Short track to stardom
Head coach Li Yan said on Sunday that China’s shorttrack speed-skating team for next year’s Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, has almost been finalized.
“For Pyeongchang, there will be no major changes to the squad you saw at this year’s world championships,” Li said.
“Wu Dajing, Han Tianyu and Fan Kexin will be part of the team representing us in Pyeongchang, but they may not have such a good situation in 2022, so I have to find some rising stars to complete our mission for the Beijing Olympics.”
The 50-year-old coach is scouting talent in Harbin, Changchun and Jilin. She said the northeast provinces are all trying to cultivate promising youngsters, but still have some problems to solve.
“The Pyeongchang Games are next February, so time is tight,” said Li, who took the national team reins after the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. At the 2010 and 2014 Games, China won six gold medals, three silver and one bronze.
In addition to Wu, Han and Fan, the team that captured two golds at this year’s world championships included Guo Yihan, Zang Yize, Lin Yue, Qv Chunyu, Ren Ziwei, Xv Hongzhi and Shi Jingnan.
Fan, 23, won the women’s 500m event. As one of the most popular rising stars in China, Wu defeated all his rivals in the men’s 500m at the eighth Asian Winter Games.