Yan Wengang steel frame snowmobile wins history: skating at world speed on Chinese tracks

Photo (1): Yan Wengang in the game. (Image source: Visual China) Photo (2): Yan Wengang celebrates at the medal presentation ceremony. (Image source: Visual China) Photo (3): The moment Yan Wengang jumped on the snowmobile. Photo (4): Yin is in the game. (Source: Visual China)

In 4.77 seconds, Yan Wengang finished the start, jumped on the snowmobile, and prostrated himself to start his fourth round of "flying close to the ground". As the snowmobile drew a smooth arc, after 16 curves with different angles and slopes, he reached the finish line in 1 minute 00 seconds 15 seconds.

On the evening of February 11, in the men's steel frame snowmobile competition at the Beijing Winter Olympics, China's Yan Wengang won the bronze medal with a total time of 4 minutes 01.77 seconds in four-wheeled slabing under the condition of the outstanding performance of the world's masters, which was the first steel frame snowmobile winter Olympic medal in the history of the mainland. Yin Zheng finished 5th with a time of 4:02.13 and set a track start record with a time of 4.58 seconds.

Yan Wengang admitted in an interview after the game that there were mistakes in the third round before, and the last round had to be let go no matter what, "go all out, fight with all your might." ”

"This is the best result of China's steel frame snowmobile to go to the Winter Olympics!" Feng Shengchao, the volunteer supervisor of the track starting point of the "Snow Dragon" race and the director of steel frame ice sweeping, excitedly told reporters after watching the race. He still remembers that in 2018, Geng Wenqiang, known as the "Pioneer of China's Steel Frame SnowMobile", went to Pyeongchang, South Korea as the captain of the Chinese Steel Frame Snow Team, and finally ranked 13th, which was the first time that the Chinese delegation sent athletes to participate in the Steel Frame Snowmobile Competition at the Winter Olympics.

The steel frame snowmobile, also known as the pitching ice sled, is a racing sport that extends from the traditional snowmobile. As a race with certain risks, the steel frame snowmobile requires athletes to leap on the car after running the trolley, lie on a steel plate with a size of 80 cm and a height of about 20 cm, and slide at a high speed on the inclined ice track with their heads facing forward, reaching a speed of more than 130 kilometers per hour, known as "ice F1".

In July 2015, the Beijing Winter Olympics successfully bid, and three months later, the Chinese steel frame snowmobile national team officially began to form. Due to the late formation of the team, most of the players are "cross-border", facing a completely unfamiliar field, overcoming fear is the most important lesson. When he first tried the steel frame snowmobile, Yan Wengang bluntly said, "The sled will shake left and right, and the two sides will collide, which is very painful." "From overcoming fear to smoothly gliding, hundreds of practices and frequent injuries are the only way for every steel-frame bobsleigher.

For a sport that counts milliseconds, 0.01 seconds means a difference in place, and the starting stage, although only a few seconds, is the only boost in the whole race, so it is particularly critical. Born in 1997, Yan Wengang first practiced long jump in the Tianjin athletics team, and in December 2016, he entered the newly established national steel frame snowmobile training team through the cross-border cross-item selection plan, at this time he has 7 years of long jump training experience and has the explosive power of the starting stage of the steel frame snowmobile.

"The difference from the starting point is 0.11 seconds, and the difference between sliding to the finish is 0.22 seconds. The Olympics are 4 rounds of gliding, and the sum of them will be 0.88 seconds, a difference of nearly 1 second, such a gap is difficult to compete with the top athletes. Starting slowly, no matter how perfect the glide is, it is impossible to win the gold medal. Yan Wengang said that the steel frame snowmobile is also a very important sport that needs to be focused, and if one bend is not good, all the next bends will be affected.

In December 2018, in the International Snowmobile Federation European Championship at The King's Lake Station in Germany, Yan Wengang won the championship with a time of 1 minute 42.85 seconds, and became famous in one battle. Through the strict domestic selection, he and Yin Zheng won the "four choice two" competition and qualified to represent the Chinese team in the Beijing Winter Olympics.

In January this year, in the four rounds of the Olympic trials, Yin Zheng won the first place and set the record of the fastest "Snow Dragon". Wu Wenqiang, dean of the China Athletics College of Beijing Sport University, is very optimistic about Yin Zheng's future, he said: "Yin is a sprinter, the explosive force is very strong, this training foundation is greatly conducive to his early cart start, he also has a lot of potential and room for improvement." ”

"From the time I practiced the long jump, I had an Olympic dream, until I was engaged in steel frame snowmobiles, and I had the opportunity to compete for this position, and I would give it my all." Yan Wengang in 2019 once said that he hopes to stand on the Olympic field through hard work. Now, he and Yin Zheng are on the track of the Winter Olympic Final, sliding out of the world speed of the Chinese snowmobile.

Source: China Discipline Inspection and Supervision Daily