Olympic bronze medalist skater Gao Tingyu sprints to Chinese National Championships gold

CHANGCHUN, March 22 (Xinhua) -- PyeongChang Olympic bronze medalist Gao Tingyu flexed his muscles in front of other top CHINESE skaters at the 2019 National Championships as he finished first in both of the two men's 500m races on Friday and claimed the gold.

Gao clocked 35.45 seconds in the first race and improved the result to 35.10 seconds in the second to stand on top of the podium. "I was not at my best in the first race. Maybe it was because I was not fully warmed up," the 21-year-old said. "The second race was much better. The result was up to my expectation."

Gao, the first CHINESE man to win an Olympic medal in speed skating, told Xinhua that he is still trying to adjust himself after the breakthrough.

"This season, after the Winter Olympics, my major task is to relax. You can't hold your nerves all the time for four years, or you'll crash," Gao said. "As for Beijing 2022, I'll just try my best and give whatever it takes."

Yang Tao finished second with a combined result of 71.260 seconds and Hou Kaibo won the bronze.

"I'm glad I won a silver but the results are not satisfying. I could skate faster three years ago when I competed at the World Junior Championships," said Yang, who bagged a bronze in the championships in 2016.

"It's frustrating to watch others improve while staying at the same place yourself. Hope I can achieve some breakthroughs in the future," he added.

In the women's 500m race, Jin Jingzhu finished first in both races to win the gold medal with results of 38.77 seconds and 38.56 seconds. Tian Ruining was the runner-up, 0.49 seconds behind Jin in combined results. Shi Xiaoxuan finished third.

"I haven't been going through systematic training after returning from the World Cup Finals last week so I think the results are okay," Jin said. "But I know I still have much to improve and I'll try to make progress day by day."

The ongoing CHINESE National Championships will conclude on March 24. Saturday will see men's and women's 1000m, women's 3000m and men's 5000m competitions.