Full speed ahead for China's sliders

Former long jumper Geng Wenqiang spearheading host's skeleton medal hopes at Beijing 2022

It's fair to say Geng Wenqiang is a quick learner. It took the former long jumper just three years to make it to the Olympics in the hair-raising sport of skeleton; two years later he made onto a World Cup podium.

Now he will attempt to step it up another notch on the biggest stage of all-next month's Beijing Winter Olympics.

"My goal for Beijing 2022 is to demonstrate China's speed in the sport, to show international heavyweights that I fear no one and I have what it takes to pose them a major challenge," Geng said during an online interview last week.

Geng has good reason to be confident. In November, the 26-year-old won a historic gold medal at a World Cup meet in Innsbruck, Austria-his 20th appearance in the topflight series since being drafted in 2015 from track and field training to join China's newly established national program in skeleton.

Geng shared first place with Britain's Matt Weston and Germany's Christopher Grotheer, with all three clocking 1 min and 46.04 sec after two runs in Innsbruck. It was the first three-way tie at the top of the standings since the sport was added to the World Cup circuit in 1986.

From his first World Cup podium finish (bronze) at La Plagne, France in January 2020 to his heroics at Innsbruck, Geng attributes his rapid progress to teamwork and much-improved training facilities at home.

"I feel like I've had a faster starting push, better curve-riding skills and speed on the track. Those all come down to the support of the coaching team and technology, especially the training program at our home track in Yanqing last year during the pandemic," said Geng, who was selected as part of a cross-sport recruitment system implemented by China's central sports governing body to bolster the country's winter sports ambitions.

A country with absolutely no tradition in any sliding discipline before Beijing won the Olympic bid in 2015, China built one of the world's longest sliding tracks in the capital's northwestern suburb Yanqing. Since its completion in the fall of 2020, the National Sliding Center now regularly hosts the national program's training camps.

Constructed across the ridges of Xiaohaituo Mountain in Yanqing, the track features a first-of-its-kind 360-degree loop section, with a maximum gradient of 18 percent among 16 curves.

Dubbed the "Flying Snow Dragon" due to its zigzag design, the track features a vertical drop of 120 meters between the start gate and the finish area, and can seat up to 2,000 spectators.

Having an Olympic-standard track on their doorstep has allowed Geng and his peers to quickly close the gap to the world's fastest sliders, even though the Chinese team had to stay at home throughout the 2020-21 season amid the pandemic.

Since returning to international competition in October, Chinese skeleton racers have acquired 10 titles in the lower-level Europe and Intercontinental Cup series. Combined with Geng's World Cup win, the results bode well for a strong home campaign on the sliding track for Team China.

"Clearly we've made solid progress going into Beijing 2022," said team manager Sun Fan. "Yet, we are still looking for each and every tiny and critical margin of improvement from our remaining races in Europe leading up to the Beijing Games."

With the World Cup season continuing this month, Team China's racers are currently based in Sigulda, Latvia and Altenberg, Germany, guided by legendary Austrian coach Andreas Schmid.

After being assigned to China's skeleton program in June 2019, Schmid has quickly taken his young pupils, including Geng and multiple Europe Cup winners Yin Zheng and Li Yuxi, to a whole new level.

The passion and commitment of Chinese athletes, coupled with home-track advantage, indicate a promising future in skeleton for the Olympic host, according to Schmid, who worked with Britain's team over the course of five Olympics.

"Looking at the success of this season with many gold medals and podium places, it keeps me very confident," said Schmid, who won world championship gold in 1993.

"For me, (the goal for the Olympics) is always winning a medal. Of course, gold would be great, but I'm positive it will be successful."

Under his guidance at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games in South Korea, British racer Lizzy Yarnold retained her Olympic title, while Dom Parsons and Laura Deas won bronze medals in the men's and women's categories respectively.

Schmid reckons there is even more to come from Geng as he fine-tunes his preparations during the remaining World Cup legs.

"He needs to focus on the details, like improving his push times," said Schmid. "And he needs to bring a little bit more in the starting push. He knows that and that's one key element. But he is improving."