by sportswriters Xiao Yazhuo and He Leijing
LIVIGNO, Italy, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- Heavy snowfall and strong winds disrupted competition at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics in Livigno for days, forcing schedule changes and leaving several events in limbo.
For the Chinese delegation, the wait went beyond the weather. Since the opening ceremony on February 6, China went 11 competition days without a gold medal.
That drought ended on Wednesday. Under clearing skies at the Alpine venue, China won two gold medals in 80 minutes, first through Su Yiming in the men's snowboard slopestyle, then through Xu Mengtao in the women's freestyle skiing aerials, turning the tone of its campaign in a single afternoon.
STORM GONE, GOLDS ARRIVE
For days in Livigno, blizzard conditions compressed training sessions, brought forward some qualification rounds and raised the possibility that results might be decided by earlier standings if conditions worsened.
For Su, the bigger turbulence had been internal.
He entered the Games as one of the leading contenders in snowboard big air. The defending champion won back-to-back World Cup titles in Chongli and Beijing this season and led the overall standings.
Yet in the Olympic final on February 7, minor hand touches on his second and third runs cost him crucial points, and he had to settle for bronze.
Slopestyle presented a different challenge.
Qualification adjustments left Su seeded eighth, putting him into an early start position in the final. On a course where rhythm from rails to jumps shapes scoring stability, the margin for error was razor-thin.
When competition resumed, he went with a high-difficulty approach, posting 82.41 points on his opening run. He took the lead and never gave it back.
If Su's win broke the ice, Xu's performance locked in the momentum.
With further weather disruption, the qualification and final rounds in the women's aerials were staged on the same day, intensifying both physical and psychological pressure.
In the super final, the 35-year-old delivered her back full-full-full with precision. The scoreboard read 112.90, securing another gold for China.
After days defined by wind and waiting, clarity finally arrived, in both the sky and the results.
GOLDS ACROSS GENERATIONS
The two gold medals were separated by 80 minutes. The journeys behind them were separated by 14 years: Su was born in 2004, Xu in 1990.
When Su won his first Olympic title in Beijing, he was 17, a teenager who had secured Olympic qualification at the last minute and then surged to global stardom overnight. He became China's first Olympic snowboard champion and, for a generation of young winter sports fans, a new icon.
But early success came with an unexpected aftershock.
"After Beijing, I lost a lot of motivation," Su admitted. The rapid rise, the attention, the physical toll, all arrived at once. Injuries followed. Confidence fluctuated.
"When your mind is ready, sometimes your body is not," he said. "And when your body feels better, you may not fully believe in yourself yet."
He stepped back. Reset. Returned.
"The journey was quite hard," he recalled.
Reclaiming an Olympic quota required starting over on the World Cup circuit, earning points event by event. Milan-Cortina was not simply another Olympic appearance. It was proof of reconstruction.
Xu's Olympic road began long before Su started his sports career.
At the 2010 Vancouver Games, a young Xu finished sixth in her Olympic debut. Soon after, she claimed consecutive World Cup overall titles and rose to the top of women's aerials.
At Sochi 2014, she won silver, a result that only sharpened expectations. Then came heartbreak. Two years before the 2018 PyeongChang Games, Xu crashed heavily at China's National Winter Games, tearing the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in her left knee.
After surgery and a grueling recovery, she returned to the Olympic stage, only to falter again on her second final jump, finishing ninth at PyeongChang 2018.
Redemption arrived at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. After capturing gold, she broke down in tears. Many believed that was the perfect ending. But her story continued.
At 35, Xu returned for her fifth Olympic Games, and climbed once more.
For Su, Xu's persistence carries particular weight. Speaking after his own victory, he described Xu as "a true legend," saying that after Beijing "everyone thought that was the peak of her career."
"But she kept going," Su said. "That courage and that spirit - I really respect it and learn from it."
The admiration runs both ways. Before Xu's final, she learned that Su had delivered China's first gold of the Games. Within 80 minutes, the teenager-turned-icon and the five-time Olympian were linked by a shared summit.
Different generations. Same ascent.
BEHIND THE GOLDS
The two gold medals shifted momentum for the Chinese delegation at the Games. But they were not isolated sparks. Across different disciplines, China's results reflected a widening competitive base.
In snowboard big air and slopestyle, Su was no longer competing alone. At Beijing 2022, he was China's sole qualifier in those events. This time, he was joined by Yang Wenlong and Ge Chunyu, a sign the program has grown beyond a single standout.
"With Su making history in Beijing, we found that Chinese snowboarders could win medals at the Olympics," said Olympic debutant Ge. "He was the inspiration for millions of young followers like me."
In snowboard cross, Olympic berths were earned through the World Cup ranking system rather than host privileges. In women's freestyle skiing slopestyle and big air, China achieved a full quota for the first time, with multiple athletes advancing into finals.
In speed skating, the men's team pursuit squad executed a calculated strategy to secure bronze, China's best Olympic result in the event. In luge, the team achieved full overseas Olympic participation for the first time and delivered multiple historic best finishes, including seventh in the relay and eighth in the newly added women's doubles.
These were not headline-grabbing moments. They were structural indicators of a system gaining depth.
Behind them stands a broader system shaped during the Beijing 2022 Olympic cycle.
At China's National Winter Games in 2024, 17 provincial delegations participated for the first time, with southern regions such as Shanghai, Guangdong and Zhejiang winning medals.
What was once largely concentrated in the traditional winter strongholds of the northeastern provinces has steadily expanded across a broader national map, with talent development programs now taking root in both northern and southern China.
At the Harbin Asian Winter Games last year, China topped both the gold and overall medal tables, with snow events surpassing ice once again.
The Milan-Cortina delegation itself, 126 athletes across seven sports and 91 events, marked China's largest overseas Winter Olympic participation.
Beyond elite competition, participation continues to expand. According to a 2024-2025 industry report, nearly 292 million Chinese people engaged in winter sports during the latest ice-and-snow season. Of the country's 79 indoor ski facilities, 55 are now located in southern provinces, regions once considered far removed from snow culture.
From grassroots programs to professional pipelines, from northern training bases to southern ski domes, the foundation of winter sports in China has widened. ■
