MILAN, March 22 -- What happens when you steal a phone from a group of fearless Chinese students in Italy? You get an 800-metre workout you didn't sign up for!

A student from China's Yunnan province known only as Koukou was riding the Milan subway when a thief snatched her friend Bin's phone just as the train doors were closing, the South China Morning Post reported today.

Thinking fast, Koukou pried the doors open and yelled "STOP!" before launching into an all-out chase - phone in hand, recording every moment.

The pursuit zigzagged through subway stations, with Koukou, Bin, and another friend named only as La dodging commuters and shouting descriptions of the thief, who was dressed head-to-toe in black (classic villain move).

Subway...