Prospect: "Gemini" shines China's speed skating is looking forward to another breakthrough in the Beijing Winter Olympics

(Beijing Winter Olympics) Preview: "Gemini Star" shines China's speed skating is looking forward to another breakthrough in the Beijing Winter Olympics

Beijing, 31 Jan (China News Service) -- As the Beijing Winter Olympics draw nearer, athletes from around the world are making final intense preparations for the event of a quadrennial ice and snow event.

Among them, in one of the oldest events of the Winter Olympics, the speed skating competition, the audience will witness the fierce competition between legendary players and powerful newcomers.

At the Beijing Winter Olympics, speed skating is the sport with the most competitions, with 166 athletes participating, and from February 5 to 19, they will compete for 14 small events in the "Ice Ribbon" of the National Speed Skating Hall. The Chinese players who play at home have naturally attracted much attention.

At the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, Zhang Hong won the first gold medal in the Chinese Speed Skating Winter Olympics in the women's 1000 meters of speed skating, which is also China's only speed skating Winter Olympic gold medal so far.

At the Beijing Winter Olympics, the Chinese women's speed skating team will send Han Mei, Li Qishi, Jin Jingzhu, Yin Qi, Tian Ruining, Pei Chong, Guo Dan, Ahenal Adak, while the men's team will send Gao Tingyu, Ning Zhongyan, Lian Ziwen, Wang Haotian, Xu Fu and Yang Tao.

During the Beijing Winter Olympics cycle, China's speed skating program as a whole has made some progress. In the four speed skating World Cup competitions this season, Chinese players won a total of 4 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze, 35 people set personal bests, and 4 people broke the national record.

Data chart: Gao Tingyu in the competition China News Agency reporter Song Jihe photo

Among them, the most dazzling performance is the "Twin Stars" of the men's event, Gao Tingyu and Ning Zhongyan, who will attack the highest podium at the Beijing Winter Olympics.

Gao Tingyu is currently the ace player in China's speed skating sprint event, and at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, he won the bronze medal in the men's 500m event, becoming the first male athlete in China to win a speed skating medal at the Winter Olympics. This season he won the 500m world cup in Poland, the first World Cup of his career. Although the men's 500m speed skating event at the Beijing Winter Olympics is full of masters, Gao Tingyu still has a chance to impact the gold medal.

Ning Zhongyan was born in 1999 and won the gold medal in the men's 1500m of the World Cup in Kazakhstan in 2019 with a record-breaking result. This season, Ning Zhongyan has performed very strongly, and he has won a total of 3 gold and 2 silver in the 2021-2022 World Cup.

At present, Ning Zhongyan has a good competitiveness in the men's 1000 meters and 1500 meters of speed skating and can launch an impact on the gold medal.

Although the Chinese women's team is generally competitive in individual projects, it has shown a certain potential in the previous World Cup sub-station collective events. In the Calgary race, the Chinese team won a bronze medal in the women's team pursuit. Overall, despite the difficulty of standing on the podium of the Winter Olympics, the Chinese team has the hope of breaking through in the women's team chase.

In terms of foreign athletes, the Netherlands is still the most competitive team in speed skating. They won 18 places, the highest speed skating event in this Winter Olympics, and if nothing else, the team will still win multiple Winter Olympic gold medals.

Dutch celebrities such as winter Olympic 4 gold winners Kramer and Winter Olympic "5 golden kings" Worcester will continue to compete in the field, but with the continuous emergence of young players from all over the world, they will also be challenged. The Current Winter Olympics are likely to become the winter Olympics of Cramer and Worcester, and whether they can create glory again is worth paying attention to.

In addition to the Dutch team, Norway, Italy, Canada, the United States and other European and American teams also have their own advantages. In recent years, the Asian team has made great progress, and the Japanese team cannot be underestimated in the short and middle distance of men and women, and some projects have the strength to rush gold. The Korean team is also a strong contender for medals in the men's and women's sprint events. (End)