Gao Tingyu held aloft the national flag to celebrate the gold harvest. Beijing News reporter Tao Ran photographed
On February 12, in the men's 500-meter speed skating competition held by the National Speed Skating Hall "Ice Ribbon", as one of the leading figures of Chinese men's speed skating and the flag bearer of the opening ceremony of the Chinese delegation, China's Gao Tingyu broke the Olympic record in 34.32 seconds and won the first Gold Medal of the Chinese Men's Winter Olympics in men's speed skating. From Pyeongchang to Beijing, Gao Tingyu stood on the podium for two consecutive Winter Olympics and fulfilled his promise to "change the medals for color".
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The 18-year-old knocked on the door of the national team
Gao Tingyu was born in December 1997, his hometown is Yichun City, Heilongjiang Province, the natural advantages of geographical conditions, so that he has the opportunity to contact skating from a young age, but also naturally embarked on the path of professional athletes.
In 2004, Gao Tingyu was in the third grade of elementary school, and the school happened to have an ice rink specially built for speed skating. By chance, he fell in love with the sport and signed up for the varsity team. Every day in the afternoon for more than 3 hours of ice training, Gao Tingyu did not feel bored, but slid faster and faster.
Soon after, Gao Tingyu became the captain of the school's speed skating team, and in 2008, he was discovered by coach Liu Deguang and recruited to the Mudanjiang Winter Sports Center for training. Until 2011, Gao Tingyu met Liu Guangbin, coach of the Heilongjiang provincial team and national champion, and after several twists and turns, his short-distance talent gradually showed as the stage got higher and higher.
At the beginning of 2016, at the age of 18, Gao Tingyu won the men's 500 meters championship in speed skating at the 13th Winter Games and was successfully selected for the national team. In the 2016-2017 season, he made a name for himself on the world stage. In the first World Cup of the season, Gao Tingyu counterattacked from Group B and finished second in The A Group competition, equaling the best result of Chinese men in the Speed Skating World Cup.
In February 2017, gao Tingyu finished 10th in 34.97 seconds at the individual speed skating world championships, and at the Asian Winter Games in the same month, Gao Tingyu won the championship in 34.69 seconds and broke the Asian record. In the 2017-2018 Speed Skating World Cup in the United States, Gao Tingyu finished 5th in 34.34 seconds, setting a new personal best and setting a national record.
In a sense, in the men's speed skating 500 meters event, Gao Tingyu is a veritable "genius teenager". Many people think that he was a blockbuster at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, but in fact, he had the ability to compete for medals and even create bigger surprises.
Gao Tingyu broke the Winter Olympic record. Beijing News reporter Tao Ran photographed
Ambition
Four years ago, it was promised to change the color of the medals
At the Gangneung Speed Skating Hall in South Korea four years ago, Gao Tingyu, who was only 20 years old, made history in just 34.65 seconds, winning the bronze medal in the men's 500 meters of speed skating and the first Winter Olympic medal in Chinese men's speed skating.
Ye Qiaobo, Xue Ruihong, Wang Manli, Wang Beixing, Zhang Hong... In the history of Chinese women's speed skating, there has never been a shortage of famous players, and they have repeatedly won gold and silver on the world competition stage. But for men's speed skating, before the appearance of Gao Tingyu, the history of the Winter Olympics was full of regret and unwillingness.
Compared with the middle distance and long distance events, the men's 500 meters has always been the key project of Chinese men's speed skating, and the Winter Olympics record is also the best, but it has always been missing the medal. At the 1994 Winter Olympics, Liu Hongbo finished 4th in the men's 500 meters in speed skating, and at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, the same speed skating men's 500 meters, Yu Fengtong won the 5th place.
Just before the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, Gao Tingyu once "did not go well" in everything. Before the start of the 2017-2018 season, he changed coaches and for a time had to make his own training plans. In the National Speed Skating League in October 2017, Gao Tingyu fell off the track, his commonly used ice knife was damaged, and when it came to the World Cup, he could only spend most of his time on familiarizing himself with the new ice knife.
Even in the 2018 Winter Olympics, there were many twists and turns before the start of the games. During the warm-up training before the game, Gao Tingyu accidentally fell in a corner, which once made him "not want to compare", and when he stood at the starting point, the Japanese players in the same group rushed to run, which greatly distracted his concentration.
As the saying goes, good things are grinding, whether it is the twists and turns during the preparation or the accident before the game, Gao Tingyu survived and finally used a bronze medal to draw a successful end to the first Winter Olympic trip. Looking forward to the Beijing Winter Olympics in an interview 4 years ago, Gao Tingyu bluntly said that he wanted to change the color of the medals, of course, he was also aware of the difficulty, "In the next 4 years, try to avoid injuries, little by little, and strive for a good result." ”
Gao Tingyu set off in group 7 of the competition. Beijing News reporter Tao Ran photographed
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Improve the starting technology before the Winter Olympics
At the age of 20, he stood on the podium of the Winter Olympics, and the high starting point of his career put the young Gao Tingyu under a lot of pressure. In the past four years of the Beijing Winter Olympics cycle, despite being plagued by injuries and other factors, his competitive status has not declined at all, and he has been stable among the world's top masters for a long time.
At the single speed skating World Championships in early 2019, Gao Tingyu finished 9th in 34.594 seconds. Entering the 2019-2020 season, even if he was plagued by a waist injury, Gao Tingyu was still in excellent shape, winning the silver medal at the Speed Skating World Cup in Belarus in November 2019 and the single speed skating World Championships in February 2020 with a personal best of 34.282 seconds.
Affected by the epidemic, Gao Tingyu and his teammates were once unable to participate in international competitions, but his self-requirements did not relax, and his daily physical training and technical details training did not fall. In the 2021-2022 season, Gao Tingyu, who has regained his standing on the international stage, still maintains a high level of competition.
In the China Cup Speed Skating Classic in October 2021, Gao Tingyu won the championship in 33.83 seconds and broke the national record he held. At the Speed Skating World Cup in Poland in November 2021, he set a new field record in 34.26 seconds and won his first World Cup gold medal. In December's Speed Skating World Cup in Canada, he finished runners-up in 33.876 seconds and slid into 34 seconds again in a single season.
Of course, while slipping out of the good results one after another and directly entering the list of participants in the Winter Olympics, Gao Tingyu did not forget to check the omissions and fill in the gaps. Due to the problem of starting fouls in this season's World Cup, Gao Tingyu has been perfecting his starting technique and other technical details in training for a month or two before the Winter Olympics, according to his words, "Playing iron also needs to be hard." ”
At the opening ceremony of the recent Winter Olympics, Gao Tingyu and Zhao Dan became the standard-bearers of the Chinese sports delegation. After 28 years, Chinese speed skaters once again served as the flag bearer of the opening ceremony. Gao Tingyu said on social media at the time, "Fighting at home is an extremely exciting thing, and the identity of the flag bearer makes me more powerful." I will certainly live up to this trust and strive to show the best in the field. ”
On February 12, the "ice ribbon", under the gaze of many home audiences, the 24-year-old Gao Tingyu did not live up to everyone's expectations and once again created the history of Chinese men's speed skating.
Beijing News reporter Xu Bangyin
Edited by Wang Chunqiu Proofread by Lu Qian