Host country wins bronze in short-track relay

Women’s skate team claims China’s ninth Winter Games medal in close race

Heavy snow added to the atmosphere of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games on Feb 13, and the host country added a bronze medal in the women’s 3,000-meter shorttrack speed skating relay, bringing its total to four gold, three silver and two bronze as of that day.

In the relay, Team China was in second place from the fifth lap of the total of 27, but fell to fourth with four laps to go. Fan Kexin, who helped the team win the mixed team relay race on Feb 5, came up during the second to last lap but crossed the finish line in third place with a time of 4 min 3.863 sec.

The Netherlands led throughout, winning the gold with a time of 4:03.409, an Olympic record, followed by South Korea in 4:03.627.

It was the first time a European country took gold in the event. South Korea won six of the total eight golds in previous Winter Games, while China and Canada clinched one each.

The Chinese skaters said they always strive to excel.

“When we stand on the ice, we try to do our best, because the charming part of the short track is that changes may happen in a very short period of time, and nobody has the absolute power to win,” said Fan, who kissed the ice after the race.

“I kissed the ice to show my gratitude to this competition, my teammates, the ice rink as well as my motherland, the host of the Winter Games.”

The bronze medalist team has athletes of different generations.

Fan is competing in her third Winter Olympics, Qu Chunyu and Han Yutong are participating in their second, and Zhang Yuting and Zhang Chutong made their Olympic debut in Beijing.

Fan hopes the team spirit will continue into the future.

“I hope more athletes can pass the glory on,” said Fan, 28, who has been on the national team for 12 years.

In the men’s 500m race, China’s defending Olympic champion Wu Dajing did not qualify for the final and missed the chance to become the first skater to win the men’s 500m twice at the Olympics.

Liu Shaoang from Hungary claimed the gold with 40.338 sec, followed by Konstantin Ivliev of the Russian Olympic Committee and Steven Dubois from Canada.

Wu expressed disappointment afterward.

“I expected to compete with the world’s top skaters at the Olympic Games, so it’s a little regretful,” said the 27-year-old. “I will adjust my mind to focus on the team relay in two days.”