Duo wins historic gold in Paralympic curling event

When China's wheelchair curling team paired Yang Jinqiao, a brash rookie in his early 20s, with Wang Meng, a two-time Paralympic champion exuding serenity, to form a mixed doubles team in 2023, they bet that their contrasting personalities would create a perfect combination.

"Yang is young, daring to fight and push, and also very smart. Wang is super stable, unshakable like a mountain, and has a big heart. We believe they could complement each other as game partners and that they have great potential," said coach Ru Xia.

That bet paid off in gold at the ongoing Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games, as the Chinese duo defeated South Korea in a thrilling final on Wednesday to claim the inaugural mixed doubles title.

Leading 7-3 after six ends, Wang and Yang were pushed into an extra end after South Korea scored three points in the seventh and stole one in the eighth. In the decisive end, they held their nerve and sealed the match 9-7 to secure the historic gold.

"The first half went well, but after they caught up in the second half, I did feel a bit nervous, right up until the final moment," said Wang, tears of joy welling in her eyes. "Still, we managed to adjust quickly under pressure and stay focused on the game."

Yang, who tossed his broom in the air in excitement at the championship moment, said that despite leading for most of the match, he did not dare contemplate the gold medal until the very last stone.

"Only now can I actually feel it hanging around my neck," he said. "It feels heavy. I feel that the efforts of these four years have not been in vain."

By match statistics alone, the pair appeared to have cruised to the Paralympic final. They lost only once — to the United States — during the eight-team round robin and were untroubled in an 8-3 semifinal victory over Latvia.

But the phrase repeated by all three to describe their journey to Paralympic glory was the same: It was so, so hard.

"The mixed doubles format newly added to this Paralympics is distinctly different from the classic team competition in terms of tactics, and its demand for teamwork is even more complicated," said Ru.

"There was no roadmap in training, and we had to feel our way forward step by step," she added. "Every step of that journey was difficult."

Wheelchair curling has no sweeping. Athletes instead use a stick to deliver the stone while a teammate or volunteer holds them steady.

In mixed doubles, each athlete plays five stones per end, instead of eight in the team event. With fewer stones, the format demands greater accuracy, faster decision-making and deeper mutual understanding.

"There is no secret to building a precise shot," Ru said. "It's just pushing one stone after another, training hard and relentlessly."

Wang said that before delivering a stone, she exhausts her brain working out every detail — how heavy the throw should be and which line it should take — and then focuses intently on technique at the moment of release.

"After that, we simply wait and maybe shout or yell to release pressure," she said. "The most important thing is to give it everything to ensure we deliver the best possible stone within our capability."

A major setback for the team came at last year's world championships, where they finished 10th.

"At our lowest points, we watched the games and discussed them over and over again to figure out what we needed to fix and whether it was our strategies or our mentalities," Wang said.

Wang, 37, won two Paralympic gold medals in the team discipline at Pyeongchang 2018 and Beijing 2022. The year she claimed her first gold was the same year Yang began training in wheelchair curling.

Both Wang and Ru said they were surprised by Yang's composed demeanor throughout the games.

"What made me happiest this time was that they didn't rush on the ice anymore," said Ru.

"There were still occasional shots where they got a bit impatient, but overall they stayed calm and patiently fought back stone by stone, even when we trailed by a big margin or the opponent kept stealing points," she said.

Wang said she is deeply proud of Yang's calm, composed performance on the ice.

"He remained levelheaded throughout the match. Familiar with him personally off the ice, I know this is not his natural personality, so I truly appreciate the improvements and changes he has made," she said.

Yang dabbles in drumming and singing in his leisure time and is looking forward to learning the piano in the future. In interviews, he also likes to banter with Wang with a mischievous smile.

To shed that side of himself on the ice, Yang said his trick is to visualize himself as a piece of granite curling stone on the rink — calm and grounded.

"I kept telling myself that I can't panic or get restless, and even worse, affect my partner," he said. "Wang was, if anything, perfect throughout the games."

"All the efforts over the last four years were worthwhile," he added. "The gold is a reward for all our hard work."

wangxiaoyu@chinadaily.com.cn