Ready to show a winning edge

Boasting a blend of youth and experience, well-prepared and physically fresh, Team China is determined to blaze across the ice.

"With the races becoming more competitive, and all our strong opponents ready to go, we should focus on the biggest challenge, which is to trust ourselves and overcome our own limitations to deliver the best performance on ice," said Team China head coach Zhang Jing.

"The stronger we are, the weaker our opponents become," said Zhang, who took over her native country's national program after Beijing 2022, following a 10-year stint with the Hungarian team.

"Technically and physically, we've done pretty solid preparation in the offseason. For our athletes, it's more important for them to stay mentally strong and sharp, growing their confidence by racing toe-to-toe against the world's best and prevailing in the fight."

Fewer events at each stop, for sure, will bring out some extra fight from all the elite skaters, making each race more intense, more physical, thus an ideal warm-up for the Olympics, Zhang suggested.

A mix of familiar faces and surging youngsters, such as Xandra Velzeboer, the anchor leg on the gold-winning Dutch 3,000m women's relay team at Beijing 2022, Canada's men's 1,000m world champion William Dandjinou, and Kim Gil-li from traditional powerhouse South Korea, are expected to provide a heated challenge to Team China.

A high-altitude summer camp in Livigno and Bormio, Italy, has helped Chinese skaters toughen themselves up, though, with an intense road cycling program pushing their aerobic endurance to the next level.

"As I grow older, I've realized that to maintain endurance is quite difficult compared to the past. But, this summer's training has helped me get into better shape and enhance my strength for longer races, giving me greater confidence to compete for medals in the 1,500m event as well," said Lin, formerly known as Lim Hyo-jun in South Korea, the country of his birth.