BEIJING—China won its first gold medal of the Beijing Winter Olympics, after the two men and two women on the world’s top-ranked short-track speedskating relay team survived a dramatic Saturday evening in front of a home crowd.
China appeared to have the gold medal sewn up midway through the race, after skaters from Hungary and Canada collided. That made it a two-way race between China and Italy, which trailed by an eighth of a lap. But Italy made up ground against China in the final six laps, prompting Italian skater Pietro Sighel and China’s Wu Dajing to stretch out their skates over the finish line.
While Wu glided over to the rink’s side to celebrate with his teammates and coaches, officials took as long as the actual race to confirm the result. The announcement finally came. China: 2 minutes, 37.348 seconds. Italy: 2 minutes, 37.364 seconds. Hungary claimed bronze after Canada was disqualified over a penalty.
The home team exhaled, as did the hundreds of socially distanced fans in the mostly empty arena.
The No. 1 team in the international circuit, the Chinese squad of Wu, Ren Ziwei, Qu Chunyu and Fan Kexin entered as the favorite for the Winter Olympics’ first-ever mixed team relay featuring both men and women. Ren, a silver medalist in the men’s relay at the 2018 Games, said in recent weeks that he felt the weight of performing in his home country.
It’s not over yet. “The pressure is just beginning,” Ren said when asked if the stress was now shedding. He is No. 1 in the international circuit in the 1500-meter race, which holds its Olympic final on Wednesday, and No. 3 in the 500-meter event, which has its medal race next Sunday.
For five minutes on Saturday, the event appeared to be China’s first major sporting disappointment of these Games. The skaters and coaches hung their heads after finishing third in in a semifinal heat, in which the top two teams would advance to the final.
They awaited a review as to whether either team that finished ahead of them did anything illegal. “We also didn’t know,” Wu said after the race. “We could only comfort each other.”
Then came a ruling: the U.S. was disqualified for a penalty. That gave China its gold-medal chance at home.
Corrections & Amplifications
An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the skaters in the last laps of the relay. They were Italy’s Pietro Sighel and China’s Wu Dajing.
Write to Stu Woo at Stu.Woo@wsj.com
Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8