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#ShortTrackSkating

There will be plenty of optimism about China’s Short Track Speed Skating medal chances among fans inside Beijing’s Capital Indoor Stadium when the 2022 Olympic Winter Games get under way.

2021 22 ISU World Cup Short Track test event Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics Capital Indoor Stadium Beijing(CHN)@GettyImages 1236017682

Capital Indoor Stadium during 2021/22 ISU World Cup Short Track test event for 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing (CHN) @GettyImages

And there will be added excitement that the inaugural Olympic Mixed Team Relay kicks off the Games action, with China having been dominant in the discipline so far this season.

Led by the red-hot Ren Ziwei and defending men’s 500m Olympic Champion Wu Dajing, the Chinese mixed relay quartet have already triumphed once on the Olympic ice, dominating the World Cup stop in Beijing in October 2021. They followed that with another World Cup mixed relay triumph in Debrecen, plus a third-place finish in Dordrecht. 

Fan Kexin, Zhang Yuting, Qu Chunlai, Wu Dajing and Ren Ziwei (CHN) 2021 22 ISU World Cup Short Track test event  Beijing (CHN) 1236091314

Fan Kexin, Zhang Yuting, Qu Chunlai, Wu Dajing and Ren Ziwei (CHN) celebrates after the Mixed 2000m Relay final during the 2021/22 ISU World Cup Short Track test event in Beijing (CHN) @International Skating Union (ISU)

Those results put the team over 600 points clear of nearest rivals Netherlands in the season standings. If China can retain a semblance of that form under the weight of an expectant nation, they will be hard to stop.

The 27-year-old Wu has already shown he can handle exactly that kind of extreme pressure, his gold at 2018 PyeongChang Oylmpic Winter Games rescuing China from the ignominy of a gold-free Games four years ago.

Dajing Wu (CHN) 2018 Olympic Winter Games Pyeongchang (KOR) @GettyImages 923286824

Gold medalist Dajing Wu (CHN) celebrates during the medal ceremony for Short Track Speed Skating - Men's 500m of the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang (KOR) @GettyImages

A four-time World Champion, Wu seems to have perfectly timed his Olympics surge, winning the final pre-Games World Cup 500m title in Dordrecht (NED) in late November. A fifth Olympic medal would crown a magnificent career that stretches back to the silver and bronze he won at the Sochi (RUS) 2014 Winter Olympic Games. 

And this time China will not be reliant only on Wu, with teammate Ren another skater bang in form. The 24-year-old Beijing native has won at least one World Cup medal in all three individual distances this season. The 1500m is arguably his best event, with Ren winning the final two World Cup races leading up to the Games. But after a 1000m win in Nagoya (JPN) in October and two podiums in the sprint, he could win a medal at any point. 

Such statistics bode well for China’s hopes in the men’s 5000m relay, in which they are defending silver medalists. The team only managed one World Cup podium across the four relay races at the end of last year, although it was a silver (in Nagoya (JPN)) and they were only denied the gold in a photo finish. 

Sun Long (CHN) 2021 ISU World Cup Short Track Nagoya (JPN) @ISU 1350180927

Sun Long (CHN) leads the pack in the Men's 5000m Relay semifinal during the 2021 ISU World Cup Short Track in Nagoya (JPN) @International Skating Union (ISU)

The Chinese women’s squad does not quite offer the same medal threat as the men’s, but the relay again offers a real chance of glory. Led by the evergreen Fan Kexin, the team took a hugely impressive World Cup gold in Beijing and backed up that performance with another podium place in Debrecen. 

Team China 2021 ISU World Cup Debrecen (HUN) @GettyImages 1354697679

Team China poses after the medal ceremony of Mixed Team Relay final race during the 2021 ISU World Cup Short Track in Debrecen (HUN) @International Skating Union (ISU)

Kexin, 28, will have her eye on an individual Olympic medal too, most notably in her favored 500m. She has a World Cup bronze to her name this season, won in Nagoya (JPN), and will be desperate to bookend her fabulous career with more Olympic hardware, following her 1000m silver from Sochi 2014. 

Kexin Fan (CHN) 2014 Olympic Winter Games  Sochi (RUS) @GettyImages 474164977

Silver medalist Kexin Fan (CHN) celebrates on the podium during the medal ceremony for the Short Track Women's 1000m during the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi (RUS) @GettyImages

Stay tuned for what promises to be a thrilling and quite possibly highly successful home Games for China.