The 24-year-old Xie Zhenye clocked 20.20 seconds to take home the men's 200m title at the 13th Chinese National Games on Tuesday, breaking his own national record and personal best.
"20.20 seconds! An incredible number. Watch out for my Tokyo 2020 hopes," China's new 100m and 200m champion wrote on his twitter-like weibo account late that night.
Xie's winning time trimmed 0.2 seconds off his own national record in May, when he finished in 20.40 seconds for a PB as well as a national record at the IAAF Shanghai Diamond League.
At the post-match press conference, Xie disclosed that he was confident to improve on his score of 200m, but the personal best was beyond his expectations.
"I did not expect to run so fast, because I've contested 100m with the best sprinters in China, and I feel really exhausted both in body and mind," said Xie, who then extended his gratitude to his coaching staff.
In the 100m race a few days earlier, Xie stunned fellow Beijing Worlds relay runners-up Su Bingtian and Zhang Peimeng to win in a personal best of 10.04 seconds, which also broke the meet record of the quadrennial multi-sport competition.
Su was the first Chinese to qualify for the 100m final at the World Championships. Zhang was the last sprinter to complete the sprint double at the 12th Games in Shenyang.
"It feels like realizing my dream," Xie said. "I was so amazed with Zhang and his feat of 100m and 200m gold medals in Shenyang."
"It shows the truth that sticking to your dream will pay off one day," he added.
When Xie overtook huge favorite Su in 100m, everybody started to wonder whether he would be the next Chinese sprinter to bag double golds, and he made it with a record-breaking time of 20.20 seconds.
It was not a coincidence that Xie, skilled at 200m in his early years, won the 200m gold in the first Youth Olympic Games at age 17 in 2010.
His second gold at the National Games gave Xie a lot confidence in his ruling position in 200m, as he mainly ran in 100m and the relay for the past two years.
"The two golds have made me much firmer about the fact that there is something in common between the two events. What I am interested in is to find the win-win point," Xie said.
Xie, a member of the men's relay team, ran the second leg, as the Chinese men's relay team clocked 38.01 seconds to take a historical silver medal at the 2015 IAAF World Championships in Beijing.
Xie also made history when for the first time China entered the final of the Olympic men's 4x100m relay at the 2016 Olympic Games. The Chinese team finished in 37.90 seconds to take the fourth place, which was China's best of the relay event at the Olympics.
Also in men's 100m race at the Rio Games, Xie set a personal best time of 10.08 seconds in the qualifying phase, but failed to make the final. Zhang finished in 10.36 seconds, missing out on a spot in the semifinals.
Xie, for his part, kept quite modest about his achievement.
"Su and Zhang are always my models. I am striving for a higher level with their encouragement. It looks good to get two domestic golds, but I know how hard it is to shine at the international level," Xie said. "What I have to do is to train hard to move forward."
Asked about which event he will run in the future, Xie demonstrated his real ambition to be the best sprinter in China.
"I will compete both in the 100m and 200m, as other great names like Usain Bolt and Justin Gatlin do," said Xie, adding that he will stay humble as he gears up to face more challenges.
"Nobody could have imagined that the Chinese would make such great breakthroughs in the sprint back in 2012," Xie said, explaining why he is confident about the future of track and field in China, and adding that he will try hard to make more progress in the future.
