Team China is targeting a medal-laden campaign in Speed Skating, Curling and Ice Hockey in Harbin
China’s curlers are expected to deliver honors on home ice, but will face a stiff challenge from the Republic of Korea and Japan. XINHUA/GETTY IMAGES
As the host of the upcoming 9th Asian Winter Games, China will be sending a delegation of over 170 winter sports athletes. The first event for Team China was the Mixed Doubles’ Curling, with a Round-Robin match on the morning of Feb 4, in which Chinese curlers Han Yu and Wang Zhiyu flew the nation’s flag high with a comprehensive 11-5 win over Kazakhstan. The duo followed that up with victories over Kyrgyzstan, the Philippines and the Republic of Korea, putting them in medal contention already.
The Curling competition is being held at the Harbin Pingfang District Curling Arena and features three disciplines: Men’s Curling, Women’s Curling, and Mixed Doubles’ Curling, with the latter making its debut at the continental winter sports gala.
At the 8th Asian Winter Games in Sapporo, Japan, in 2017, the Chinese men’s and women’s Curling teams clinched victories over the teams from Japan and the ROK, respectively, to secure their first-ever Asian Winter Games Curling titles.
China’s curlers are expected to deliver honors on home ice, but will face a stiff challenge from the Republic of Korea and Japan. XINHUA/GETTY IMAGES
Among the 10 curlers in the Chinese delegation to Harbin, only female curler Wang Rui and male curler Xu Xiaoming remain from Sapporo’s gold medal-winning teams.
The first puck also dropped in the Ice Hockey competition on Feb 4. The Chinese men got off to a rocky start, falling narrowly to the ROK 6-5 in the first round and getting thumped 6-1 by Kazakhstan in its second game at the Harbin Ice Hockey Arena.
The 3,000-seat arena will be full again Friday, as the men go in search of a morale-boosting win against Thailand in what will be a do-or-die match if the host hopes to advance further in the competition, with tests against Chinese Taipei and Japan looming large.
Led by captain Yu Baiwei, a Harbin native, the Chinese women’s Ice Hockey team is currently ranked 12th in the world. In the final of the 2025 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s Asia Championship held in Beijing on Nov 3, China was defeated by Japan. The battle for the gold medal at this Asian Winter Games may be a replay of that intense encounter.
China’s Ice Hockey Teams are expected to deliver honors on home ice, but will face a stiff challenge from the Republic of Korea and Japan. XINHUA/GETTY IMAGES
The puck drops in the women’s campaign on Feb 12, with their first opponent in Group A yet to be decided.
Speed Skating, which has been a sport at the Asian Winter Games since the first edition in 1986, will award the most gold medals in Harbin, with 14 in total.
A gold medallist in the Men’s 500m at the 2017 Sapporo Asian Winter Games and the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, Chinese Speed Skater Gao Tingyu has returned from an extended break due to injury and is targeting a successful title defense in Harbin.
Aged 27, Gao has long been the sole contender from the Chinese Speed Skating team vying for medals on the international stage. However, the situation has begun to change.
Since last season, China’s skating team, led by younger athletes like Ning Zhongyan and Han Mei, has gradually improved, with their performances in international competitions steadily on the rise.
For example, during the 2024-25 ISU Speed Skating World Cup event in Nagano, Japan, Han secured the silver medal in the Women’s 1,500 metres with a time of 1:55.18, while Ning claimed the bronze in the Men’s 1,500 metres with a time of 1:44.69.
China’s speed skaters are expected to deliver honors on home ice, but will face a stiff challenge from the Republic of Korea and Japan. XINHUA/GETTY IMAGES
A month later, on the second weekend of the competition, held at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing, Team China ultimately secured one silver and three bronze medals.
Gao acknowledged that younger speed skaters are emerging, alleviating a lot of the pressure on his shoulders.
“It doesn’t feel like I’m fighting alone, as it did before. Chinese Speed Skating is getting better and better,” Gao remarked.
At the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, Ning, as an Olympic debutant, finished seventh in the Men’s 1,500 metres and fifth in the 1,000 metres. Having endured the challenges of the Olympics, Ning stated that his biggest takeaway from the Games was a more stable mindset.
With podium finishes becoming the norm over the past couple of years, Ning has learned to keep these achievements in perspective. “Frequently being on the podium might not be a good thing (in terms of becoming complacent). I hope to continue maturing and growing,” Ning said.