Golden Gu spearheads China's charge

The 26-year-old Cai now has a record 12 career Cup victories to go with her two world championship wins (2015 and 2017). Adding an Olympic medal to her collection is now what matters most to her.

"As long as I keep improving, I have confidence that I can deliver my best performance in 2022 at home," Cai said in December after finishing runner-up to Liu at the World Cup's Chongli meet.

As China's only snowboarding Olympic medalist, Liu, who won halfpipe silver behind US star Chloe Kim at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games in South Korea, proved she remains a force to be reckoned with this season following a year-long break from the sport. Liu produced podium finishes at all five legs of the World Cup this season.

Adding to the celebrations on the snow, Chinese skaters also did the country proud by beating arch-rival South Korea to win the 2,000m mixed relay at the International Skating Union's short-track speed skating World Cup meet in the Dutch city of Dordrecht on Saturday.

Led by Wu Dajing, the men's 500m winner at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, and five-time women's 500m world champion Fan Kexin, China surged into the lead midway through the race before fending off the strong Korean challenge for gold in the high-profile team event at the six-leg Cup circuit's final meet.

The gold-medal performances were all the more welcome considering they were achieved on a weekend when the first official test event for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics was supposed to take place. The outbreak of the coronavirus had forced the cancelation of that competition, an alpine skiing World Cup meet in northwest Beijing's Yanqing district.