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China's future stars to watch in Winter Olympics

Xinhua, January 30, 2016 Adjust font size:

The 13th Chinese National Winter Games, the first multi-sport winter event following Beijing's successful bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics, has brought a number of budding stars to our attention.

Following is the list of some of the young guns that we reckon may make a splash on the Olympic stage in 2018 or 2022:

Li Jinyu (short-track speedskating)

The 14-year-old Li Jinyu stunned the world at the National Winter Games when she crossed the finishe line second behind world champion Fan Kexin in the women's 1,500m final. Li was timed 2 minutes 16.202 seconds, beating the previous world record of 2:16.729 set by Olympic champion Zhou Yang. The bespectacled girl is expected to reach her prime ahead of 2022 and tipped as a medal hopeful for the 2022 Olympic hosts.

Li Qishi (speedskating)

The 22-year-old Li Qishi was edged into second place by Olympic champion Zhang Hong in the women's 1,500m final by a small margin of 0.34 seconds. Li, who switched to speed skating from the short-track event just three years ago, has shown her potential to become a world-class skater in years to come.

Li Zijun (figure skating)

Li Zijun, who was without a coach for the entire summer in 2014 after the contract between Li Mingzhu and the Chinese national team ended, made a strong comeback when she successfully retained her title at the National Winter Games in Xinjiang. The 19-year-old rose to stardom at the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics in Innsbruck, where she took the bronze medal. Now training under Gao Haijun, Li is getting maturer.

Jin Boyang (figure skating)

The 18-year-old Jin lit up the figure skating comeptition at the National Winter Games when he landed a quad lutz-triple toe loop combination in short program and four quadruple jumps in free skate to claim the men's title. Jin is the first ever skater to have landed four quad jumps in a free skate and six quads in a competition. He is widely considered the greatest hope for China in figure skating at the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Wang Ziyang (snowboard halfpipe)

Wang, 13, is the youngest competitor in the halfpipe event of these National Winter Games. After four years of training, Wang came from nowhere to impress in his first national competiton. Endit