Gao wins 3rd gold at Harbin AWG as China achieves best record in speed skating

HARBIN -- Gao Tingyu won his second and third gold medals at the Harbin 2025 Asian Winter Games (AWG) as he defended his men's 500m title before joining hands with Ning Zhongyan and Lian Ziwen to claim the team sprint victory here on Monday.

Yang Binyu led another podium sweep for China in the women's 3,000m and China sits firmly on top of the medal tally after taking seven gold, four silver and four bronze medals from 10 events up to Monday.

The result has already marked the best record achieved by Chinese speed skaters at an AWG with four events yet to be staged on Tuesday. The previous record was set during the 6th AWG in Changchun when China bagged five gold, four silver and three bronze medals.

Hot favorite in the 500m distance, Gao had to beat Olympic bronzed medalist Wataru Morishige's 34.97-second mark to win as he started in the 12th and last pair. And the Olympic champion did it again, edging his Japanese rival by 0.02 seconds to win his second gold medal at the Harbin AWG in 34.95.

"When I noticed my opponent's result, my heart gave a sudden lurch. It was indeed very fast," Gao admitted. "But when I stepped to the starting line, I knew I would beat him."

Having won the 100m event on Saturday, Gao's third gold came just two hours after his second when the Chinese team raced to one minute and 19.22 seconds in the men's team sprint, 1.26 seconds faster than South Korea. Japan was 0.24 seconds further behind.

This was the second gold medal for Ning, who made his debut at the AWG, and the 25-year-old was happy to add a team event gold to his individual 1,500m one.

"This speaks for our overall strength as a team, and we are very satisfied with the result," Ning said.

In the women's 3,000m final, Yang skated to four minutes and 8.54 seconds in the penultimate pair, ahead of compatriot Tai Zhien's time of 4:12.01. All eyes were on Han Mei when she started her race and the 27-year-old finished in 4:09.06, 0.52 seconds behind Yang.

This marked the third time Chinese skaters had swept the podium in a speed skating event in Harbin, after their triumphs in the women's 1,500m and the men's 5,000m.

"I feel so proud and excited to see three Chinese flags hoisted to the national anthem, especially it was for me this time," said Yang, who was second to Han in the 1,500m race.

Han was also happy to win her third medal of the AWG and the middle distance specialist was content with her performance. "I did not focus on long distance in recent years, so the time was satisfying for me. What matters is that we got the medals," she said.

The versatile skater will compete again in the women's 1,000m and team pursuit on the last competition day of speed skating on Sunday, which also sees men's 1,000m and team pursuit events.