The Chinese Athletics Association released a report on the first three competition days of athletics at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. On September 23, the half marathon race walk made its Asian Games debut. Shi Shengji won the men's title in 1:23:32, the first athletics gold of these Asian Games and the 200th Asian Games gold in Chinese athletics history; Yang Liujing won the women's title in 1:33:40.
On September 26, the marathon at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games started at Mizuho Park Athletics Stadium. Feng Peiyou won bronze in the men's marathon in 2:12:13, and Tsering Tso won silver in the women's marathon in 2:27:43, a season's personal best. Bahrain's Shitaye Habte won the women's race in 2:27:31. Feng was in the lead group early, was fifth at 35 km, and sprinted late to overtake Han Il-ryong, the Hangzhou Asian Games silver medalist.
On March 29, the Fourth East Asian Half Marathon Championships started at Yangzhou Citizens' Center Square, combined with the 2026 Bank of China Yangzhou Half Marathon and the Grand Canal Marathon Series (Yangzhou Station), with 29 athletes from 6 East Asian countries and regions participating.
On March 1, Chinese post-2000s runner Feng Peiyou finished the Tokyo Marathon, the first marathon major of the 2026 season, with a gun time of 2:05:58 (net time 2:05:57), breaking the Chinese men's marathon national record of 2:06:57 held by He Jie. He maintained a steady pace throughout, beating Japanese standouts such as Suguru Osako, Kengo Suzuki, and Ryota Kondo, and became the highest-ranked Asian athlete in this Tokyo Marathon.