Cross- country skier Man Dandan won the women's 1.4 km individual sprint here on Monday, earning China's first gold at the eighth Asian Winter Games in 2017.
"I was in good form today," said the 28 year-old girl after winning the title in the final round with 3 minutes and 48. 29 seconds. "I didn't think much, but just focused on the games. As an old member, I want to set a good example to my younger teammates by doing my best no matter what the result is."
Mikko Olavi Virtanen, the head coach of the Chinese cross-country skiing team, said after the game he was satisfied with Man Dandan's performance. "She is a super talented sprint skier. Her biggest problem before was to maintain the speed for four rounds of the competition. We have been working on that for the past seven months. I have been giving her advice, such as how to save the energy till the final round," he said, adding that Man is a good learner.
He also said that the Chinese cross-country skiing team had a huge potential. "We have quite a young team. We still have five more years to Beijing Winter Olympics. I hope we can continue this good work for a long term," he said.
Yelena Kolomina from Kazakhstan took the sliver and Ju Hyeri from South Korea got the bronze. Australia's Casey Wright finished the third in the final round but did not get a medal as a guest athlete.
