China has collected four speed skating gold medals so far at the Harbin Asian Winter Games, while the rest three on offer went to South Korea.
HARBIN, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- Wu Yu won the gold medal as Chinese speed skaters swept men's 5,000m podium at the Harbin 2025 Asian Winter Games (AWG) here on Sunday.
The men's 5,000m victory added to the three gold medals won by Chinese skaters in the Speed Skating Oval of the Heilongjiang Ice Training Center on Saturday, further consolidating China's leading position on the medal tally of the sport after two competition days.
The rest of the three gold medals so far on offer were all taken by South Korean skaters, with Kim Min-sun bagging two from women's 500m and team sprint on Sunday.
In the men's 5,000m competition, Liu Hanbin, in the fourth pair, was the fastest in six minutes and 29.93 seconds before Wu and Muhamaiti Hanahati stepped on ice in the final pairing.
Wu, despite a comparatively slow start, skated to 6:27.82 to win the gold medal, and Hanahati was third in 6:31.54.
"We thought of a podium sweep, but I didn't expect myself to be on top of it because I wasn't at my best before the Games," Wu revealed. "This marks a breakthrough for Chinese speed skating in the long distance, but it's just a beginning. We hope to achieve more at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics."
In women's 500m, Kim and Lee Na-hyun had a 1-2 finish for South Korea in 38.24 seconds and 38.33 seconds, respectively, a switch of positions from the women's 100m event on Saturday. China's Tian Ruining completed the podium in 38.57.
"I'm grateful and happy, because 500m is my main distance. I'm so happy that I can get a gold medal today. I have two more race now," said Kim, silver medalist from the 100m race.
It didn't take long for the 25-year-old to bag another gold medal under her belt as South Korea beat China by 0.23 seconds in women's team sprint, and she was "even happier."
"I'm so grateful because it's a team event. The three of us practiced a lot, so we really wanted to get a medal. But we knew China is really strong, and it would be hard to get a gold, but being able to win it eventually makes me even happier," Kim noted.
The speed skating competitions will continue on Monday with the men's 500m, women's 3,000m, and men's team sprint events. ■
