Ren Ziwei missed the short track speed skating 1500m final: hope to be "small transparent"

(Beijing Winter Olympics) Ren Ziwei missed the short track speed skating 1500m final: hope to be "small transparent"

Beijing, February 9 (China News Service) -- Ren Ziwei, who already has two gold medals in his hands at the Winter Olympics, failed to "go down to the next city" in his strong sport of 1500 meters. In the semi-final of the 1500m on the 9th, the Chinese short track speed skater missed the final because he was found guilty. After the game, he admitted that the baggage was somewhat heavy, hoping that the outside world would treat him as a "small transparent".

At the Beijing Winter Olympics, Ren Ziwei has won two gold medals in the mixed team relay and the men's 1000 meters. The 1500m was his strongest sport, and he won three individual gold medals in four races of the World Cup this season, two of which came from the 1500m. Therefore, the 1500m is his real home.

On February 9, the men's 1500m quarterfinals of the short track speed skating event at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics were held at the Capital Gymnasium. The picture shows Ren Ziwei (left) and Hungary's Liu Shaoang in the competition. Photo by Mao Jianjun, reporter of China News Service

The first quarter-finals of the day, Ren Ziwei was in a relaxed state, he ranked first in the group with a time of 2 minutes 15.084 seconds, and successfully advanced to the semi-finals. The other two Chinese teenagers, Sun Long and Zhang Tianyi, did not qualify.

In the semi-finals, 7 players from each group competed, and only the top two could advance to the final, which was quite fierce. After Ren Ziwei started from the fifth lane, he quickly slid to the middle position; in the second half of the journey, Ren Ziwei and the Hungarian Chinese celebrity Liu Shao'ang alternately led the slide, and in the penultimate lap, South Korea's Park Zhangspacee surpassed Ren Ziwei from the inner road, and finally Liu Shaoang took the lead in hitting the line, followed by Park Zhangspacee and Ren Ziwei.

However, after the referee video replay review results, it was determined that Ren Ziwei blocked the foul with his arm in the straight sliding, thereby canceling his score, resulting in Ren Ziwei not qualifying for the final.

During the post-match review, Ren Ziwei said he had made a "low-level mistake". He reflected that it might be "a bit of a burden" and "thinking too much" that he didn't pay attention to the details. In addition, the other two teammates who participated in the event were out of the quarter-finals, which also made them feel pressured.

"With this mentality, the game is not right, and before you play, you lose," Ren Ziwei blamed himself, saying that why he did not go all out from the outside in the last two laps and why he collided with his opponents were all mistakes he made.

He said that mistakes should be summed up well, and today's game is over, start to adjust well, "short track has to be played round by round." He also hopes that the outside world will pay less attention to him and continue to treat him as a "little transparent". Next, Ren Ziwei will also participate in the men's relay 5000 meters and other competitions.

In the final 1500m final, South Korea's Hwang Dae-hyun won the championship in 2:09.219, while Canada's Dubois and Russian Olympic Committee team Yelistratov finished second and third in 2:09.254 and 2:09.267, respectively.

A women's event was also held that day. In the semi-finals of the women's 3000m relay, the Chinese team slid 4:04.383 to advance to the final; in the women's 1000m preliminaries, Han Yutong, Qu Chunyu and Zhang Chutong participated, and all three players advanced to the next round. (End)