Double winner Li looks toward Vancouver Games

YABULI, Heilongjiang province: In the absence of Olympic gold medalist Han Xiaopeng, Li Ke emerged as the top men's aerial jumper here at the 11th Chinese National Winter Games.

Having led Changchun to victory in the men's team event on Friday, Li won his second gold medal on Monday, grabbing the individual free event title with a remarkable 9.911-point advantage over silver medalist Jia Zhongyang of Fushun.

Despite the excitement, the 24-year-old stayed cool in the wake of the biggest victories of his career.

"Of course I am happy for the victories, but I am not so satisfied with my performance," Li told reporters. "I made a little mistake in my first jump, I should have done better."

Li left Yabuli on Monday afternoon to take part in World Cup events in Canada, the US and Japan.

"I had my best-ever World Cup finish, a 6th, at Changchun last month. I will try my best in the upcoming events." Li said.

Born in Jiangsu province, also the hometown of Han Xiaopeng, Li began training for freestyle aerials in 1998.

Five years later, he became a national team member.

"Han is an Olympic champion, every other jumper on the national team is trying to catch up with him," Li said. "Our goal is to win the gold medal at the Vancouver Games. All the jumpers including me will strive toward that."

Li said he has to improve both his degree of difficulty and his consistency landing in order to have better results in international competitions.

"The degrees of difficulty of the jumps I performed this time were the same with what Han did at the Turin Winter Games, but I did not finish very well," Li said.

Li also admitted he needs to be stronger mentally.

"I had a big chance to win on Saturday, but I was worn down by the pressure," he said, referring to the men's compulsory event, in which Li fell on both jumps for a disappointing 7th-place finish.

"Han's absence brought me pressure as well as opportunity."

Ren Hongguo, vice-president of the Chinese Ski Association, was confident in Li's future.

"Li is a very talented jumper with the Chinese national team," Ren said. "With his help, the Chinese team will have a bigger chance to win the gold medal at the next Winter Olympic Games."

Xinhua

(China Daily 01/23/2008 page23)