Winter Olympics: emotional Gao Tingyu hails ‘passionate’ Chinese fans after claiming host nation’s fourth gold of the Beijing Games with Olympic record in men’s 500m speedskating

An emotional Gao Tingyu hailed the passion shown by Chinese fans after he swept to victory in the men’s speedskating 500m event on Saturday, setting an Olympic record on the way and claiming China’s fourth gold medal of the Beijing Winter Games.

The flag-waving crowd at the National Speed Skating Oval screamed in delight and Chinese social media erupted as the 24-year-old Heilongjiang native thundered past the finish line in 34.32 seconds, smashing the previous record of 34.41 set by Norway’s Haavard Holmefjord Lorentzen four years ago in Pyeongchang.

Gao, one of China’s two flag-bearers at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games opening ceremony, said he hoped his victory would inspire more Chinese people to take up speedskating as he completed an all-Asian podium. South Korea’s Cha Min-kyu took silver in 34.39 and Japan’s Wataru Morishige earned bronze in 34.49 with Lorentzen failing to make it into the top 10.

“I feel very emotional now, because it’s the first gold for China [men],” Gao told CCTV. “I hope China’s speedskating gets better in the future. Maybe because the Chinese audience is quite passionate, that’s why I feel more emotional than usual.”

It was Gao’s second Olympic medal, having claimed bronze in Pyeongchang, then becoming China’s first-ever men’s medallist in Olympic speedskating. He added to the two gold medals China won in the short-track speedskating competition and Eileen Gu’s triumph in the freestyle skiing big air event.