Objective: To analyze the trends and influencing factors of endurance performance of 19-22 years old college students in Hunan Province from 1985 to 2019, so as to provide objective and scientific basis for sports and health work in colleges and universities. Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on the data of 14 490 college students aged 19-22 in Hunan Province from 8 consecutive National Student Physical Fitness and Health Surveys conducted from 1985 to 2019. The analysis indexes were 1 000 m running for boys and 800 m running for girls. Results: From 1985 to 2019, the endurance running time of 19-22 years old Han college students in Hunan Province showed an obvious trend of decline. The 1 000 m running time of urban and rural male students increased by 41.9 and 45.4 s on average, and the 800 m running time of urban and rural female students increased by 29.5 and 30.6 s on average, respectively. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that age ( β =0.17), urban students (rural students as reference; β =0.44), GDP ( β =0.94) and urbanization level ( β = 0.44 ) were positively correlated with the average endurance running time of males. Urban students ( β =0.92), GDP ( β = 1.38 ) and Engel coefficient ( β =0.93) were positively correlated with the average endurance running time of females. BMI ( β =-0.47) was negatively correlated with the females mean time of endurance running ( P ＜0.05). Conclusion The endurance performance of Han college students in Hunan Province showed a declining trend from 1985 to 2019,which is associated with age, urban and rural distribution, regional GDP, Engel s coefficient, urbanization level and BMI. Effective measures should be taken to improve the physical quality of college students.