Team China, Team South Korea and Team US pose with their medals after the Mixed 2000m Relay during the ISU World Cup Short Track at the Utah Olympic Oval on November 5, 2022 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Photo: VCG

China's short-track speed skating team, four athletes with an average age of 21 years old, have clinched a gold medal from the mixed team relay game of the ISU Short Track Speed Skating World Cup, held Saturday in the Salt Lake City. 

Finishing the game with a two minutes and 37.153 seconds record, the Chinese team formed up with members Li Wenlong, Zhang Chutong, Zhong Yuchen and Wang Xinran, beat a competitive South Korea team by 0.028 seconds. 

The gold, so far the first victory for China's short-track speed skating team in this season's World Cup, however, has not been achieved effortlessly with situations such as cold and fever symptoms of some athletes in the team which appeared before the competition leading to an adjustment to the roster despite their nucleic acid test results being negative. 

South Korean-born short-track speed skater Lim Hyo-jun, a core figure in the Chinese team, also withdrew from the tournament after encountering waist injury during the mixed relay semifinal of the event on October 29. 

The absence of athletes such as Lim in the Chinese team led skaters to perform under pressure from the beginning to the end. Liu Chenyu, leader of the national short-track speed skating team, told media that the Game was a great test for the physical strength and willpower the willpower of Chinese short-track speed skaters. 

"To be able to perform nicely under such pressure, especially in such major world competitions show the tenacity and grits of young Chinese short-track speed skaters. Such world-level competitions are conducive to their development too," Yao Yiwei, a sport commentator told the Global Times on Sunday. 

"The Salt Lake City race was a test of will, and the mixed teams relay gold medal boosted the confidence and winning spirit of the team," Liu said. 

The Chinese team compete in all six legs of the World Cup. Before the Salt Lake City gold, China also competed in the first stop of the event in Montreal, Canada, with only Zhang Chutong, advanced to the final of Group A.