bai

XUE BAI
CHINA

BIRTHDATE:
13 December 1988

PERSONAL BEST:
2:23:27 (Xiamen, 2008)

WORLD MARATHON MAJOR HIGHLIGHTS:

25Apr10 Virgin London Marathon 7th 2:25:18
23Aug09 IAAF World Championships, Berlin 1st 2:25:15

ADDITIONAL CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:

18Oct09 Beijing International Marathon 1st 2:34:44
26Apr09 Dalian Marathon 7th 2:40:04
08Mar09 Nagoya International Ladies Marathon 13th 2:35:17
30Nov08 Shanghai Marathon 4th 2:37:40
19Oct08 Beijing Marathon 1st 2:26:27
30Mar08 Zhengzhou Marathon 2nd 2:33:53
05Jan08 Xiamen Marathon 2nd 2:23:27
21Oct07 Beijing Marathon 3rd 2:27:46
06May07 Zhengzhou Marathon 1st 2:33:51
07Nov04 Seoul Marathon 3rd 2:42:21
19Oct03 Beijing Marathon 8th 2:37:07

CAREER NOTES:

Bai Xue is one of the many great female Chinese distance running prodigies. Two months before her 15th birthday she had a top eight finish in the Beijing Marathon, running 2:37:07.

At the 2005 Asian Games she earned the gold medal at both the 5000 and 10,000 meters and ran 31:28.88 later in the year.

In 2007 she placed third in the Beijing Marathon after winning at Zhengzhou earlier in the year.

Just a few weeks after turning 19, she was second at Xiamen in a career best 2:23:27 and then scored a major victory at Beijing that October. She also competed in the Olympic 10,000 meters, placing 21st.

Her marathon running in 2009 had been inauspicious leading up to the World Championships, with a 13th at Nagoya and seventh at Dalian.

However in her first competition outside of Asia, Bai made history, becoming the youngest marathon world champion. In a tightly contested race, Bai broke away with about three kilometers to go to claim the gold medal by 10 seconds.

Bai also won the 2009 National Games in October held in conjunction with the Beijing International Marathon.