Seeing the gap is seeing more hope

Ning Zhongyan in the men's 1500m race in speed skating at the National Speed Skating Hall on February 8. Photographed by Wang Xiaguang, a reporter of this newspaper

On the evening of February 8, the National Speed Skating Hall "Ice Ribbon" ushered in the men's 1500-meter speed skating competition at the Beijing Winter Olympics. The starting gun sounded, and Ning Zhongyan, a 22-year-old player from the Chinese team, waved his arm and struggled forward.

This is Ning Zhongyan's first time on the Winter Olympics. Tension, excitement, stress, all kinds of emotions intertwined, he tried to adjust his state.

Known as "ice track and field", speed skating is a contest of absolute speed and hard power. On the 400-meter-long track, two runners compete in a group. Start, corner, slide, change lanes, sprint. Ice knives gallop, and being yourself is the best way to do it.

In this strong competition, everyone tried their best, and the good results were constantly refreshed. Ning Zhongyan appeared in the penultimate group, and before him, Dutch player Kroll slid 1:43.55 to take the lead in setting a new Olympic record. Just a few minutes later, another Dutch player, the world record holder in the event, Nuis, shortened the result by another 0.34 seconds.

The young Ning Zhongyan was not afraid of challenges. Since entering the national training team in 2018, he has always had a "small flame" in his heart, motivating him to slide out of the way. In December 2019, in the World Cup in Kazakhstan, Ning Zhongyan braved strong hands and won the men's 1500 meters World Cup in speed skating for the first time, from obscurity to fame.

For many years, Chinese men's speed skating has been in the position of "catch-up". At the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, Gao Tingyu won the bronze in the men's 500 meters to achieve a "breakthrough of zero" for the Chinese men's men's speed skating. With the progress of Ning Zhongyan, the middle distance project has also begun to have the possibility of "breaking the wrist" with the world's strong teams.

Before participating in this Winter Olympics, Ning Zhongyan's competitive state was not bad, and in the 2021-2022 World Cup competition, he won 1 gold and 2 silver in the men's 1500 meters event. But after all, the Winter Olympics are different from other competitions, and the multiple tests of strength, technology and psychology have made Ning Zhongyan unable to play his best level in the Winter Olympic Games.

1:45.28, seventh, this is the best time in the history of Chinese male athletes in the Winter Olympics speed skating 1500 meters. But for Ning Zhongyan, this was not a satisfactory result for him. "The problem is the starting speed, not being able to slide out of my best rhythm." Walking through the mixed mining area, his eyes read "do not accept defeat."

Ning Zhongyan's technical advantage lies in the maintenance of the speed of the back distance, and he has also staged a good play of unfavorable start, catch-up and even overtaking in the game many times. Although the debut of the Winter Olympics is not ideal, he still has two opportunities to participate in the event, "I want to adjust my mentality as soon as possible and let go of the later games." ”

For Chinese men's speed skating, people see the gap and hope from Ning Zhongyan's sliding trajectory. The road ahead is long, only hard work. "Ning Zhongyan, keep up the good work!" The shouts of the audience spoke to everyone's hearts.

People's Daily ( 2022-02-09 09 edition)