Beijing, China, March 7, 2022: China landed their first-ever Para Alpine Skiing gold courtesy of Zhang Mengqiu on the second day of competition on Sunday , March 6, at the Yangqing National Alpine Skiing Centre.
The 19-year-old Zhang was ecstatic as she crossed the finish line in 1 minute 13.54 seconds to win the women’s super-G event ahead of France’s eight-time Paralympic champion Marie Bochet, who finished with 1:14.97 and had to settle for silver.
Zhang had taken the silver in the downhill the day before. “I felt a little bit more relaxed today. I think winning the silver gave me a bit more confidence,” she said.
Canadian Alana Ramsay (1:16.84) collected the bronze.
Meanwhile in ice hockey, host China delighted a noisy home crowd by defeating fellow Paralympic debutants Slovakia 7-0 in a men’s group encounter in the National Indoor Stadium.
Chinese forward Shen Yifeng, 23, lived up to his nickname ‘Little Whirlwind’ and led the victory charge with four goals.
China only started its Para ice hockey programme in 2016 and played the first international tournament in 2018.
The host country showed a glimpse of its fine form at last year’s Ostersund 2021 World Championships B-Pool in Beijing where they defeated Germany, Sweden, Finland, Japan and Poland to get promoted to A-Pool for the 2022-2023 season.
