China wins speed skating team gold as Beijing 2022 kicks into full swing

China secured its first medal of the Games on Saturday in exciting fashion, winning the mixed team relay in short track speed skating.

The Chinese team of Rèn Ziwēi 任子威, Fàn Kěxīn 范可新, Qū Chūnyǔ 曲春雨, Zhāng Yǔtíng 张雨婷, and Wǔ Dàjìng 武大靖 — China’s only gold medalist from four years ago — survived a controversial semifinals and a hard-charging Italian in the finals to win gold, much to the delight of the home fans.

China — which was a favorite in this discipline, having won two of the four World Cup titles this season — initially looked like its dreams were dashed in the semis, when it finished behind Hungary and the U.S. But after a lengthy video review, an official ruled that an American skater had committed a blocking infraction, thus disqualifying the team and giving a spot in the finals to China.

In the final race, the critical moment came when, in the span of one lap, China leapfrogged from third to first. China’s second skater, Qu Chunyu, made a perfect tag of Ren Ziwei, pushing him into the lead with 13 laps to go.

China would not relinquish its lead. With seven laps to go, Canada and Hungary crashed, leaving only China and Italy standing. At one point, China had a 10-meter advantage and looked like it would cruise to victory.

But Italy’s final skater, Pietro Sighel, made a mad last dash, nearly catching Wu Dajing at the finish line. Wu won by less than two-hundredths of a second, or half a skate blade.

The excitement was palpable afterwards. CCTV’s commentator gushed, thanking the team’s four skaters, plus Zhang Yuting (who skated in the semis but was switched out for Fan Kexin in the finals).

Those in China can watch the full race here, via Tencent.

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Women’s hockey on brink of making history

China upset Japan in women’s ice hockey to continue its good start to the tournament. China lost Zhāng Mèngyíng 张梦莹 to injury in the first period after she collided with a teammate, and found itself trailing 1-0 after conceding a power-play goal. But the team rallied and tied it at 1 just a little over a minute into the third and final period.

In the penalty shootout, Vancouver-native Hannah Miller scored the only goal for China, while netminder Zhōu Jiāyīng 周嘉鹰 stopped all five of Japan’s attempts.

After losing its opening game to the Czech Republic, China rebounded with a 3-1 win against Denmark before defeating Japan. A win over Sweden later this evening (9:10 p.m. local start time) would clinch the team’s first-ever quarterfinals appearance.

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Eileen Gu (谷爱凌 Gǔ Àilíng) survived a scary qualifying campaign in the women’s freeski big air this morning, fluffing her second run. But her first- and third-run scores were enough to advance her to the final tomorrow in fifth place.

Sū Yìmíng 苏翊鸣 won silver in the snowboard slopestyle. The 17-year-old was one of the favorites for a medal, and didn’t disappoint — except fans thought maybe he deserved better. ​​”A flood of angry and frustrated comments flooded Chinese social media [Su] finished his first run at the men’s slopestyle final on Monday with what they saw as an unexpectedly low score,” Reuters reports. Canada’s Max Parrot came away with gold.

China got the rub in short track tonight, but here are the BBC commentators basically saying Su Yiming should have got gold in slopestyle. Meanwhile, snowboard community is going beserk over Max Parrot's knee grab (i.e. missed grab) getting such high marks to win gold. pic.twitter.com/0zHfgdcdWo

— Mark Dreyer (@DreyerChina) February 7, 2022

Later this week, China has more chances for a medal in the mixed team aerials. Also on Thursday, Liú Jiāyǔ 刘佳宇 will get a chance to win a medal in the women’s snowboard halfpipe.

Team China’s athletes to watch at Beijing 2022

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Other Stories:

2022 Winter Olympics: Everything you need to know about the Beijing Winter Olympics (NBC Sports)

In a Divisive Games, an Opening Ceremony in Search of Unity (New York Times)

Cold warrior: why Eileen Gu ditched Team USA to ski for China (The Economist)

Eileen Gu: US-China tension is trickiest slope for Olympic free skier (BBC)

‘I have no more tears’: Beijing’s Winter Olympics hit by athlete complaints (The Guardian)

Weibo Is Watching the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony (What’s On Weibo)

U.S. Olympians at Beijing 2022 Would be Wise to Stay out of Trouble — an​​ interview with Donald Clarke (Yahoo)

Beijing Wanted the Winter Olympics. All It Needed Was Snow (New York Times)

A look inside an Olympic cafeteria (TikTok of U.S. snowboarder Tessa Maud)

Medals table (NBC)

Stay up to date with The China Project’s Beijing 2022 coverage here, and check out the China Sports Column, which runs every week.