Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, March 7 (Reporter Liu Yang) the 2018-2019 World Short Track Speed Skating championship is about to start in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. The Chinese team with poor performance in the World Cup series this season has sent all the main players to participate in the competition, strive to prove yourself again in the final battle of the season. The United “European team” will challenge the traditional strong team South Korea, and may even stage a good show of “seizing the power of the shift.
After the 5th round of the World Cup this season, the world championship of the final drama will be held on March 8-10. The Chinese team will send a full-force lineup headed by Wu Dajing, the champion of the Winter Olympics, to play. After the beginning of the new Olympic cycle, due to the need of upgrading, the Chinese team hid the main force and sent a large number of new players to play in the 5-stop World Cup, resulting in an extremely flat record this season, only won four gold medals in the first two races, among which there were three strong men’s 500 meters from Wu Dajing. In addition, they also won 2000 m men’s and women’s mixed relay gold medals, after the three races, there was no performance of riding the dust.
The Chinese short-track team is currently “Yang Sheng Yin decline”, and the overall strength of the women’s team needs to be strengthened urgently. Due to the poor performance in the World Cup this season, the women’s team ranked eighth in the traditional advantage project 3000-meter relay and failed to qualify for the women’s relay in this world championship, which is the first time in the history of the world championship in recent years.
Judging from the current situation of the Chinese team, the men’s 500 meters is the biggest “winning point” of the Chinese team in the Sofia World Championship “. Due to the absence of the last three races, Wu Dajing ranked second in the world, behind South Korea’s Lin Xiaojun, but he was still the favorite to win the championship. The official website of the International Federation of skating predicts that Wu Dajing, Lin Xiaojun, Canadian veteran Gerrard and South Korean famous General Huang Daheng will all launch an impact on the champion. The battle between Lin Xiaojun and Wu Dajing is most worth looking forward.
In addition, the Chinese team has the strength to win in men’s relay, women’s 500 meters and men’s and women’s mixed relayrace.
In preparation for the World Championships, the Chinese team has been conducting closed training since the end of the World Cup, and the list of the world championships was also difficult to be released one day before departure. Chinese team coach Li Di didn’t want to say much about the competition goal before the competition. She said: “Now it is only the first step from the 2022 Winter Olympics, and only laughing until the end is the real strong. The Chinese team currently needs confidence, determination and persistence.”
After the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, although all teams in the world are in the stage of upgrading and recuperating, the overall “European team” with remarkable achievements in the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang has developed rapidly, in the World Cup this season, he has “fought against the South Korean team”. After the World Cup series, the Netherlands, Russia, Hungary and other European strong teams and the South Korean team took the top place in the world in 9 men’s and women’s projects. Among them, the world ranking champions of women’s four projects are all included by European teams.
Zhang Jing, the Chinese coach of the Hungarian team, said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua News Agency that “joint training” has become a major means for European strong teams to enhance their strength. Everyone competes with each other in an atmosphere of mutual learning, so as to realize a virtuous circle of increasing overall strength.
Zhang Jing said that from the perspective of the World Cup this season, although South Korea changed its coach male and female teams, its technical movement and ability level are still “far ahead” in the world and remain strong in the World Cup. Therefore, whether the European strong team can resist the “Korean wave” in Sofia is expected.
In the relay project, the Russian women’s team bottomed out and rebounded. It has already been outstanding in the 3-stop World Cup and won the first place in the world. Whether it can dominate the world championship is a big attraction. In addition, although the Hungarian team, the gold medalist of the men’s relay in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, performed well in the season, Liu Shaoang, the main force, will miss the World Championship due to a palm fracture in the last race, which will undoubtedly bring a blow to the Hungarian team. Zhang Jing said: “After Shao Ang was injured, we really lost some competitiveness in relay. This year, we still ranked first in the world. As long as the team improves steadily every year, we are not in a hurry.”
In the men’s and women’s mixed relay project, China, Hungary, Russia, Canada and Italy have equally scored five World Cup champions. Who can be the king in the world championship will be the biggest suspense.