On March 15, at the finish line of the 2026 Chongqing Wanzhou Lake Marathon held in Wanzhou, Chongqing, China, the men's full marathon champion contender experienced an unexpected incident—he was stopped by on-site staff and taken off the track while sprinting for the finish, sparking widespread attention.
Following a one-year suspension penalty issued by the Chongqing Athletics Association to the involved referee on March 16, the Chinese Athletics Association released two official notices on March 17, imposing further heavy penalties: the involved referee was given an additional two-year suspension from working as a road race referee within China. The organizing committee was publicly criticized nationwide, and the event’s organizing representatives, technical delegates, and relevant referees at the start and finish posts were also publicly criticized. This incident has once again highlighted issues in professional officiating and organizational management in the industry.
As the men's marathon champion was about to cross the finish line, a staff member suddenly appeared and stopped him, pushing him off the track. Nearby was the half marathon course. Live footage shows that after a brief moment of confusion, the staff seemed to realize the mistake and immediately guided the runner back to the finish. This process sparked significant debate among both those on-site and online.
According to event results, the men's marathon champion at the 2026 Chongqing Wanzhou Lake Marathon was Sheng Xueli from Chuxiong, Yunnan. His time was 2 hours, 23 minutes, and 53 seconds, successfully setting a new personal best. The reporter reviewed relevant videos and found from live footage that the official recorded time was when he was stopped, while the time when he was guided to re-cross the line was 2 hours, 24 minutes, and 18 seconds.
After the race, Sheng Xueli reposted the video clip of the officiating mishap on his personal social media, commenting, “Today at the full marathon finish, I almost got carried away by the referee. My first time on the marathon podium and something like this happened—I'm speechless.”
According to the Athletics Association’s official website, the 2026 Chongqing Wanzhou Lake Marathon is an A-level certified marathon event, with both full and half marathon categories and a total participant count of 12,000.
In addition, according to the Xiaoxiang Morning News, an organizing committee staff member told reporters that it was raining during the race yesterday, the referee was wearing glasses that were obscured by rain, and mistakenly identified the finishing marathon runner as a half marathoner. After the race, the referee personally apologized to the runner.