CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Four years after China's sliding teams benefited from home-track familiarity at Beijing 2022, the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics will provide a sterner test of how far the nation's bobsleigh, skeleton and luge programs have truly progressed on European ice.
The Beijing Games witnessed a breakthrough moment as Yan Wengang claimed bronze in the men's skeleton, delivering China's first Olympic podium finish in the discipline.
At Milan-Cortina, China has qualified five skeleton racers, including the maximum three men's entries, a distinction shared only with traditional powerhouse Germany.
While Germany remains the sport's dominant force, China's full allocation points to a shift from isolated success toward sustained competitiveness across an Olympic cycle.
Yin Zheng arrives in Cortina with venue-specific confidence after setting a track record of 56.79 seconds this season and finishing second overall in the World Cup standings.
On the women's side, Zhao Dan's World Cup victory at Yanqing marked a historic first for China, while Liang Yuxin, 18, represents the program's next generation.
Milan-Cortina 2026 will also mark the Olympic debut of the mixed team skeleton event. Zhao and Yin captured gold at the World Cup in St. Moritz earlier this season, showing China's upward momentum in the discipline.
Germany remains the benchmark, having secured full quotas and swept the individual skeleton gold medals at Beijing 2022. Britain's Matt Weston has also emerged as a leading contender this season, collecting five golds and two silvers across six World Cup races, underlining the depth China must overcome to contend for podium places.
After making its Olympic debut at PyeongChang 2018, China's bobsleigh team had full participation across all four events at Beijing 2022. That comprehensive presence will continue at Milan-Cortina, where China has secured two quotas in each event through consistent World Cup performances.
Several Chinese bobsledders, including Huai Mingming, Wang Xuan and Sun Kaizhi, bring their Olympic experience into the new cycle. At the 2023-24 World Cup Yanqing stop, Sun and his teammates claimed the four-man bronze, delivering China's first World Cup podium finish in the event.
In luge, China again secured full quotas during the Milan-Cortina cycle, repeating its first full participation at Beijing 2022. Progress has been evident across singles, doubles and team relay events, as China finished fifth in the team relay at the 2024 World Championships.
All sliding competitions at Milan-Cortina 2026 will take place at the Cortina Sliding Center, rebuilt on the original site used for the 1956 Winter Olympics.
Luge competitions will kick off on February 7, followed by skeleton from February 12, while bobsleigh competitions begin on February 15. ■
