Medals update: People’s Republic of China wins gold in Beijing 2022 short track speed skating mixed team relay

The quartet of Qu Chunyu, Fan Kexin, Wu Dajing and Ren Ziwei opened the People’s Republic of China’s medal tally in a dramatic short track speed skating mixed relay final. Canada, Italy, Hungary and China contested the final, where each team consisted of two women and two men.

The pre-race favourites China lived up to expectations taking the lead with 12 laps to go, which they held to snatch the victory in a time of 2:37.348. Chinese anchor Wu edged Italian Pietro Sighel in a final sprint to the line with Hungary winning the bronze medal.

The race took a dramatic turn when Hungary and Canada crashed with six laps to go leaving Italy and China to battle it out for the gold medal. Canada was disqualified after the panel of judges ruled they caused the crash, which handed Hungary the bronze.

Italy's silver took Arianna Fontana's haul to a record nine medals making her the most decorated short track skater in Olympic history.

"It's pretty great. It's awesome, actually. I'm 31, (in) my fifth Olympics, first day of (competition), to have a medal in an event that is new is something incredible," Fontana said.

A frantic chase

In a frantic dash over the final lap, Italy’s Sighel gained on Wu with every shuffle towards the line. Wu kept his cool, pipping the Italian in a photo finish with 0.016 seconds, separating the champions from the runners-up.

The victory was Wu’s second Olympic gold medal adding to the title he won four years ago in PyeongChang 2018 in the men’s 500m event.

“It was a huge relief. I have experienced too much in the past four years. Now we finally realised our dream on the first day (at Beijing 2022)," Wu said.

While Wu and his teammates celebrated, there was a painful delay with the official results as the referee reviewed the race. The crash between Canada and Hungary was under the spotlight, determining the winner of the remaining medal. The ruling was against Canada for pushing a Hungarian athlete and causing the crash.

China nearly missed out on the spot in the final after they initially finished third in their semi-final before a review changed their fate. The second-placed United States was penalised for an infringement that promoted China into the final.

Fan finally realised her dream of winning an Olympic gold medal after her appearances in Sochi 2014 and PyeongChang 2018 ended in heartbreak. 

Although she won the silver in the 1,000m in 2014, she missed out on silverware in the 500m despite going into the showpiece as the gold-medal favourite. 

“I’ve been waiting for this gold medal for 12 years. I’ve waited for it for so long. I will always believe in the team,” Fan said.

“From the day I entered the national team, I have always believed in my teammates. Even until this morning, we had been working on the strategy, still training, still studying how to be better.”