Chinese skiers set to conquer world stage

With their natural advantages, young athletes of ethnic groups are readying for 2026 Winter Olympics

Born and raised at the foot of snowcapped mountains in the remote Xizang autonomous region, the natural bond Cidan Yuzhen has with the rugged terrain has helped take her to the peak of her sport on the international stage.

The shepherd's daughter is joined by Yuzhen Lamu and Buluer in the cohort of Chinese athletes from ethnic minority groups now conquering ski mountaineering.

The endurance sport will make its highly-anticipated debut at the 2026 Winter Olympics. Once included in the 1924 Games as a component of the military patrol event, ski mountaineering, or skimo, will be featured as a medal event in its own right at the 2026 Games to be held in the Italian Alps across Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo.

The elevation of ski mountaineering to the Olympics has triggered interest and greater participation in it across the world, including China. A sport with a long history, ski mountaineering combines climbing and descending and traversing alpine terrains.

Athletes from mountain villages in Xizang and the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region grew up adapting to thin air and high altitudes, and boast physical advantages in aerobic endurance. However, most of them had no idea what skimo was until talent identification scouts came knocking at their doors in November 2017.

More opportunities

A talent recruitment campaign was launched in the buildup to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics as part of China's ambitious program to involve 300 million people in ice and snow sports leading up to the event.

With wide ethnic diversity, China's cross-country skiers qualified in all 12 disciplines for the first time at the Olympics in Beijing. Uygur skier Dinigeer Yilamujiang, then 20, qualified in four events, the most on the women's side.

A native of Altay in Xinjiang she stole the show at Beijing 2022's opening ceremony by lighting the Olympic caldron together with Nordic combined athlete Zhao Jiawen.

The inclusion of skimo in the Olympics is opening the door wider for skiers who wouldn't have been discovered otherwise, said Li Wenmao, manager of China's ski mountaineering national program.

"We needed some special talents, especially kids who were born with a connection to nature and are not afraid of hard work. Tough conditions are part of the sport …The new program has opened up a window for them to be seen by us and by the world," Li said during a recent media symposium at the team's training base in Beijing.

"On top of their adaptation to altitude in alpine sports, kids we selected from Xizang and Xinjiang have grit and resilience within them. This is perhaps a bigger driver, in my opinion, for them to withstand all the tough challenges to succeed," said Li, who is a former mountain climber.

Strong start

A series of breakthroughs at the youth level augur well for the youngsters' medal potential at future Olympics, and also reaffirm Li's confidence that they are making the right progress in the sport.

Since it was established in 2022, China's ski mountaineering team, with more than half of its 17 athletes from Xizang and Xinjiang, has had an impressive medal haul from numerous international events.

The strong results include 15 gold, two silver and five bronze medals in multiple disciplines, such as individual, sprint and mixed relay, from five International Ski Mountaineering Federation World Cup events, three Youth World Cup legs, and the 2023 World Championships.

The Tibetan duo of Cidan Yuzhen and Yuzhen Lamu, as well as Buluer from the Mongolian ethnic group in Xinjiang, are among the most promising contenders for podiums at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

At the 2023 ISMF World Championships in Spain, Yuzhen Lamu dominated the U20 women's sprint discipline with wins in the qualification, semifinal and final rounds to become the first Chinese ski mountaineering world champion at the youth level.

Team China's most fruitful campaign in the Youth World Cup series came in Meribel, France, in December 2023 with a haul of six medals. Five of the medals, including all three gold, were won by athletes from Xizang.

At the 2026 Winter Olympics, only the men's and women's sprint disciplines and a mixed-gender relay combining two sprint races will be staged, with three gold medals up for grabs in total.

Traditionally only popular in the European Alps, the growth of skimo in North America and also China has helped the sport gain more international exposure, prompting the International Olympic Committee to include the sport for the 2026 Games.

"Our goal for the Olympic debut in Italy is to finish on the podium, and to make it a true global sport," said Team China manager Li.

A long way to the top

Picked for the sport from a remote township in Konpo'gyada county in Nyingchi city, Xizang, Yuzhen Lamu was hesitant at her first training session in 2019. She said she felt "trapped" with skis strapped to her feet and was intimidated by the steep slopes at the tryout camp.

The 20-year-old, who spent her childhood chasing her siblings in the snowy woods surrounding their village, confessed that in the early stages the rigorous challenges of skimo were not fun. "When I started to learn skiing, it felt a bit boring, and pretty exhausting when I wasn't able to ski well enough," said Yuzhen Lamu, who began her junior sports training in 2016 as a distance runner at Nyingchi's school for amateur sports.

"As much as I loved snow when I was little, I was almost sad whenever I saw it snowing again (at the beginning of skimo training).

"Yet, I was always a stubborn kid who never gave up. Gradually, I improved a lot in my skiing skills, and mental and physical strength. I began to enjoy the sport, particularly the exhilarating thrill of skiing downhill after overcoming the difficult climbs," she said.

Cidan Yuzhen was also drafted from track and field in October 2020. Then aged 13, she was a junior race walker training at a sports school in her hometown of Shannan, a city at an average altitude of 3,700 meters, located south of the autonomous region's capital, Lhasa.

Knowing nothing about skimo, she gave it a try at the training camp. She was selected from over 200 children who tried out, and eventually waved goodbye to the farmland, cattle, forests and creeks in her valley home.

She was sometimes homesick during training or competitions, but she overcame the setbacks. The ambitious young skier now says she never regretted her bold move to pursue a sports career.

"It was hard at the beginning, and I only told my parents the good news, keeping the bad stuff such as injuries from them," she said.

"After all, it was my choice, they respected it, and I didn't want them to feel worried," said Cidan Yuzhen, who claimed two U18 titles in individual and vertical events at the 2023 World Championships in Spain.

Buluer, one of the most talented skiers on the men's team, said he and his peers enjoy each other's company, and the healthy rivalry among them is pushing them to achieve their Olympic dreams.

The 19-year-old attributed Team China's inspiring mixed relay win on the Norwegian stop of the Youth World Cup on March 17 to Cidan Yuzhen's exceptionally strong opening and finishing legs. "She got me flying," said Buluer, a native of Hemu village in Altay.

However, Buluer played his part in the victory, holding off a group of opponents from alpine sports powers, such as France and Norway, during his legs. His impressive effort echoed his victory in the men's U20 individual title the previous day.

It was the first time a skier outside Europe and North America, at both youth and adult level, had claimed the men's individual race, said team manager Li.

"Racing against the best in the most intense competitions, I feel big pressure," Buluer said. "But, that also pushes me to bring out my best."

He also prides himself on growing up on "fur skis". Rock paintings discovered around Hemu depict human figures skiing thousands of years ago, and the area is believed to be one of the locations where fur skiing originated.

Ascent to Olympics

The national team is currently preparing for the 2024-25 competitive season at the Keketuohai ski resort in Altay. The young skiers are training to reach peak condition before the first World Cup event kicks off on Dec 14 in Courchevel, France.

According to ISMF rules, the two top individual finishers and teams in the men's and women's sprint and the mixed relay events at the 2025 worlds, scheduled from March 2 to 9 in Morgins, Switzerland, will earn direct qualification to the 2026 Olympics.

The rest of the quota places, barring those reserved for the host nation, will be determined by individual and relay team rankings, based on the results of 10 World Cup events at the end of December 2025.

Each National Olympic Committee is allowed to try and qualify a maximum of two men and two women for Italy.

To help Team China's youngsters take the leap from youth events to the open level, the Chinese Mountaineering Association organized an intense summer camp in New Zealand.

The athletes' weakness in downhill skiing, compared to their European rivals, were significantly improved under the watchful eyes of three experienced foreign coaches.

A similar overseas pre-season camp will involve drills in the Italian Alps early next month, to get the young skiers acclimated to course conditions for the World Cup season, said Li.

"Our young athletes have shown a lot of rapid improvement over the past two years," he said. "It's time for them to step up a gear in their final sprint to the Olympic stage. We will try to qualify as many athletes as possible through the new season and go for at least one medal in 2026," he said.

sunxiaochen@chinadaily.com.cn