Yan Wengang (right) and Yin Zheng celebrate after the match. Photo: Xinhua News Agency
With the end of the women's steel frame snowmobile competition on the 12th, the Beijing Winter Olympics steel frame snowmobile project officially ended, and The Chinese male steel frame snowmobile athlete Yan Wengang won the bronze medal, which was the first Winter Olympic medal of the Chinese steel frame snow team. In addition, male athlete Yin Zheng broke the steel frame snowmobile departure record and showed The Chinese speed, and Zhao Dan and Li Yuxi made the debut of the Chinese female athlete steel frame snowmobile Winter Olympics.
breakthrough
The Chinese women will make their debut on the Winter Olympic steel frame snowmobile
At the Beijing Winter Olympics, the Chinese team sent Zhao Dan and Li Yuxi to participate in the women's steel frame snowmobile competition, which was the first time that Chinese female athletes appeared in the Winter Olympics event.
At the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, Chinese athletes made their debut in the steel frame snowmobile project of the Winter Olympics, and Geng Wenqiang became the "pioneer" of China's steel frame snowmobile.
On January 17 this year, the International Snowmobile Federation announced the allocation list of steel frame snowmobile quotas for the Beijing Winter Olympics, and Chinese female steel frame snowmobilers not only qualified for the Winter Olympics, but also had two seats.
On February 11, in the first round of the women's steel frame snowmobile competition, Zhao Dan and Li Yuxi staged the debut of the chinese female athletes' winter olympic steel frame snowmobile. In the competition, both female players have wonderful performances. The 19-year-old Zhao Dan skated her surprise in the first round and ranked 3rd in the group. The 23-year-old Li Yuxi continued to improve his skating performance in the first three rounds.
Young means that mistakes are inevitable, and Zhao Dan ranks 4th in the group after two rounds, but in the 3rd round of skating, there was a side slide in the two acceleration stages of entering Corner 5 and Corner 11, which affected the speed. Although unable to move further in the rankings, Zhao Dan and Li Yuxi finished 9th and 14th respectively in their Winter Olympic debuts. This is a good start for the Chinese women's steel frame snowmobile and the two young female players, who still have a lot of room for improvement in the future.
Zhao Dan "compared hearts" after the game. Photo: Xinhua News Agency
Highlights
Yan Wengang won the first Winter Olympic medal for the steel frame snowmobile
Four years ago in Pyeongchang, the "pioneer" Geng Wenqiang left the figure of a Chinese steel frame snowmobile athlete for the first time at the Winter Olympics; four years later in Beijing, Yan Wengang and Yin were following this blazed road, sliding faster and farther.
On February 10, the first two rounds of the men's steel frame snowmobile, with the familiarity with the track and the control of key cornering technology, Yan Wengang temporarily ranked third in the group, and whether he could achieve a greater breakthrough depended on the last two rounds. Yan Wengang made a mistake and performed poorly in the third round, and in the fourth round, he slid out of the top speed of a single round of 129.71 km / h, making up for the gap in the previous round, and finally won a valuable bronze medal, which was the first medal of the Chinese steel frame snowmobile at the Winter Olympics.
Yan Wengang said, "We are very confident to participate in the (Winter Olympics) race, I have accumulated a lot of experience on the track. Every corner, I'm confident. Yan Wengang's confidence comes from his familiarity with the "Snow Dragon" track and the experience of gliding on different tracks of the World Cup.
According to Yan Wengang's estimates, he has trained and competed more than 2,000 times in six years, and the number of skids in the "Snow Dragon" alone has exceeded 500 times. 'I don't think it was the best, and I made mistakes in the game that I didn't make in training, otherwise the ranking would have gotten better. Yan Wengang said. Compared with foreign celebrities, the young Yan Wengang fought for a bronze medal in the absence of competition experience, which is very valuable.
Sun Fan, the leader of the Chinese steel frame snow team, said that after 4 years of training and competition, the athletes represented by Yan Wengang will have more experience in the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Yan Wengang reached the finish line, and he won the bronze medal for the Chinese team. Photo: Xinhua News Agency
velocity
In 4.58 seconds, Yin Zheng refreshed the "Snow Dragon" departure record
Before the Beijing Winter Olympics, Yin Zheng's strong "starting speed" attracted attention from the outside world. At the Beijing Winter Olympics, Yin Zheng ran at world speed on the Chinese track, showing how fast he started with strength.
On February 10, the first round of skating, Yin Zheng refreshed the best starting result of the "Snow Dragon" track with a time of 4.60 seconds, showing the speed of China's steel frame snowmobile. On February 12, after the 4th round of skating, Yin Zheng once again showed a world-class starting level, setting a new departure record in 4.58 seconds.
The "Snow Dragon" track belongs to the starting dominant track, and the athletes with the starting advantage will be very "cheap", and Yin Zheng will eventually rank 5th with the starting advantage. In the same competition with international high-level players, Yin Zheng showed the speed of China's steel frame snowmobile.
Yin Zheng said that he will aim for one season and increase his weight to 80 kilograms, which will be more conducive to his start and gliding in the event, and he is more looking forward to next season. If Yin Zheng achieves his weight gain goal, supplemented by world-class starting speed, where will his "ceiling" be?
Li Yuxi greeted the stands after the match. Photo: Xinhua News Agency
prospect
China's "Mech Warrior" looks forward to going further in 4 years
Judging from the team formation, the age of material selection, and the time of contact with the project, the China Steel Frame Snow Team is still a young team. According to Sun Fan, in October 2015, the steel frame snow team was only completed, and the athletes first saw the steel frame snow car two months later. Among the athletes, Yan Wengang was the first batch of athletes when the team was founded, and the youngest Zhao Dan practiced the steel frame snowmobile for less than 3 years.
According to Andreas Schmid, head coach of the Steel Frame Snow Team, athletes need seven or eight years of training and competition to win medals on the International Tour. Obviously, this is not realistic for Chinese steel frame snowmobilers who start late and have no project experience. Although there is still a gap between it and the traditional strong team, the Chinese steel frame snow team has quickly narrowed the gap with the world's high level in this project.
After entering the Beijing Olympic cycle, the Chinese steel frame snow team entered a period of high-speed growth. In the 2018-2019 season, the Chinese steel frame snow team won the first world championship in the North American Cup; in the 2019-2020 season, in addition to the North American Cup and the European Cup level, it also won the Intercontinental Cup; and in the 2021-2022 season, it won the World Cup.
Although the team is relatively young, in Sun Fan's view, the Chinese steel frame snow team has achieved an overall thickness improvement after training in recent years. Yan Wengang men's steel frame snowmobile picked copper, Yin Zheng and Zhao Dan ranked in the top 10, and Li Yuxi also continued to break through the fastest personal gliding time.
Talking about the future development, Sun Fan said that he hopes to develop the steel frame snowmobile sport through the opportunity of the Beijing Winter Olympics and attract more people to understand and experience the sport. He believes that with the participation of more people, the thickness of steel frame snowmobile sports talents will be more complete, and on the basis of winning a medal at the Beijing Winter Olympics, the Chinese steel frame snow team will strive to perform better in the next Winter Olympics.
Beijing News reporter Wang Jisong
Edited by Wang Chunqiu Proofread by Lu Qian