World's best looking to go the distance in Beijing

With China's best ready to lead the charge on home ice, and some cross-discipline pioneers raring to test their craft, the speed skating World Cup's Beijing leg is guaranteed to deliver red-hot action on one of the world's coolest tracks.

The sleek Olympic oval is polished anew, the tickets are sold out, while the track — one of the world's fastest — has been conditioned to meet the need for speed. Everything is all set for a thrilling weekend of racing at Beijing's National Speed Skating Oval, as the world's premier skaters line up for the 2024-25 season's second World Cup event, which is set to kick off on Friday.

The three-day Beijing leg, following last week's opener in Japan, has plenty of exciting storylines to be written: The host squad's medal ambitions, the current leaders' attempt to extend their supremacy and some accomplished short-track stars' bold switch to the long track among the highlights that will make the event an intriguing treat for fans in the Chinese capital.

Leading the host's 34-strong roster are reigning men's 500m Olympic champion Gao Tingyu, world champion Ning Zhongyan and women's middle-distance specialist Han Mei, who have all opened the season with impressive form at the Japan event in Nagano.

Standing in the way of China's best on the men's side will be the United States' red-hot speedster Jordan Stolz, who, at just 20, has emerged as a rarely-seen gold contender for all three short and middle distances at the 2026 Winter Olympics after sweeping the 500m, 1,000m and 1,500m titles in Nagano.

Yet, the enthusiastic support from the home crowd, an advantage that pushed Gao to win the country's first men's Olympic gold in the sport at Beijing 2022, is expected to serve up Chinese skaters a boost to push for faster results on their home rink.

Ning, the No 1-ranked skater in both 1,000m and 1,500m in the overall Cup standings last season, is fired up following a sub-par bronze finish in the 1,500m last week in Japan. He is raring to go for gold in both his strength distances, despite the momentum that Stolz is enjoying.

In the sprint race, Japan's Tatsuya Shinhama is in sizzling form, with two medals from his home race making him Stolz's main rival in Beijing. Meanwhile, home favorite Gao is determined to prove he's returned strong from a series of injuries suffered early last season, switching into high gear again for a podium finish at the Olympic oval.

In both the women's middle distance events, Han will challenge the mighty Miho Takagi, Japan's reigning world and Olympic champion in the 1,000m, with the Beijing crowd rallying behind her.

"I'm super excited to skate in Beijing," Han said after finishing second in the 1,500m behind Takagi in Nagano. "That's where I won my first individual World Cup medal last year."

Han was referring to her 1,500m silver at the Beijing Oval last season, when Takagi won the gold.

The 1,000m is a different story. Takagi also won that distance last year in Beijing, and, again, last week in Nagano, but emerging as her main challenger is Jutta Leerdam of the Netherlands who finished third in Beijing last season and second in Nagano last week.

Although not yet serious medal contenders among the strong women's field, two short-track Olympic champion skaters — Italian veteran Arianna Fontana and Dutch sensation Suzanne Schulting — have laced up for the Beijing long-track race in their ambitious pursuit of dual honors leading up to the 2026 Milan-Cortina Games.

Fontana, who's already racked up 11 short-track Olympic medals, including two golds — the most among athletes at five editions — is inspired by the prospect of finishing on the podiums of both disciplines at her home Games in less than two years, potentially capping a storied career like no one else could.

The sporting double first crossed her mind more than five years ago, when she was working on the Milan-Cortina Winter Games bid.

"I started thinking about a lot of things, like how many amazing things will happen at that Games," the 34-year-old said. "My first Olympic Games was in 2006 in Torino. So, to be there again in Italy, 20 years later, and to do something amazing, not just for me, but for everyone who's been supporting me and following me, I started thinking what I could do, how to explore my limits."

"But, then, right after Beijing 2022, I sat down with my federation and the Italian Olympic Committee, and I was like, I want to do this. I'm committed. I want to try, and I'm going to give it a shot."

Fontana has signed up for a sole individual event — the 1,500m — and the team pursuit in Beijing, while her fierce competitor on the short track, three-time Olympic gold medalist Schulting, is expected to race in the 500m, 1,000m and the team pursuit in Beijing.

Schulting, 27, placed fourth in the 500m and 1,000m at the Dutch trials earlier this month to make the country's long-track roster for the Cup series, but she's not yet decided whether or not to fully focus on the long-distance challenge.

Previously, Schulting competed in long-track at the 2021 world championships, finishing eighth in the 1,000m and 14th in the 500m on her home track in Heerenveen.

sunxiaochen@chinadaily.com.cn