At the end of the 2023 Four Continents Short track speed skating Championships, the main Chinese team that hid Lin Xiaojun and Liu Shaoang only won two MEDALS in two relay events, and the poor record made ice fans worried.
In this four Continents short track speed skating Championships, head coach Zhang Jing sent the men's team led by Liu Guanyi and Li Wenlong, and the women's team led by Qu Chunyu and Zhang Yuting. As a result, in a total of six individual events for men and women, the Chinese team failed to win any MEDALS, and even only Li Wenlong entered the FA final in the men's 1000 meters and the men's 1500 meters respectively, and the others were eliminated early. In the relay event, also relying on Li Wenlong's excellent performance, the Chinese team was able to finish the four-continent competition with a bronze medal in the men's and women's 2,000m mixed relay and a silver medal in the men's 5,000m relay.
In stark contrast to the dismal performance of the Chinese team, the home team of Canada won four gold MEDALS to top the gold medal table, while the United States relied on the strong female Santos to win the women's 500, 1000 and 1500 meters of the three individual gold MEDALS. The traditional South Korean team relied on the individual strength of Park Ji-won, who wore the first helmet, to win two gold MEDALS in the men's 1,500-meter event and the men's 5,000-meter relay. It can be seen that in the case of the rapid improvement of the overall strength of European and American female players, the advantages of China and South Korea in women's events have now disappeared.
It should be known that although the Chinese team is generally relatively young, it is already a second-line main player in addition to several absolute main players such as Lin Xiaojun and Liu Shaoang. However, the fiasco at the Four Continents Short track speed skating Championships still showed ice fans just how far apart they are from the world's best. Looking ahead to the Milan Olympic cycle, China, with three naturalized Olympic champions, may not need to worry too much. But considering the age of them and Wu Dajing, Ren Ziwei and others, if we do not strengthen the construction of the team to train more excellent young players, what should we do when the 2030 Winter Olympics?
