Winter Olympics: Chinese speed skaters cry, hug and laugh after historic first gold medal at Beijing 2022
- Wu Dajing, Ren Ziwei, Fan Kexing and Qu Chunyu dominated the final of the short-track speedskating mixed relay event
- China survived a scare in the semi-finals when they finished third but were promoted to second after the USA were disqualified
China’s emotional speed skaters cried, hugged and laughed as they became the country’s first gold medallists of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics after a dramatic day at the Capital Indoor Stadium on Friday.
On the first full day of competition, the Chinese team of Wu Dajing, Ren Ziwei, Fan Kexing and Qu Chunyu, who were favourites going into the race, almost failed to reach the final but had a reprieve when the United States were penalised for blocking by an infield skater.
Cheered on vociferously by a small but enthusiastic crowd of about 300 people at the Capital Indoor Stadium, China crossed the finish line to win the short-track speedskating mixed relay final in a time of 2:37.348.
That fell short of the fastest time of the night – the Netherlands’ 2:36.437 in the quarter-final, which by default becomes the event’s Olympic record.
The Dutch, who were also fancied for gold, started strong but dropped out in the semi-final after one of their skaters skidded and fell. Italy took silver and Hungary bronze, after a collision with Canada in the final left them chasing for the whole race.