Zhao Jiawen competes during the individual Gundersen normal hill/10km ski jumping competition round on February 9, 2022. Photo: VCG

When Zhao Jiawen, the last torchbearer at the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, stood on the starting point of the Olympic Nordic combined on Wednesday, it has been a triumph for Team China as China had never competed in the event at the Olympics before.

The Chinese national team of the Olympic Nordic combined was developed for more than three years and 21-year-old Zhao made the historic breakthrough for the young team, successfully qualifying for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics by finishing 22nd at the Continental Cup in Nizhny Tagil, Russia in November 2021.

Zhao's ski jumping competition in the Nordic combined started on Wednesday afternoon. He was the ninth to enter the arena.

Zhao jumped 81 meters, ranking 42nd with 59 points.

After a three-hour rest, Zhao continued to compete in the cross-country skiing on Wednesday evening. He finished the race in 33 minutes and 29.8 seconds and ranked 43rd among all 44 contestants.

Although Zhao did not get good scores on the two ­competitions, netizens encouraged him.   

"This is a breakthrough for China's winter sports event, and Zhao Jiawen is just 21 years old. He and the team have unlimited possibilities," a Sina Weibo user said.

Zhao started with cross-­country skiing in 2015, but in 2016 his coach became the national Nordic combined coach, and persuaded him to try the sport. 

"I really like the feeling of flying. To move in the air, to feel the different currents, it's pure excitement. Those moments in the sky are the most precious to me," he said in July 2020.

Nordic combined has been contested at the Winter ­Olympics since the first Winter Games in 1924. It is the only Winter Games sport with no female event. As 99 different men have won an Olympic medal in Nordic combined, the first new Nordic combined medalist at Beijing 2022 will be No.100.