The China City Tour Sprint in Shanghai took place this weekend with an Individual Sprint 1.5km and a Team Sprint, both contested in freestyle technique.

According to the organizing committee, state-of-the-art technology was used to produce snow in an urban environment on a 300-meter cross country skiing track along the Yangpu Riverside Pier, which allowed cities in southern China like Shanghai to hold skiing events.

With the presence of athletes from the Chinese Olympic Team and Russia, the winners in the men’s and women’s Individual Sprint were the Chinese Wang Qiang and Dinigeer Yilamujiang.

Wang won with a time of 4:03.79, followed by Chinese Shang Jincai and Russian Nikita Egorov in third place.

On the women’s race, Dinigeer won with a time of 4:34.90, followed by China’s Jialin Bayani and Russia’s Anastasia Moskalenko.

On the second day of competitions, a Team Sprint in free technique was contested by 11 men’s and 6 women’s teams.

On the men’s race, Chinese Team 1, with Jincai Shang and Qiang Wang, was the winner with a total time of 9:46.98. Russians Nikita Egorov and Ivan Kirillov, from Russian Team 1, ended up in second place, followed by Konstantin Glavatskikh and Raul Shakirzianov, from Russian Team 2.

On the women’s Team Sprint, China took all the podium positions. Dinigeer Yilamujiang won again, along with her teammate Xin Li from China Team 1, followed by China Team 2 of Jialin Bayani and Chi Chunxue, and in third place, Kong Weijia and Ma Qinqhua from China Team 3.

“Compared to the natural, the urban tracks are flatter and the snow is softer, which tests all my ability,” Wang told Xinhua News, adding that his goal at the Winter Olympics is to reach the final and win a medal.

Chi Chunxue, a skier on the Chinese National Team and already qualified for the Winter Olympics said, “this is the first time Shanghai is holding a ski event. I am proud to be part of the first group of participants.”

And continued, “our whole team is preparing for the Winter Olympics. We value every opportunity to race. I hope to use the last 50 days to improve my competitive level,” Chunxue concluded.