Twenty-three Spartan obstacles. Two missing legs. One finish line.

Most people would call a Spartan Race hard with both legs.

Zhang Qihui finished one without either of hers.

She was three years old, in Jingmen, China, when a car accident took both legs. A wheelchair became the way she moved through the world — and, for a long time, other people decided where that world could go.

As an adult she started hunting the opposite feeling: freedom.

She tried powered paragliding. She learned land surfing and paddleboarding. She trained in the gym, boxed, played badminton, climbed. Then, at 29, she signed up for something that looked almost unreasonable on paper.

A Spartan Race.

On November 2, 2024, at Moganshan in Zhejiang, the sprint course ran 6.6 kilometers and 23 obstacles: mud, walls, bars, broken ground. Where the wheelchair could not take her, she used her arms and the rest of her body. Three hours, 13 minutes, and 57 seconds later, she crossed the line.

That is only half of her life.

Zhang holds a master’s degree in bamboo flute from Minzu University of China. She has taken first prize three times in a row in the instrumental category of a national arts competition for performers with disabilities. She is also known for the longdi, a giant bamboo flute.

After the race she said she had found a new kind of energy: the “indomitable Spartan spirit.” She did not pretend that losing her legs left no obstacles. She stayed curious enough to keep asking one question.

What else can I try?

If someone had told that three-year-old girl what music, sport, and adventure would one day look like in her hands, would anyone have believed it?

Sources

China Daily, “Young woman in wheelchair defies odds to complete Spartan Race,” November 4, 2024 (Moganshan, Nov. 2, 2024; 6.6 km, 23 obstacles; 3:13:57; amputated at age 3 after a car accident; master’s in bamboo flute, Minzu University of China; three consecutive first prizes).
Phoenix / Wenhui, November 4, 2024 (Zhang Qihui quote on the “indomitable Spartan spirit”).
Xinhua / Beijing Daily client, November 6, 2024 (paragliding, land surfing, and other sports; childhood in a wheelchair).