Yabuli, China, February 9, 2025: There ain’t no mountain high enough to stop the Chinese juggernaut – the host nation’s ski mountaineers - who made a clean sweep of the ski mountaineering sprint events on a crisp morning in Yabuli on Sunday.
Clear blue skies and a bright spring sun overhead created perfect conditions as China recorded 1-2-3 finishes in both the men’s sprint and women’s sprint events to emerge as the dominant force in Asia in this new sport.
And the chorus from the Chinese gold medallists Buluer (men’s) and Cidanyuzhen (women’s) is that they are pumped up for the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics when ski mountaineering will be making its debut.
If skiing downhill is challenging, then what about first hiking up a mountain 70 metres (for women) to 80 metres (for men) before skiing back down in slalom style. This is what this sport is all about and it is no surprise that Buluer labelled it “challenging” and Cidanyuzhen, who comes from Tibet, calling it “demanding”.
But Buluer and Cidanyuzhen, as well as the rest of their Chinese teammates, made light work of the tough ascent and breakneck descents as ski mountaineering made its Asian Winter Games debut.
In the men’s sprint, 23 athletes from eight National Olympic Committees competed. Buluer won the gold medal in two minutes 22.29 seconds with Zhang Chenghao taking the silver, a split 0.62 seconds adrift, and Bi Yuxin the bronze, just over three seconds behind the winner.
In the women’s sprint, a total of 17 athletes from six NOCs competed. Cidanyuzhen won gold in 2:55.88, Yu Jingxuan the silver in 2:59.84 and Suolangquzhen the bronze in 3:01.78.
Four Chinese athletes made up the top four in both events. The winning time was more than 26 seconds faster than the fifth-place finisher from Japan, in both men’s and women’s, underlining China’s overwhelming dominance.
Cidanyuzhen has now set her sights on the 2026 Olympics. “I will work hard to improve myself in such areas as speed, transition and uphill movement,” she said.
China’s women also occupied the entire podium in the cross-country women’s 5km event. Bayani-Jialin won the gold medal, Dinigeer-Yilamujiang took silver and Chi Chunxue won the bronze.
The hosts also dominated the Freeski Men’s Aerials with a 1-2-3 finish. Li Xinpeng won gold, Yang Longxiao the silver and Qi Guangpu the bronze. Beijing Olympic Winter Games gold medallist Xu Mengtao took the gold in the Freeski Women’s Aerials with compatriot Chen Xuezheng winning the silver. Ayana Zholdas of Kazakhstan won bronze.
Japanese Takayuki Koyama prevented a clean sweep of gold medals by China on the second day of competition on the snow when he won the top prize in the Alpine Skiing Men’s Slalom. Korea’s Jung Donghyun took the silver and Japan’s Neo Kamada the bronze.