Accelerate towards better results! (Winter Olympic telephoto)

On February 12, Zhao Dan competed in the women's steel frame snowmobile race. Photo by Yi Xiao, a reporter of this newspaper

"Definitely watch the game and cheer her on!" On February 12, after winning the gold medal in the men's 500 meters of speed skating at the Beijing Winter Olympics, Gao Tingyu, as the flag bearer of the opening ceremony of the Chinese sports delegation, "over the air" cheered zhao Dan, who would step on the field that night. A few hours later, the National Bobsleigh Center "Snow Tour Dragon" witnessed another breakthrough in China's steel frame bobsleigh project, and Zhao Dan, a 19-year-old Chinese team player, with the encouragement of the standard-bearer's "partner", ranked ninth in the women's steel frame snowmobile project with a time of 4 minutes 09.52 seconds. Her teammate, another Chinese player, Li Yuxi, finished fourteenth with a time of 4:10.59. Germany's Hannah Neizer won the championship.

This is the first time that the Chinese team players have participated in the women's steel frame snowmobile field of the Winter Olympics, and the two players can enter the final round of skating, and have achieved good results, which has shown the progress of China's steel frame snowmobile project.

The Chinese national teams of bobsleighs, bobsleighs and steel frame bobsleighs were all formed around 2015, and for Zhao Dan and Li Yuxi, who have been practicing track and field since childhood, they have been exposed to steel frame bobsleighs for a shorter time. In 2018, the two became steel frame snowmobile athletes through cross-border cross-sports selection.

In all four skids in the Women's Steel Frame Bobsleigh Race at the Winter Olympics, Zhao Dan and Li Yuxi reached a top speed of 127 kilometers per hour. Since 2018, the two have made rapid progress. In 2020, Zhao Dan won the seventh place at the Lausanne Winter Youth Olympics. In the 2021-2022 season, Zhao Dan won the intercontinental cup in Innsbruck and reached the highest podium in the international arena for the first time. The 23-year-old Li Yuxi has not been practicing steel frame snowmobiles for a long time, but she has grown up quickly. In 2021, she won the championship in several races such as the Steel Frame Snowmobile European Championship in Lillehammer.

On February 4, at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the Chinese sports delegation entered, and Zhao Dan and Gao Tingyu jointly held aloft the five-star red flag and walked in the forefront of the team. Zhao Dan is very proud to become a flag bearer: "Being the flag bearer of the Chinese sports delegation is an inspiration to me and makes me feel the sense of responsibility and mission on my body. ”

In the first two rounds of skating on February 11, Zhao Dan's results were third and fifth, respectively. Although the results of the last two rounds of skating on February 12 declined, it was a pretty good result to finish ninth.

At this point, the beijing Winter Olympics steel frame snowmobile event was all over, and the strong German team won two gold medals. The performance of Chinese players such as Yan Wengang and Zhao Dan has also made people have more expectations for the future of China's steel frame snowmobile project.

"I hope that through the efforts of the whole team, more people will understand the steel frame snowmobile, and more athletes will join us in the ranks to enhance the strength of China's steel frame snowmobile!" Zhao Dan said.

People's Daily ( 2022-02-13 06 edition)