As the "pioneers" of Winter Sports in China, the short track speed skating team is the focus of the spotlight. On the evening of February 5, the short track speed skating event of the Beijing Winter Olympics began at the Capital Gymnasium, and in the final of the 2000-meter mixed team relay, the Chinese team composed of Wu Dajing, Ren Ziwei, Fan Kexin and Qu Chunyu took the lead in crossing the finish line in 2 minutes 37.348 seconds, winning the first gold medal for the Chinese sports delegation.
The "Gold Medal Master" of China's Winter Events
Sharp blade "out of the sheath", lightning fast, thrilling, both fast and passionate, this fascinating, highly ornamental sport is short track speed skating. Among the Chinese ice and snow teams, the short track speed skating team is definitely an ace division. At the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, Yang Yang won the first gold medal at the Chinese Winter Olympics, and since then, Generations of athletes such as Li Jiajun, Wang Chunlu, Yang Yang, Wang Meng, Zhou Yang, Li Jianrou and Wu Dajing have continued their glory. Among the 13 gold medals of the Chinese sports delegation to the Winter Olympics so far, the short track speed skating team has contributed 10 gold. At the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics four years ago, the Chinese short track team continued its five-consecutive feat of gold medal with Wu Dajing's 500-meter gold medal, which was also the only gold medal of the Chinese delegation at the Pyeongchang Olympic Games.
In a total of nine sub-events of short track speed skating, the new mixed relay is one of the strongest events of the Chinese team. In this season's short track speed skating four-stop World Cup, the Chinese team won 2 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze, ranking first among all teams and having a strong competitiveness. In tonight's game, the Chinese team needs to face the challenges of strong teams such as South Korea, the Netherlands and Hungary.
The Chinese team has won the championship without any danger
Tonight's short track speed skating 2000m mixed relay will be held in the quarterfinals, semi-finals and finals. According to the rules of the mixed group relay, each team will send 4 players per game. In terms of Chinese combinations, Qu Chunyu, Fan Kexin, Zhang Yuting, Ren Ziwei, Wu Dajing and Sun Long are 6 short-track celebrities ready to go.
In the first group of the quarter-finals, the Chinese team played steadily, ranking first in the group with a score of 2 minutes 37.535 seconds, and successfully advanced, while the main competitor of the same group, the South Korean team, fell down and finally ranked third in the group and failed to advance to the semi-finals. Eight teams, including China, the Netherlands and Hungary, reached the semifinals.
The semi-finals were thrilling, with the slightly adjusted Chinese team finishing third in the group, but the Chinese team was continuously blocked by other players when handing over the baton. After the game, the referee reviewed the game video for a long time and determined that the Russian Olympic team and the United States team had committed a foul and had been cancelled when handing over the baton, and finally the Chinese team advanced to the group A final with the second place in the group.
In the final, the opponents of the Chinese team are Hungary, Canada and Italy. The Chinese team sent a combination of Wu Dajing, Ren Ziwei, Qu Chunyu and Fan Kexin. Fan Kexin grabbed the first place in the outermost road, but some players fell down and started over. With the gunshot again, Fan Kexin grabbed the third place, Qu Chunyu surpassed Italy to the second, and Ren Ziwei surpassed Canada to the first place. In the last 6 laps, Hungary and Canada fell off the track, and the Chinese team was far ahead of Italy. In the end, the Chinese team took the lead in crossing the finish line, and Wu Dajing roared in anger and celebration.
In the following competition, several main players, including Wu Dajing and Ren Ziwei, will attack the gold medals in more events and write a new story for China's short track speed skating at the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Text/Hubei Daily reporter Tong Junpeng sent from Beijing
Photo: Xinhua News Agency