Testing his mettle

Finding his feet

"My PE was poor when I was a teenager. I couldn't even finish the 800-meter exam in my PE class when I entered college in 2010," Li recalls.

Born in Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture, Sichuan province, Li moved to Chengdu to study architecture at Sichuan Engineering Technical College. His college life was a simple repetition of the dorm-classroom-canteen cycle, until he heard about the triathlon.

"I saw some videos of the competition, and I noticed some older participants would get a rousing welcome when they arrived at the finish line, even though they could only walk the last few meters," says Li, who, filled with admiration, wanted to experience a moment like that.

"I can swim, ride and run, so I decided to try," he says.

Li started to train at the end of 2011, and 10 months later, he lined up for his first race in Chengdu.

"I took part in the 18-24 age group, in which only five other people competed and, luckily, I was the first of them to cross the line," Li recalls. "Even though the race was not that competitive, I still felt proud of myself, as I never thought that I could ever win a sports competition."

The victory encouraged Li to train harder and learn more about the sport. Triathlon was still in its infancy in China, so Li could only find some information by visiting online bulletin boards.

"To pass an hour, you could swipe through your phone or play video games, but by training I felt I was getting the most value out of my time," Li notes.