Photo: Li Hao/GT

Team China won their first gold medal at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games on Saturday in the mixed team relay short-track speed skating in a dramatic finale.

Chinese skaters advanced to the semifinal with ease, and set a new Olympic record of two minutes, 37.535 seconds in the quarterfinal, which was beaten by the Netherlands in the following quarterfinal.

The hosts finished third in the semifinal, but the Russian Olympic Committee and the US teams were disqualified in the end for fouls after the referee checked the ­review, thus sending Team China into the final.

The Chinese skaters didn't start well in the final, but gradually skated to the front and Wu Dajing crossed the finish line first in the end.

Team China finished the 2,000-meter race in two minutes and 37.348 seconds. Italy took silver at 2:37.364, while Hungarians rounded out the podium in third.

Chinese skater Wu won the only gold medal for Team China four years ago at the Pyeongchang Winter Games in the men's 500 meters.

Besides the mixed team relay, the 27-year-old will also compete in the men's 5,000-meter relay and men's 1,000 meters. He had made it to the quarterfinals of the men's 1,000 meters along with teammates Ren Ziwei and Li Wenlong before the mixed team relay competition on Saturday.

Mixed team relay short-track speed skating was first included in the Winter Olympics at Beijing 2022.

Chinese skaters have been among the dominant forces in short-track speed skating, and most of China's gold medals in the Winter Olympic Games have come from the sport. Before Beijing 2022, 10 of the country's 13 Winter Olympic Games gold medals were won by their short-track speed ­skaters.