Luge

Although the Olympic podium remains out of reach for China's luge team, the nation's budding young riders are already aiming for more breakthroughs after proving their potential at the Beijing Winter Olympics.

"China is a latecomer to luge, and compared with the traditional powerhouses such as Germany and Austria, we have been involved in the sport for a very short time," said Chinese luge team captain Fan Duoyao.

"These strong teams have years of experience and boast elite athletes and coaching systems. Team China should be focused on working toward such standards.

"The future is full of challenges and uncertainties for our young team, but we will become stronger and stronger. All my teammates just need to believe in themselves and do their best."

The four young Chinese lugers, Fan Duoyao, Huang Yebo, Peng Junyue, and Wang Peixuan, competed in all four disciplines of the sport at Beijing 2022 — doubles, team relay, and men's and women's singles. China's best result at the National Sliding Centre was a 12th-place finish.

"When we established the team in 2015, our athletes had zero background in the sport, and we have had limited time competing in Europe. And when we started to train, we could not start at the Olympic standard, as it was too advanced for us. We could only start from easier sections of the course and from there grew step by step," said Wang Zhonglin, team leader of the Chinese luge squad.

All four members of China's Beijing 2022 luge team were plucked from other sports. Captain Fan was a cross-country skier, doubles luger Huang Yebo was a sprinter, and women's luger Wang Peixuan was a javelin thrower.

"We've been through a lot from 2015 until today. We've overcome a lot of challenges, everyone's worked hard and we hope we can keep improving and take China's luge to the world," said Fan, who last November became the first Chinese male athlete to race in the Luge World Cup.

"Although we started later, we're catching up. We are not only fighting for ourselves, we represent the nation at the Olympics and we are fighting for all the people who helped and supported us," he added.

The 21-year-old Wang Peixuan is the first female Chinese luger to compete at the Olympics. Despite failing to reach the final run of the women's singles, Wang says Beijing 2022 has been an invaluable experience for her.

"I set a personal best in the third run. If I hadn't suffered fractures in my foot, I might have been able to achieve a better result," said Wang Peixuan, who broke her left foot in three places in a competition in December last year, sidelining her for two weeks.

"By the next Games, there will be new breakthroughs. The Chinese team will have improved a lot more by then," said Wang.

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