A very quick learner

With just days to go before the opening of the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Games, 17-year-old sprinter Chen Yujie has already been getting into the Olympic spirit — as one of the torchbearers.

Last November, she ran in the torch relay near Patras, Greece. For someone whose day-to-day life is spent making every fraction of a second count, it may have been the slowest 200 meters she's ever run."Everyday competitions are about speed and efficiency; the torch relay is more about passing on a spirit," Chen reflected.

Already a rising star in Chinese sprinting, Chen made headlines at last year's National Games, held in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, where she claimed gold in both the women's 100m and 200m, becoming the youngest athlete in the 66-year history of the quadrennial event to win both sprint titles.

Her experience as a torchbearer brought her a step closer to the Olympics, and she dreams of running at the 2028 Los Angeles Games and experiencing the Olympic atmosphere firsthand.

Despite her newfound fame, Chen remains grounded. She focuses on living well each day, refusing to be weighed down by the pressure of future expectations.

"Once the season starts, competitions come thick and fast. Most of the pressure is in your own mind — you imagine problems, thinking: 'what if I can't do it?'Sometimes I lie awake before a race, but I try to approach it with a lighter mindset," Chen said.

Her nerves are shared by classmates and teachers at Ningbo Xiaoshi High School.

When she won the 200m at the National Games, her classroom erupted with applause and cheers. To them, the "flying champion" is also the cheerful girl who shares snacks and funny stories.

"When the starting gun fires, the whole classroom goes silent. Everyone watches the screen intensely. Once she crosses the finish line, we can't help but cheer. The excitement is indescribable," recalled her teacher, Yao Peijie. "She's our pride."

Because Chen frequently travels for competitions, her school created a personalized tutoring program, with one-on-one sessions to keep her up to date.

She also has an English-speaking tutor who helps her maintain her language skills, even when she is competing internationally.

Even with this support, stepping onto the track at the National Games brought a very different kind of challenge.

During the Games, she missed the classroom atmosphere, but her teachers follow her every race, cheering from afar. Though she may not see her teachers from the track, she always receives their heartfelt congratulations immediately after each race.

Chen's daily schedule is packed: morning classes, afternoon training at the sports school, before returning in the evening for self-study. During training camps, her routine becomes more structured: rest in the morning, training in the afternoon and evenings spent on her phone, tablet or making handicrafts.

On the track, Chen is also continually learning — refining her technique. While mastering a single movement is easy, linking many into a seamless whole is a challenge of coordination.

"For me, even if I get a movement right now, and it seems stable after a few races, months without major competitions or intense training can make it unstable again. I have to go over it repeatedly to find the right feel," she explained.

Sometimes, even familiar movements feel elusive, making training a particularly trying process. Her ability to push through these challenges, though, is rooted in the support she received at home.

Chen's parents, both athletes, never pressured her into sports, but supported her interests. She explored dancing, painting, tennis and taekwondo, before being discovered by an athletics coach from an elementary school.

"At first, my parents weren't particularly keen for me to do sports. As athletes themselves, they know how tough and challenging this path is. They probably didn't want me to go through the same hardships," she said.

Her talent, though, quickly became evident.

In June 2024, at the National Championships in Rizhao, Shandong province, she won her first national title, defeating Olympic athletes Liang Xiaojing and Ge Manqi in the 100m final — making her a potent symbol of China's new, rising generation of track stars.

By last September, she became the youngest female athlete to participate in the 2025 Tokyo World Athletics Championships, competing in the women's 200m heats and the 4x100m relay.

At the 15th National Games, Chen shone. She broke the women's U20 Asian record in the 100m with a personal best of 11.10 seconds on her way to winning gold.

Two days later, overcoming fatigue, she won the 200m in 23.02 seconds — breaking a National Games record set in 2001.

She recalls the most difficult moment: after the 100m final, she returned to her hotel at around 3 am following the award ceremony and drug testing, having to wake at 6 am for the 200m semifinals.

With just a few hours of sleep, she had to perform in an explosive sprint event.

"It felt like I had only had a nap; my body wasn't fully recovered, but I still tried to adjust," she recalled.

Tried — and succeeded.

Chen also represented Zhejiang province in the women's 4x100m relay, earning bronze, and the mixed 4x100m relay, finishing fourth.

For her first National Games, sustaining performance throughout a week of high-intensity races while winning two golds and one bronze was remarkable. Her poise earned her the affectionate nickname "Little Big Sister".

On the track, Chen's focus is absolute. In a 200m race, after leaving the curve for the straight, competitors are running neck and neck, and the final 100m tests speed and endurance. Early on in a race, she may glance at her rivals, but in the final stretch, her eyes are fixed only on the finish line.

In that vein, looking squarely ahead, Chen says that she wants to represent China on both a continental and a global stage.

"I have a long future ahead of me, and it feels like every direction is one in which I can run," she said."I haven't set limits for myself — I just keep running forward, striving to go as far as possible."

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