Yunnan skiers stand out in Olympic 30K skiathlon

Yunnan skier Liu Rongsheng took the 38th place in the Beijing Winter Olympic event of cross-country skiing men's 15km+15km skiathlon with one hour 24 minutes 59 seconds on February 6, creating the best result in the history of Chinese athletes in this event. The other Yunnan athlete, Chen Degen, won the 59th place.

"Both of them performed great today! The athletes from Nordic countries and Russian are good at 30K skiathlon. It was amazing for them to achieve such good rankings. Belonging to the generation Z, they will make greater progress!" said Li Guangyan, captain of the Yunnan Sports Team.

4 male Chinese athletes Liu Rongsheng, Chen Degen, Shang Jincai and Hadesi Badelihan had gained qualification the cross-country skiing 15km+15km skiathlon event, where the athletes first ski for 15 kilometers with traditional skills, followed by free-style skiing for another 15 kilometers.

A total of 70 athletes from 34 countries participated in this event. Russian skier Alexander Bolshunov won the gold medal with one hour, 16 minutes and 9.8 seconds, while Russian Denis Spitsov and Finnish Iivo Niskanen won silver and bronze.

Reporting by Lou Ying (Yunnan Daily); Trans-editing by Yang Xuan