St. Moritz, Switzerland, January 16, 2020: China’s Yang Binyu established herself as one of the top young speed skaters in the world by winning the women’s mass start race at the Winter Youth Olympic Games on Thursday.
The 17-year-old speedster became China’s first gold medallist of Lausanne 2020 and added the gold medal to the bronze she won in the women’s 1500m on Monday. She also finished fourth in the women’s 500m, just missing out on a podium place.
After claiming her second Winter YOG medal on the frozen lake of the St. Moritz Speed Skating Oval, Yang said: “Today made up for winning the bronze medal in the 1500m earlier in the week,” she said.
“Gold feels good. I don’t know how I’m going to celebrate. We have to stay here tomorrow (Friday) and we have training.”
Yang added: “I was excited to come here for the Winter Youth Olympic Games. There’s a lot of difference from racing inside. It was cold on the first day in St. Moritz but when it was race time there was a big sun and it was warm.”
Yang finished ahead of Russia's Zuzana Kursova and Katia Filippi of Italy in the mass start.
With the next Winter Olympics in Beijing in February 2022, China’s Winter YOG golden speed skater Yang has given herself plenty to aim for in the next couple of years.