Chinese skater Ren Ziwei has won one gold and three silver medals during the second stage of the International Skating Union (ISU) World Cup Short Track Speed Skating series in Nagoya, Japan, raising confidence that the team is ready to take home more golds at the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics.
On the last day of the Nagoya ISU World Cup on Sunday, Ren led all the way and claimed a gold medal in the men’s 1,000 meters with a time of 1 minute and 26.297 seconds, followed by Itzhak de Laat from the Netherlands at 1 minute 26.533 seconds and Canada’s Pascal Dion coming in third at 1 minute 26.554 seconds. This was Team China’s first individual gold during the 2021-22 season of the ISU World Cup.
As the Beijing Winter Olympic games are less than 100 days away, the win has been taken as a sign of encouragement that will prompt confidence in the Chinese short track speed skating team, say experts.
In addition, Ren also won two silver medals respectively during the men’s 5,000 meters and 2,000 meters’ mixed relays on Sunday. These came after he won a silver medal in Men’s 500 meters final with a time of 58.267 seconds the day before.
The Chinese team flew to Japan on October 25 to prepare for the World Cup’s second stop, where they bagged a total of one gold, three silver and two bronze medals after four days’ competition from Thursday to Sunday
The first round of the World Cup wrapped up in Beijing on October 24, and the team won two gold medals in two relays and one bronze in the Men’s 1,500 meters.
Global Times
