In-form China eyes short-track glory

China's short-track speed skaters will bid to defend their glory on home ice but can expect to face strong competition from archrivals from the Republic of Korea and Canada.

The host's reigning Olympic champion Wu Dajing remains the man to beat in the men's 500m. He appears to have peaked just at the right time after claiming gold at the final World Cup stop of the season in Dordrecht, the Netherlands.

"It's definitely important for me to walk into the Olympics knowing that I am still on top of the event," Wu, 27, said last month.

"Mentally, the World Cup win gave me a huge boost after what I went through at the first three meets. I feel that I am making progress rapidly and I have started to trust myself again, which is what matters most."

Wu's biggest rivals for gold in the short-distance race are Hungary's Sandor Liu Shaolin, who brought back the country's first Winter Olympic gold medal in short-track speed skating with victory in the 5,000m relay in Pyeongchang, and the ROK's Hwang Dae-heon, the silver medalist in the event four years ago.

Wu will strive for glory with teammate Ren Ziwei, who emerged as the squad's most outstanding individual this season after bagging three golds-1,000m and two in the 1,500m-in the World Cup circuit.

Choi Min-jeong of the ROK enters the Beijing Games as the top female short-track competitor, with the in-form Suzanne Schulting of the Netherlands sure to be right on her heels.

Choi peaked at her home Games in 2018 by winning gold in both the 1,500m and the 3,000m relay, but Schulting has dominated the women's scene over the past two years. In the 2020/21 season, Schulting powered her way to a quite extraordinary five world, four European and seven World Cup titles.

In the Olympic season, Schulting finished first twice, second once and third once in the 1,000m World Cup races and added two more wins in the 1,500m, an ominous triumph in the 500m-the one distance she has previously struggled with-as well as three 3,000m relay wins out of four.

The newly added 2,000m mixed team relay looks to be a wide open event, with China, the ROK, Canada and the United States all vying for gold on Saturday.

In other team events, China, ROK, Canada and Hungary are medal contenders in the men's 5,000m relay, while the ROK, the Netherlands, Canada and the home team are all in the mix in the women's 3,000m relay.