Athlete Han Mei of our region ushered in the debut of the Beijing Winter Olympics

• 　Beijing, February 5 (Reporter Chai Siyuan) On February 5, Han Mei, an athlete from our region, appeared in the first Winter Olympic competition of the National Speed Skating Hall "Ice Ribbon" - speed skating women's 3000 meters. In the end, Han Mei finished 15th with a time of 4:07.74.　　In the competition, Han Mei was arranged to depart from the outer lane of Group 7, and the same group of opponents was Belarusian Zuyeva. The starting gun sounded, and Han Mei started the reaction speed very quickly, quickly speeding up. At 600 meters, Han Mei was slightly ahead of his opponents, but the frequency and stride of the two were very close, and they did not open up much gap. In the second half of the race, when it was time to compete for endurance, Han Mei stabilized the rhythm in the shouts of the coaches on the sidelines, and the last lap was again exerted and took the lead in crossing the finish line.　　Playing at home, Han Mei seemed particularly excited. For the women's 3000 meters of the day, Han Mei bluntly said that although the results were much better than in the domestic test matches, there was still a gap with his best results and the excellent players in the world, but the next competition will continue to do his best. In the next few days, Han Mei will also participate in the women's 1500 meters, women's 5000 meters and team chase 3 events. "The team chase behind is the focus of my efforts, but every race I will be down-to-earth and take every step!" Han Mei said.　　After the game, Han Mei thanked the people who supported her in her hometown: "After the success of Beijing's bid to host the Winter Olympics, I can truly feel the vigorous development of ice and snow sports in my hometown, especially since Inner Mongolia successfully bid for the 14th Winter Games, the autonomous region has given us athletes great support, thanks to the leaders, coaches and family members who supported me." Han Mei said.　　Born in Hohhot in 1998, Han Mei began her career in roller skating. In 2009, Han Mei entered Shenyang Sports Institute to start a speed skating life. At the 13th National Winter Sports Games in 2016, Han Mei broke the national youth record held by Song Li for 16 years with a time of 1 minute 59.04 seconds in the youth women's 1500 meters. At the 8th Asian Winter Games in 2017, Han Mei won the silver medal in the women's 5000 meters. At the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Han Mei won a 3,000m ticket for the Chinese team in the women's speed skating and finished 5th in the women's team chase event. This season, Han Mei has participated in four World Cup competitions in the United States, Poland and other places, and won Olympic points for the Chinese team in the women's 1000 meters, 1500 meters, 3000 meters, 5000 meters, and team pursuit. In the World Cup in the United States, Han Mei slid a personal best of 3000 meters, breaking the national record with a time of 3:58.76.

• Source: Inner Mongolia Daily