Red-hot rivals, ice-cold ambition

"The event I'm most excited about is actually the team event. My biggest ambitions are winning gold medals in the men's 5,000m relay and mixed 2,000m relay.

"For the past year, the athletes have worked hard through sweat and tears in preparation for these events. The men's 5,000m relay is the last event in short-track speed skating, so that's the one I'm most focused on," Lin said.

Aiming to spoil the party of the East Asian powers will be emerging short-track contender Kazakhstan, a team that boasts world championships silver medalist Denis Nikisha in the men's 500m alongside a group of talented teen skaters.

The Kazakh short-track team had five days of training at the Heilongjiang Ice Training Center before the prelims kicked off, and is confident that the team's solid pre-Games camp will deliver breakthrough results, said head coach Petr Gamidov.

"The rink is very good, and the ice is of high quality and fast. I think the athletes will achieve good results," he told Xinhua. "Our goals are, of course, medals, and we hope the athletes will have an intense and fair competition," Gamidov added.

Also setting golden ambitions at the Heilongjiang Ice Training Center is the Japanese figure skating team, widely considered a hot favorite for both the men's and women's events in the most aesthetic ice sport, which begins its three-day program on Feb 11 at the same arena, following the completion of the short-track racing events.

Japan's mighty figure skating squad stars three-time women's world champion Kaori Sakamoto and two-time men's Olympic silver medalist Yuma Kagiyama.

sunxiaochen@chinadaily.com.cn