ISU

Chutong Zhang (CHN) competes during the ISU World Cup Short Track in Calgary (CAN) @ISU

She teamed up with pals Li Wenlong and Wang Xinran, both 21, plus the 24-year-old Zhong Yuchen, to claim a highly impressive Mixed Team Relay gold at the World Cup in Salt Lake City. At the same event Li and Zhong combined again to help the Men’s team grab 5000m Relay bronze – with Zhong once more the elder statesman.

“There are a lot of good young skaters,” Zhang confirmed.

Yuchen Zhong and Wenlong Li (CHN) react during the 2022 ISU World Cup in Salt Lake City (USA) @ISU

The same squad followed this up with Men’s 5000m Relay gold, Mixed Team Relay silver, Women’s 1000m silver (won by Gong Li) and Women’s 500m bronze (won by Zhang) at the 2022 ISU Four Continents Short Track Speed Skating Championships, also held at the Utah Olympic Oval.

It makes for quite an early-season medal haul, especially when you consider that China’s double Olympic champion Wu Dajing, reigning 1000m Olympic gold medalist Ren Ziwei, and five-time individual World Champion Fan Kexin have all been granted extended leave from the squad.

In Almaty (KAZ), the season’s third and fourth World Cups were held in an exciting double-header. China’s Short Track team delivered once again at the first of those events, grabbing Mixed Team Relay silver. In the Women’s 1500 m (1), a promising three Chinese skaters finished in the top 10, including a one-two in the B final.

Coaches and students thriving

New head coach Zhang Jing, formerly head coach of the successful Hungarian team for the past decade, has certainly made a swift impact.

Coach Jing Zhang pictured during the 2018 World Short Track Championships in Montreal (CAN) @ISU

“Training is changing all the time,” Li said. “We’ve got new coaches after the (Beijing 2022 Olympic) Games and they have different training methods. I am enjoying it.”

Li may be just 21 but he already knows what it is like to excel on the biggest stage under the most extreme pressure.

“It was a great experience, competing in Beijing against the best international skaters,” said the reigning Olympic 1000m Men’s silver medal winner.

“I trained for 10 years for the Olympics. I sacrificed a lot of fun time. We trained a lot. It was six days per week, ice training in the morning and gym in the afternoon.”

Li Wenlong, Ren Ziwei (CHN) and Shaoang Liu (HUN) pose during the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing (CHN) @ISU

Such a regime, under the stewardship of the legendary Victor An for the final run-up to the Games, delivered two golds, a silver and a bronze. Zhang, who was part of the Women’s 3000m Relay squad that snatched a surprise bronze, cannot stop smiling when she thinks back to those two weeks in February 2022.

“It was amazing, very special for me. I learned a lot and my heart got stronger,” said the athlete who is now firmly focused on the future. “I want to get better though. We need to keep learning and we need more experience of competitions. Then we will get better.”

China Relay Team celebrates during the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing (CHN) @ISU

Zhang loves the “competitive” but “encouraging” nature of training. And the fact that Wu, Ren and Fan are expected to return to the ice is “exciting”.

“They help everyone,” Zhang said. “The young athletes follow the older ones. I learned a lot from them, they helped me a lot with the life of an athlete, when you come to events, how to keep calm and be focused.”

Add the fact she and her roommate Gong Li “sing songs, take photos and have fun” every night when on tour, and you can see why Zhang, and seemingly the whole China squad, “love Short Track right now”.