(Beijing Winter Olympics , Ski Jumping) Prospect: A new starting point, China's "young eagles" look forward to new heights

Beijing, 29 Jan (Xinhua) -- Looking ahead: A new starting point, China's "young eagles" are looking forward to a new height

Xinhua News Agency reporters Wang Haoyu and Li Chunyu

The Number of participants and events of the Chinese Ski Jumping Team at the Beijing Winter Olympics has reached a record number of participants, and this once little-known "flying army" has now ushered in a new starting point.

Peng Qingyue and Dong Bing of the Chinese team will participate in the women's individual standard platform at this Winter Olympics, Song Qiwu will appear on the men's individual standard platform and the men's individual big jump platform, in addition to the Chinese team will also participate in the new project mixed team standard platform. These 3 newcomers all joined the ski jumping team through cross-border cross-discipline selection, Peng Qingyue and Song Qiwu are only 17 and 20 years old respectively, and although the 25-year-old Dong Bing is from the Nordic two-sport cross-event, she has no international competition experience before joining the team.

In the past, the Chinese team participated in ski jumping for the first time at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. At that time, there was only a men's competition, and Li Yang won the 44th place in the individual standard platform and did not qualify for the final. When there are Chinese ski jumpers competing in the Winter Olympics again, it is already the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. Chang Xinyue, as the first Chinese athlete to participate in the women's ski jumping competition, reached the final of the individual standard platform competition and finished 20th.

Compared with Li Yang, Chang Xinyue and other predecessors, Peng Qingyue was lucky. Nowadays, these "young eagles" no longer have to be trapped by training conditions, and can use the most advanced training facilities at the Laiyuan National Ski Jumping Training and Research Base in Hebei Province, where the two ski jumping slides are built in accordance with the 1:1 ratio of "Snow Ruyi" in the Chongli Area of the Beijing Winter Olympics, and the world's largest and most complete ski jumping wind tunnel laboratory has been built.

"In the course of qualifying for the Olympics in our men's event, the Chinese team player (Song Qiwu) reached the Final Round at the World Cup level for the first time and won points." Xu Gaohang, director of the training department of the Winter Games Center of the State General Administration of Sport and leader of ski jumping, said, "Our female athletes have won the FIS Cup championship in different times in the summer competition, and the top three of the Intercontinental Cup, and have made great progress. ”

Even with the "blessing" of scientific research bases, individual talents and efforts are indispensable. Peng Qingyue, a Young Jing from Yunnan, although she can only use youth snowboards in competitions because of her small stature and low weight, her good physical fitness and explosiveness have attracted the attention of other team coaches this season, "They said that this girl is very talented and should be a very big potential for us in the future." ”

Song Qiwu, who touched ski jumping from athletics in 2019, was able to jump 141.5 meters in training in less than two years. Dong Bing finished third in total points in this season's Summer Intercontinental Cup. Lack of experience and ability to resist pressure is the biggest challenge for these newcomers in the Winter Olympics, if they can adjust their psychological state, they may be able to surpass their predecessors and fly to new heights.

Like the Chinese team standing at a new starting point, the championship situation of ski jumping at the Beijing Winter Olympics will also witness the rise of new forces.

On the men's side, three-time Winter Olympic gold medalist and 34-year-old Polish legend Kamil Stoch will appear in Beijing this time, but due to ankle injuries, it is difficult to regain the courage of the year. Japan's Ryoyuki Kobayashi and German flyer Carl Geiger have gone hand in hand in the overall standings this season, shrugging off the rest of the competition and being naturally the strongest contender for the title.

The women's event is likely to be a one-man show for 20-year-old Austrian supernova Maritta Cramer, who has won the World Cup eight times on the podium and five times this season. Pyeongchang Winter Olympics runner-up and Japan's Takanashi Saro will once again attack the Asian female athletes who will become the first Olympic champion of ski jumping. Pyeongchang Winter Olympics gold medalist and 2019 and 2020 World Champion Marlen Lundby announced for health reasons that she will not participate in all competitions in the new season, including the Beijing Winter Olympics. (End)