The official website for the World Race Walking Team Championships (Taicang 2018) is launched at the 100-day countdown ceremony. [Photo/ jssports.gov.cn]

A 100-day countdown ceremony for the World Race Walking Team Championships (Taicang 2018) was held in Taicang on Jan 25, showing that the city has the capacity and confidence in successfully hosting the event.

Representatives from the International Association of Athletics Federations and China's General Administration of Sport unveiled the countdown board for the race walking team championships.

In order to better record the competition and promote it to more people, an official website (www.taicang2018.org.cn) for the competition has been established.

The competition will take place from May 5 to 6 in Taicang.

Participants will be divided into an adult group and a youth group. Scheduled are races of 50 and 20 kilometers for adult men and women and races of 10 kms for younger male and female walkers.

Each group is expected to produce two individual and team champions.

Taicang has hosted the top walking event in the world for eight consecutive years from 2011. The Racing Walking World Cup, the predecessor of the world race walking championship, took place in the city in 2014, attracting 348 players from 48 countries and regions and nearly 40,000 spectators.