The speed skating event at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics continued at the National Speed Skating Hall - "Ice Ribbon", and in the men's 1500 meters, the Chinese team sent world champions Ning Zhongyan, Lian Ziwen and youngster Wang Haotian to compete. In the end, the 2019 World Championship champion Ning Zhongyan failed to achieve his goal of standing on the podium before the race and won the 7th place. The two Players of the Dutch team won the championship and runner-up in a record-breaking manner. Many netizens have lamented, "The Netherlands is worthy of the traditional hegemony of speed skating." Although Ning Zhongyan failed to add another gold to the Chinese delegation, he has achieved the best Olympic result of the Chinese men's team in this project, and everyone still gave him the warmest applause.
Speed skating is the card-winning event of the Chinese Winter Olympic Team, from the legendary Ye Qiaobo, to the famous Wang Beixing, to the Olympic champion Zhang Hong, the world champion Gao Tingyu and Ning Zhongyan, the Chinese speed skating team has always played the icing on the cake in the Winter Olympics. At the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Zhang Hong won the first Olympic gold medal of the Chinese team in the women's 1000 meters. At the last Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, the Chinese speed skating team had a mediocre record and did not have a gold medal in the account.
Although speed skating and short track speed skating are both skated on the ice track, compared to short track speed skating, the competitive situation of speed skating is much simpler. Athletes only need to compete on a fixed skate track, and the shortest time will win the championship under the same distance. Judging from the previous Olympic Games, there are many former short-track speed skaters who choose to focus on speed skating across disciplines, and Zhou Yang, the women's 1500-meter champion of the Vancouver Winter Olympics and the Sochi Winter Olympics, has also changed from "short track" to "avenue".
During the Beijing Winter Olympics cycle, the overall strength of the Chinese speed skating team has improved significantly, especially in the men's event, Ning Zhongyan and Gao Tingyu have reached the top of the podium in international competitions. For this Winter Olympics at home, the Chinese speed skating team is full of confidence. When it comes to goals, the coaching staff shouted the slogan of "at least one gold medal". In this Winter Olympics, the Chinese speed skating team has the strength to impact the gold medal in the men's 500 meters, 1000 meters and 1500 meters.
In the first gold point, Ning Zhongyan tried his best, although it was more than a second away from the championship performance, but he had already slipped out of the more ideal result. After the game, he said in an interview that he won gold medals at both the World Championships and the World Cup, and if he could win the championship at the Beijing Winter Olympics, he would be able to achieve a career grand slam. Although the result is regrettable, Ning Zhongyan firmly said that in the next four years, he will continue to work hard to realize his dream.
(Luo Treasurer)