Winter AG to open after 8 years... The 'world's strongest' short track will be launched
Winter AG to open after 8 years... The 'world's strongest' short track will be launched
Blog Article
Asia's biggest winter festival is returning for the first time in eight years.
The 2025 Harbin Winter Asian Games will begin an eight-day heated race at the Harbin International Convention Exhibition and Sports Center at 9 p.m. on the 7th (Korea Standard Time).
This is the first Asian Winter Games in eight years since the Sapporo event in 2017. The event, which had to be held in 2021, was canceled due to difficulties in selecting a venue and the aftermath of COVID-19. Harbin, which hosted the third event in 1996, is hosting the winter festival once again for the first time in 29 years.
With the slogan of "Dream of Winter, Love among Asia," the opening ceremony of the Asian Games will be led by coach Xia Xiao-ran, who was the general manager of the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Winter Olympics and the Hangzhou Summer Asian Games. The organizing committee plans to showcase Harbin's charm as an "ice city" with colorful lighting techniques. Ice hockey Lee Chong-min (Bloomington Bisons) and curling Kim Eun-ji (Gyeonggi Provincial Government) will be the riders of the Korean team.
About 1,300 people from 34 countries will participate in the event, the largest number ever in history, and will stage fierce competition for a total of 64 gold medals in 11 sub-sport events in six sports. Korea will send 223 athletes, including 149 athletes and 74 executives, to six sports events. Korea aims to rank second overall with six short-track speed skating, two speed skating, and one gold medal each in alpine skiing, freestyle skiing and curling.
Short track speed skating, a sport that is beneficial to Korea, will take place on Friday, with curling and ice hockey starting ahead of the official opening ceremony. Short track speed skating, which lasts for three days through Saturday, will feature preliminaries for men's and women's 500-meter, 1,000-meter, 1,500-meter and 2,000-meter relay races on the first day. Medal hunting will start on Friday for men's and women's 500-meter and 1,500-meter relay races.
The short track team has set a target of at least six gold medals in nine sports. They are Park Ji-won (Seoul Metropolitan Government), Kim Ki-li and Choi Min-jeong (Seongnam City Government). Park Ji-won and Kim Ki-li, the ace players in men's and women's teams, were ranked No. 1 in the world last season. Choi Min-jeong, the returning empress, aims to display her potential by winning two gold medals in the Sapporo competition in 2017.
The national team of short track speed skaters is concentrating their efforts on the mixed 2,000-meter relay, which will determine the color of their first medal. If they get off to a good start in the mixed race, they will be able to continue their momentum in other events.
The biggest enemy is China, the host country. China, which has the best members, will have Lin Xiaojun (Korean name Lim Hyo-jun), who once served as a member of the Korean national team, and Shaolin Shandoru-Saoang, a Hungarian naturalized player. In the women's team, Pankusin, the king of foul play, will join the team. 스포츠토토
Korea must overcome its unilateral cheering for China and home turf. The Korean national team already had a hard time due to controversy over biased judging during the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. "Everyone is preparing well," Park said, promising a flawless run as she has been striving for a race that does not require video review.
Adapting to the quality of ice is a top priority. Having started its official training sessions at the Heilongjiang Ice Training Center's multi-purpose hall, the national team is focusing its efforts on adapting to the quality of ice. Due to poor quality of ice management, some players fall down during training sessions. "It is very different from the Jincheon Training Center," Kim said. "We need time to adapt."
Korea has to overcome even relatively narrow tracks. The link at Heilongjiang Ice Training Center Multipurpose Hall is smaller than that of other international competition stadiums. This is a disadvantage for the Korean team, which excels in overtaking techniques using out courses. Korean players determine the outcome of the race based on their strong physical strength. However, if the track is narrow, overtaking is difficult. If the team digs deep inside, contact with other players is inevitable, and the result of the race may depend on the referee's decision.
The national team is determined to play as it always does in the same conditions. "China is expected to be territorial, but we will be able to overcome it with the capabilities of our players," national team coach Yoon Jae-myung said in expressing strong belief.