Fresh off their historic performances at the Harbin Asian Winter Games, China’s Ning Zhongyan and Han Mei showcased their resilience by clinching bronze medals in the men’s and women’s 1500m events at the ISU World Cup Speed Skating opener in Tomaszow Mazowiecki, Poland, on Friday.
Ning Zhongyan, who dominated the Asian Winter Games with three gold medals, clocked an impressive time of 1:46.06 in the men’s 1500 meters, finishing just 0.87 seconds behind American phenom Jordan Stolz. His outstanding performance underscores China’s growing prowess in speed skating on the global stage.
In the women’s 1500 meters, Han Mei delivered a heart-stopping race, narrowly missing the silver by a mere 0.06 seconds behind Japan’s Miho Takagi. Marijke Groenewoud of the Netherlands took the top spot with a time of 1:56.91, while Chinese rising star Yang Binyu secured a commendable sixth-place finish.
The successful results in this season’s opener validate China’s breakthroughs at Harbin 2025, where Han Mei’s three golds and two silvers contributed to a record tally of 14 speed skating medals. These achievements highlight the significant strides China is making in the realm of winter sports.
However, not all results favored the Chinese team. Gao Tingyu, the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics gold medalist, faced a challenging race in the men’s 500 meters, finishing in 15th place with a time of 35.11 seconds. This performance was 0.16 seconds slower than his winning time from earlier this month in Harbin, marking a concerning result for the team.
Reference(s):
Chinese skaters launch World Cup campaign with double bronze in Poland
cgtn.com
