Gaining ground on the best of the rest

China aims to be world-class on ice and snow by 2022

China's effort to combine reform, science and foreign expertise to raise its overall international winter sports prowess to the highest echelon by 2022 is already paying dividends.

The Cardrona Mountain Resort on New Zealand's South Island, a favorite training site for skiers and snowboarders from Western countries, witnessed a major surprise on Wednesday when China's Gong Naiying finished second to Russia's Milena Bykova in the women's snowboard parallel giant slalom at the FIS junior freestyle ski and snowboard world championships.