Zhang began gymnastics when he was four years old because his parents were interested in the sport.[3] By 2009, he joined the Hunan provincial team.[1] When he was 16, he broke his leg, but this injury inspired him to take his gymnastics training more seriously.[2] He began training with the Chinese national team in 2018.[1]
2018–20
Zhang won a silver medal with the Hunan team at the 2018 Chinese Championships.[4] Then at the 2019 Chinese Championships, he placed seventh in the all-around, fifth on the still rings, and fourth on the horizontal bar.[5] Later that year, he won a bronze medal on the vault at the Chinese Individual Championships.[6] He finished fifth in the all-around at the 2020 Chinese Championships and fourth on the floor exercise and parallel bars.[7] At the 2020 Chinese Individual Championships, he won a silver medal on the pommel horse and a bronze medal on the still rings.[8] He then made his international debut at the 2020 Friendship and Solidarity Competition in Tokyo, competing as part of Team Friendship who lost to Team Solidarity.[9][10]
2021
Zhang represented Hunan at the 2021 Chinese Championships held in Chengdu, Sichuan, helping the team win the silver medal. Individually, he finished second in the all-around behind Xiao Ruoteng, and he won the national title on floor exercise.[11] He was one of the 12 men selected for the Olympic training squad.[12] He then competed at the Olympic Trials and won the gold medal in the all-around.[13] He ended up being a reserve athlete for the 2020 Olympic team. His lack of international experience was cited as the reason for his exclusion from the team.[1][14][15]
Zhang competed at the National Games of China and won the all-around silver medal behind Xiao Ruoteng, and he won a bronze medal in the floor exercise final.[16] He was then selected to compete at the World Championships in Kitakyushu.[17] In the qualification round, he finished second in the all-around to the reining Olympic champion from Japan, Daiki Hashimoto. He also qualified for the still rings and parallel bars finals.[18] In the all-around final, he won the gold medal ahead of Hashimoto by only 0.017 points.[19][20] He was the fifth Chinese gymnast to win the men's World all-around title.[21] He then withdrew from his event finals.[22]
2022
Zhang won his first national all-around title at the 2022 Chinese Championships. There, he also won the gold medals on the floor exercise and the horizontal bar.[23] He competed at the World Championships in Liverpool despite wrist and waist injuries.[2][24] He competed alongside Sun Wei, Yang Jiaxing, You Hao, Zou Jingyuan, and alternate Su Weide, and they qualified for the team final in fourth place due to multiple falls, including from Zhang.[25] They rebounded from this performance and won the team title by over 4 points ahead of Japan.[26] Zhang then finished second in the all-around to Daiki Hashimoto after reducing the difficulty of his routines due to his injuries.[27][28]
2023
Zhang successfully defended his all-around title at the Chinese Championships and also won the horizontal bar title.[29] He was chosen to compete at the World University Games in Chengdu alongside Zou Jingyuan, Shi Cong, Su Weide, and Lan Xingyu.[30] The team won the gold medal ahead of Japan.[31] In the all-around final, Zhang fell off the horizontal bar but still won by gold medal by 0.335 ahead of Shi.[32] He then competed at the Asian Games in Hangzhou alongside Lan, Zou, Lin Chaopan, and Xiao Ruoteng, and they won the team title ahead of Japan.[33] He then won the gold medal in the all-around by over two points ahead of Japan's Takeru Kitazono.[34] In the event finals, he won the gold medal on the horizontal bar and the silver medal on the floor exercise.[35][36] Because the Asian Games took place around the same time as the World Championships, Zhang did not compete at Worlds.[37]
At the 2024 Olympic Games the Chinese team qualified in first for the team final and individually Zhang qualified in first place for the all-around and horizontal bar finals.[40] During the team final multiple falls caused the Chinese team to win the silver medal behind Japan.[41] Then in the all-around final Zhang fell while competing on floor exercise, costing him the gold medal to Shinnosuke Oka of Japan.[42] He finished eighth in the floor exercise final after hopping out of bounds on his first tumbling pass.[43] In the horizontal bar final, Zhang fell on his dismount; however, due to the amount of mistakes in the final from numerous competitors, he still tied for the bronze medal with Tang Chia-hung.[44][45]
^ abcd"击败奥运冠军, 长沙伢子张博恒世锦赛夺魁" [Defeating the Olympic champion, Changsha boy Zhang Boheng won the World Championships]. Changsha Evening News (in Chinese). 22 October 2021. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
^"中国体操队男12女14最新奥运集训大名单公布" [China's gymnastics team announces 12 men and 14 women for the latest Olympic training]. Sohu (in Chinese). 9 May 2021. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
^Lu, Yuchen; Shen, Nan; Niu, Mengtong (3 July 2021). "步步为赢——中国体操队东京奥运会大名单诞生记" [Step-by-step to win – the creation of the Chinese gymnastics squad for the Tokyo Olympics]. Xinhua (in Chinese).
