"Conquering 'Xiao Haituo' is our dream, but before that, our priority is to achieve 'full project participation', and the whole team is full of confidence and is working hard."
On December 24, the Winter Sports Management Center of the State General Administration of Sport held a media open day at the "Ice Arena". In an interview with Lian, Liu Zhen, the leader of the China Alpine Skiing National Training Team, introduced the team's overseas participation and preparation. Liu Zhen said that although the foundation of China's alpine skiing project is thin, under the encouragement of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the project has achieved leapfrog development, and at present, in the 11 sub-events of alpine skiing at the Beijing Winter Olympics, the Chinese team has achieved 10 small sports to achieve the Olympic standard.
Liu Zhen (center), the leader of the alpine skiing national training team, is in the line
The road for the Chinese alpine ski team to qualify for the Beijing Winter Olympics is not smooth, Liu Zhen said, the team arrived in Austria on August 21 this year, after two months of glacier skiing training, it has participated in 4 INTERNATIONAL Snow Federation points races. Although due to weather reasons, the three points races originally scheduled to be held in Austria from November to early December were cancelled, but the team overcame difficulties and quickly adjusted, or obtained the women's downhill, all-around and men's all-around Winter Olympic qualifications, plus the qualifications previously obtained in China, the Chinese alpine ski team has now obtained 10 minor qualifications for the Winter Olympics.
"Next we will sprint for the qualification of the Women's Super Slalom for the Winter Olympics, we have two athletes who have scored 82 and 85 points in a single game in this event, according to the RULES OFS Olympic Games, the next game, as long as they score 77 points and 74 points or more respectively, they can achieve the project standard." Liu Zhen introduced.
Alpine skiing is one of the most weather-susceptible Winter Olympic events, temperature, wind speed, visibility all directly affect the athletes' technical performance, because the mountain weather is changeable, alpine skiing events are often postponed or cancelled. Sometimes alpine skiing competitions are held in heavy snow and fog, and athletes have to slide and turn at high speeds on a track with changing terrain under bad vision, and the difficulty can be imagined. In the face of unfamiliar tracks, athletes must muster courage every time they set off.
Ni Yueming in the game. (Source:Xinhua News Agency)
Ni Yueming was the first Chinese athlete to participate in the Alpine Skiing World Cup, and she was impressed by the difficult track in Sölden, Austria. Recalling the Sölden race, Ni Yueming admitted that he was both excited and nervous at the time, "I have never skated such a complicated field, the track is particularly long, the venue is particularly hard, it is a huge challenge for me. But I was very excited to stand on the field, and it was a little regrettable that I didn't perform well in that race, and I could play better. ”
Ni Yueming said that he participated in a series of points competitions, the biggest gain is to "find the state", "I participated in 4 super big slalom, two downhill international competitions, the first two games feel that I did not enter the state, the back found the feeling of the game, more and more dare to do action, dare to exert force, in the performance of the gap with the top players is also narrowing." ”
At the Beijing Winter Olympics, with the host's quota seat, the Chinese team can send two athletes, two men and two athletes each, to participate in alpine skiing competitions, and they will also form a team to participate in the mixed team competition. Through unremitting efforts, the team is getting closer and closer to the goal of "participating in all projects".
The growth and progress of athletes, Liu Zhen is in the eyes, he said, will work hard to help athletes to achieve "participation in the brilliant". "Alpine skiing is a sport for the brave, and we will show the brave's demeanor through active preparation." He said that in early January next year, the women's team will continue to participate in the INTERNATIONAL Snow Federation points race in Europe, and sprint to achieve the Olympic qualification standard of the women's super big slalom. In terms of the men's team, after Xu Mingfu and Zhang Yangming, two athletes have achieved 5 sports standards successively, they will return to China as soon as possible to train and prepare.