On January 20, the South Korean Ice Sports League announced the roster of the Korean short track speed skating team at the Beijing Winter Olympics, and the whole team was led by Cui Minzhen and Huang Daxian, which means that the competition for short track speed skating at the Beijing Winter Olympics will be extremely fierce, and it is not easy for the Chinese team to compete for gold.
Xinhua News Agency infographic Short track speed skating competition
The Korean team is an old rival
Looking back at the short track speed skating competitions on the Winter Olympics, the competition between China and South Korea has been the main theme for a long time. At the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, four years ago, the South Korean team, which played at home, won 3 golds. At this Year's Beijing Winter Olympics, South Korea's short track speed skating also held 10 Olympic tickets, and in the end, the women's team was selected by Choi Min-jin, Lee You-bin, Kim Ya-lang, Seo Hye-min and Park Ji-yun. In this season's World Cup, Cui Minzhen won 1 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze, 20-year-old rising star Li Youbin won 2 gold and 1 silver, and Jin Yalang won 1 bronze. Among them, Li Youbin beat the Dutch star Schulting in the women's 1500m single standings, ranking first, and was a popular candidate for the Beijing Winter Olympics in this event.
For the men's team, Hwang Dae-hyun, Lee Joon-seok and Park Jang-hyuk will play in individual and relay competitions, while Guo Yun-ki and Kim Dong-wook will only play in relay matches. The leader of the South Korean men's team, Hwang Dae-hyun, won 3 gold and 1 silver in the World Cup, and has the strength to compete for gold in both the 500 meters and the 1000 meters. Park Won two bronze medals in the men's 1500m and finished third in World Cup points. Lee Jun-sui only played in the World Cup in Hungary, but he was the bronze medalist in the men's 1500 meters at the 2019 World Championships and the main member of the South Korean men's team to win gold in the 5000 meters relay at that time. For the Winter Olympics, the Korean short track speed skating team has set a goal of winning 1 or 2 gold medals.
The Dutch women's team is strong
Compared with the glory of winning all four gold medals in the women's event at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, the competitiveness of the Chinese women's short track speed skating team has weakened. Although the strength of the old rival South Korea has also declined in the past two years, the overall strength of the Dutch famous Player Schulting and the Dutch women's team has still made the teams feel unprecedented pressure. Whether it can kill a way to survive under Shulting's strong dominance has become a difficulty for the Chinese women's team to challenge.
Schulting is the short track speed skater who is in the top four in all three individual events this season. In hungary at the World Cup in November last year, Schulting won three gold medals in the women's single event after the 2021 World Championships, so he was called "the player who won the most medals in the Dutch team at the Beijing Winter Olympics". In addition, in this season's World Cup, Shultin also helped the Dutch women's 3000m relay team win three consecutive championships, only the Beijing championship was spent on the Chinese women's team.
In addition, the Italian women's team is also in good shape during the preparation period for the Beijing Winter Olympics, with 31-year-old veteran Fang Tana playing steadily this season, and the worst result in the women's 500 meters of the World Cup she participated in was also the runner-up.
The Hungarian men's team is menacing
The Chinese men's team, led by Wu Dajing and Ren Ziwei, is strong overall and has the strength to win gold in multiple events, but their opponents are not weak.
Under the guidance of Chinese coach Zhang Jing, the Hungarian brothers Liu Shaolin and Liu Shaoang achieved a breakthrough in short track speed skating gold medals for Hungary at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. In the Beijing Winter Olympics cycle, the Liu brothers continued their good momentum and will become an important opponent of Wu Dajing in the men's 500 meters. The Liu brothers were born in Budapest to a Chinese father and a Hungarian mother. In this season's short track speed skating World Cup series, Liu Shaolin and Liu Shaoang have achieved good results. In the men's 500m final in Debrecen, Hungary, last November, the brothers defeated China's Wu Dajing and Ren Ziwei to win the championship and runner-up. Speaking about his expectations for the Beijing Winter Olympics, Liu Shaolin said: "We are half Hungarians, half Chinese, and we want to win at the Beijing Winter Olympics. ”
In addition to Hungary, Canada's men's long-distance dion has also reached the World Cup podium in several consecutive races this season and is at the top of the 1000m standings. In the relay event, the Canadian men's team led by Hamelin has won the relay championships of this season's World Cup in Japan and Hungary, and they also have the strength to compete for the title at the Beijing Winter Olympics.
(Original title: Short-track speed skating strong enemy around the Chinese legion is not easy to compete for gold)
Source: Beijing Evening News reporter Li Li
Process Edit: u027
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