On the morning of the 11th, the National Training Camp of Short Track Speed Skating held a media camp in the comprehensive training hall "Ice Temple" of the Winter Sports Management Center of the General Administration of Sports. Under the guidance of head coach Zhang Jing, the veteran recruits showed their skills and began to train on the ice one after another.
In order to openly, fairly and impartially select the highest level athletes to form the new season short track speed skating national training team, the National Short Track Speed Skating Training Camp was established on May 4 this year, which also marked the official entry of short track speed skating into the training and preparation of the 2023/24 season. The training camp includes gold medalists such as Ren Ziwei and Fan Kexin in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, gold medalists such as Li Wenlong and Song Jiahua in the 2022/23 Short Track Speed Skating World Championships, outstanding athletes emerging from the 2022/23 National Short Track Speed Skating Championships, and 8 youth athletes born after 2004, forming a good echelon to prepare for the new youth World Cup events added by ISU this year.
According to Liu Chenyu, the leader of the short track speed skating national team, after the establishment of the training camp in May, dynamic adjustment and survival of the fittest have been implemented, and there are currently 27 athletes in the camp, including 15 male athletes and 12 female athletes. According to the plan, the training camp will last until the end of August, during which physical tests and ice tests will be organized, and the 2023/24 short track speed skating national training team will be selected in combination with the performance during the training camp.
Last year's training camp was the first year of the Milan Winter Olympics cycle, and the short track speed skating national team formed a new team of coach Zhang Jing, the main purpose of which was to form a new cycle team, focusing on extensive investigation of athletes from all over the world, selection of new cycle coaching team, medical team, support for the distressed team, etc., and the overall training camp scale was also relatively large (109 athletes).
When talking about the main purpose of the adjustment, Zhang Jing, head coach of the short track speed skating national training team, said that last season there were many newcomers with competitiveness and development potential in the international arena. This year, with the completion of the formation of the coach and support team, through the one-year competition, the in-depth understanding of the national athlete situation, coupled with the return of some key athletes through the adjustment after one year, the training camp will focus more on cultivating key athletes and aiming to participate in the Milan Winter Olympics. She said, "Through the actual competition, we will continue to select the best athletes and form a more stable squad for the next three years, so the entire training camp is more streamlined, and the whole preparation training from May is more systematic." ”
The 2022/23 season is the adjustment period and adaptation period for the Chinese short track speed skating team. Zhang Jing sees the 2023/24 season as a run-up period for the Milan Olympics. She said that through various competitions last year, she found many young outstanding athletes, such as Gong Li and Zang Yize of the women's team, Liu Guanyi and Zhong Yuchen of the men's team. But they have less experience in international competitions, so this stage is a stage of gradual maturity through an exercise in last year's World Cup and World Championships. "Lin Xiaocheng, Liu Shaolin and Liu Shaoang, the three old athletes, their previous training mode abroad may be different from the domestic training mode, after they enter the team, it is independent training, and they are very self-disciplined, training is more detailed. In addition, there are Olympic champions Ren Ziwei, Fan Kexin, Qu Chunyu have left a very deep impression on me, these old athletes can play an exemplary role in the team, for these young athletes, the training level is a change from quantity to quality. Zhang Jing said.
In addition, Zhang Jing also introduced Lin Xiaocheng's postoperative recovery. She said, "Lin Xiaocheng is now in the recovery stage and is recovering very well. The planned recovery period would take a long time, but for now, he is more active and in very good shape than the previous plan. He had only been back home for a few days, and from the first week of ice training and recovery, it was much better than we expected. ”
It is reported that the national training team is scheduled to complete the formation in early September. Last season, the national training team participated in a total of 12 events, and this season the national training team plans to participate in a total of 17 domestic and international events, including 6 adult World Cups, 3 youth World Cups, four continents championships, world youth championships, winter youth participation and world championships, etc., which are more intensive.
The intensive competition also challenged the thickness of the team lineup, the overall preparation of the competition, and the level of participation. In this regard, Zhang Jing said that the most important event of the team's season will definitely be the World Championships in the Netherlands in March 2024, which is also the highest competition platform for the world's top short track speed skaters every year. In December this year, the third stop of the World Cup will be held in Beijing, and it will be held at the Capital Stadium, the base camp of China's ice and snow, and all the staff will definitely go all out to achieve excellent results at home. "The first stop of the new short track speed skating World Cup will start on October 20 in Montreal, Canada, according to the plan, the national training team will depart in mid-October 2023 to start the season, hoping that the majority of ice fans will pay attention to and support the athletes, and the performance of the short track speed skating team in the international arena." Zhang Jing said.
Text/Beiqing Sports Zhou Xueshuai