Chinese skiers set to conquer world stage

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A talent recruitment campaign was launched in the buildup to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics as part of China's ambitious program to involve 300 million people in ice and snow sports leading up to the event.

With wide ethnic diversity, China's cross-country skiers qualified in all 12 disciplines for the first time at the Olympics in Beijing. Uygur skier Dinigeer Yilamujiang, then 20, qualified in four events, the most on the women's side.

A native of Altay in Xinjiang she stole the show at Beijing 2022's opening ceremony by lighting the Olympic caldron together with Nordic combined athlete Zhao Jiawen.

The inclusion of skimo in the Olympics is opening the door wider for skiers who wouldn't have been discovered otherwise, said Li Wenmao, manager of China's ski mountaineering national program.

"We needed some special talents, especially kids who were born with a connection to nature and are not afraid of hard work. Tough conditions are part of the sport …The new program has opened up a window for them to be seen by us and by the world," Li said during a recent media symposium at the team's training base in Beijing.

"On top of their adaptation to altitude in alpine sports, kids we selected from Xizang and Xinjiang have grit and resilience within them. This is perhaps a bigger driver, in my opinion, for them to withstand all the tough challenges to succeed," said Li, who is a former mountain climber.