World champion Feng Bin successfully defended her title at China's 15th National Games, throwing 65.46m in her fourth attempt to secure the women's discus gold on Wednesday.

Feng Bin in the final of women's discus. [photo:xinhua]

Representing Shandong, Feng delivered a dominant victory. Henan's Wang Fang threw a personal best of 62.30m to take silver, while Feng's teammate Jiang Zhichao rounded out the podium in third place.

Feng set a goal for a mark in the 66-67m range but during the game she found her physical condition was not able to realize it. "I felt I had the will but not the strength."

Feng had clinched gold at the previous National Games in Shaanxi Province in 2021. "It feels like making history," she said. "Defending the title means a lot to me."

But her journey to the victory was far from smooth. Feng described the years since the Rio Olympics in 2016 as a period of prolonged physical and mental strain.

"My body started to have issues, which really disrupted my training and competition," she explained. "Being able to get through this is a success for me."

The 31-year-old achieved her personal best of 69.12m to win the gold at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, United States and took an Olympic silver medal at Paris 2024.

Feng acknowledged the challenges of this season, saying this year was more of a rebuilding period for her. "I only had about four months of systematic training, so being able to deliver this result does give me some confidence."

Looking ahead, Feng said she would not slow down. "I need to push myself even harder. With ages growing, I understand my competition rhythm better."

She added that she aims to compete for longer and will focus on defending her Asian Games title next year. Further ahead are the 2027 World Athletics Championships in Beijing and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Feng wore the same earrings as at Paris 2024 on Wednesday night's competition. "My pressure comes from within. I want to use it to push myself toward bigger throws," she said.