Barely a silver lining

Even the nation's biggest medal haul at an overseas Winter Games wasn't enough to mitigate Team China's huge disappointment on the ice in Milan.

As China's most decorated winter sports program on the Olympic stage, the country's short-track speed skating team ended up as the national delegation's damp squib, with its barren campaign at Milano-Cortina 2026 ringing alarm bells for the future.

As the curtain fell on all the short-track action on Saturday, the Chinese squad's meager return of just one silver in Milan, won by Sun Long in the men's 1,000m on Feb 12, marked its worst-ever result since the 1998 edition of the Games, when the Chinese program opened its Winter Olympic medal account with five silvers and one bronze.

Since retired legend Yang Yang delivered China's first-ever Winter Olympic gold medal in any sport with victory in the women's 500m in 2002, the short-track contingent, once dubbed the "Ice Daggers" by fans, hadn't missed out on a gold medal across six straight Games until the current team, coached by Zhang Jing, snapped that proud, 24-year streak in Italy.

Setting aside some unexpected, almost unavoidable errors, due to the not-so-ideal, but fair-to-all, ice conditions at the Olympic rink, Team China has no excuse for its performance flop at the Milano Ice Skating Arena, where its first major blow came on Feb 10, when Sun's late stumble in the 2,000m mixed relay final cost the quartet the chance to retain its title.

A similar slip by two-time Olympic champion Liu Shaoang, partially due to a lack of grip on the ice, on his dash to the finish in the men's 5,000m relay semifinals denied the squad a berth in the medal-deciding final of another team event that it was expected to win.

Sun's 1,000m runner-up finish on Feb 12, secured by a strong, come-from-behind effort, delivered individual redemption for his final-lap error in the mixed relay, but proved nowhere near enough to cast off the gloom overshadowing the rest of the men's team's performances.

"You need to learn from the setbacks and come back stronger, so that you can approach the following races as competitively and confidently as you can," the 25-year-old Sun said of the lessons he had learned at his second Olympics.

"I made a mistake in the mixed relay when I got impatient and lost control. So I told myself to stay as calm as possible, and it worked out today," said Sun, after winning his silver medal.

Liu, who was born in Budapest to a Chinese father and Hungarian mother, has opted to remain positive after capping off his third Olympics, and the first representing China, empty-handed.

"It is meant to be a bumpy road with a lot of ups and downs," said the 27-year-old, who switched nationality in 2023 to represent China internationally after his longtime Team Hungary mentor, Zhang, returned to coach her native country's national squad.

"We were a bit unlucky during the Games here, but this is short-track speed skating where anything can happen. We might have suffered a drop in results this time, but I do believe we will bounce back in the future," said Liu, who helped the Hungarian men's team win the 5,000m relay at Pyeongchang 2018 before taking the 500m individual gold at Beijing 2022.

The women's team fared even worse, failing to win any medals for the first time in 34 years since short-track's Olympic debut in 1992.

Veteran sprinter Fan Kexin's Olympic farewell at her fourth Games was tinged with regret, reaching only Final B in the 500m, while teenage skater Yang Jingru's fourth-place finish in the 1,500m was Team China's best result across any of the women's events.

The short-track team's Milan slump drew concerns from former athletes and pundits, who are calling for more effort in developing young homegrown talent, better analysis of international opponents and more pragmatic tactics at major events.

"The results are obviously disappointing, and there should be a lot to reflect on," said Ren Ziwei, men's 1,000m gold medalist in 2022 who missed out on Milano-Cortina 2026 due to injury. "We really have to start sending more youngsters to be tested on the World Tour."

Four-time Olympic gold medalist, Wang Meng, who competed at Turin 2006 and Vancouver 2010, suggested that Team China should embrace a more open approach, sending its skaters to train in Europe with powerhouses such as the Netherlands.

This year, China sent its largest-ever delegation to an overseas Winter Olympics, fielding 126 athletes in 91 events across 15 disciplines. The team finished with five golds, four silvers and six bronze medals, marking its best result at an overseas Winter Games and equaling its overall medal count from Beijing 2022.

The ice in Milan did yield one highlight of China's campaign. Ning Zhongyan clinched gold in the men's 1,500m speed skating, breaking the century-long dominance of European and North American skaters in the event.

"Ning has fought extremely hard," said Tong Lixin, deputy head of the Chinese delegation. "He kept his focus and took the lead in a sport long dominated by Western athletes, helping China break new ground in an event where we previously had little chance to compete for medals."

Tong said China's medal haul of 15 consolidated the medal-winning structure established at Beijing 2022 and will sustain balanced development across ice and snow disciplines, noting that the pool of China's winter sports talent continues to deepen.