Winning it on the home stretch

"I am very happy to win this gold medal at home. I trained on this ice rink when I was young, and I also won my first World Cup medal here, so this place holds special meaning for me. I am very happy to give back to the people of my hometown with a gold medal," Gao said.

Ning, a debutant at the Asian Winter Games and one of the Chinese delegation's flagbearers at Friday's opening ceremony, emerged victorious in the men's 1,500m with a time of one minute and 45.85 seconds, followed by two Japanese skaters Kazuya Yamada and Ryota Kojima who finished 1.70 and 2.62 seconds behind, respectively.

For Ning, one of his goals in this competition was to break the venue record.

"I grew up on this ice rink, and the 1,500m is my main event. The current venue record here was set by Dutch speed skater Sven Kramer, and the result is displayed at the entrance of the venue. He is certainly a respected athlete, but I hope to see a Chinese name on this venue's 1,500m record," he explained.

And he made it happen. Not only did he break the venue record, but his time of 1:45.85 also set a new Asian record.

Ning, who was born in Mudanjiang, a prefecture-level city in Heilongjiang's southeast, developed his love for speed skating when he was 10 years old, after a teacher at his primary school poured an ice rink for the children.

Ning, 25, mentioned that Gao is his role model.

"This title is a small dream come true for me, but I have a bigger one," said Ning, who finished fifth at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.

"I feel I am more mature now, and I hope to make a greater breakthrough at Milano-Cortina 2026."

"The continental sports gala is an important testing ground ahead of the Winter Olympics. I hope the entire team can find their form during the Winter Asiad and deliver even better results in Milan," Gao added.

Contact the writer at xingwen@chinadaily.com.cn