Mountains of prep for 2022 hopefuls

Jiang and Wang both placed third in the men’s and women’s races, respectively.

The Tianjin team has been training in Bosnia for around two months, and their newly hired coach is impressed by their efforts so far.

“These kids from China train very hard,” said Tanya Kosarak. “Some of them are very talented.”

Chinese coach Du Jiliang was also pleased with the progress made. He said his hardy bunch trains four to five times a week, covering around 25-30 km each time, regardless of the conditions.

The youngest member of his 14-strong squad is just 12 years old, with the oldest 17.

They mainly hail from northern provinces such as Heilongjiang and Jilin, but most have only been skiing for three to four months.

Their goal is to prepare for the 15th National Winter Games in 2024, but the expectation is that at least one will compete at their home Olympics in Beijing and Zhangjiakou.

Whoever makes it to the start line in Hebei province in 2022 will be able to look back fondly on these days of toil.