From left: Chinese athletes, Tang Jialin, Wen Ying, Chu Yuanmeng, and Meng Fanqi celebrate after winning the biathlon women's 4x6km relay at the Harbin Asian Winter Games on February 13, 2025. Photo: VCG

With the extinguishing of the Harbin Asian Winter Games flame on Friday, the Chinese delegation took a total of 32 gold, 27 silver and 26 bronze medals, topping both the gold and overall medal counts and setting the best performance for China at a single Asian Winter Games. 

Running from February 7 to 14 in Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, under the theme "Dream of Winter, Love among Asia," the Games featured a record of 1,275 athletes from 34 countries and regions competing in 64 events across 11 disciplines, making it the largest edition of Asian Winter Games in history. Notably, Cambodia and Saudi Arabia made their debuts at the Games.

Vinod Kumar Tiwari, deputy director general of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), told the Global Times that Harbin 2025 is a miracle on ice and snow. 

Despite global conflicts and uncertainties, the Games serve as a unifying force, said Husain Al Musallam, director general of the Olympic Council of Asia, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The event was a testing ground for athletes to accumulate experience and prepare for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics Games but it also laid a solid foundation for the further development of China's ice and snow sports.

The record medal haul underlined China's dominance in winter sports in Asia, but more importantly, the Harbin Games saw a collective breakthrough in China's snow sports, Luo Le, a sports scholar at the Beijing University of Chemical Technology, told the Global Times.

In ice sports, the Chinese speed skating team concluded their journey at the Harbin Games with a historic best performance, securing 11 gold, 5 silver, and 5 bronze medals. But the short track speed skating team fell short against the archrival South Korea. 

'Rapid progress'

Despite the absence of Olympic champions Gu Ailing and Su Yiming due to injuries, a new crop of young Chinese skiers made their mark on the international stage. 

As the youngest member of the Chinese delegation for the Harbin Games, Chen Xuezheng, 16, took silver with 81.58 points in the freestyle skiing women's aerials. 

Led by eight members born after the year 2000, China pulled off a clean sweep of podium positions in all of the three ski mountaineering competitions as the sport made its debut at the Harbin Games. 

Zhang Yaohua, the Chinese ski mountaineering team coach, told the Global Times that he was very happy that the athletes performed at the level they trained for and achieved the goal of gearing up for the 2026 Winter Olympics. 

"This is our first time participating in an international multi-sport event. Although the national team was only established in recent years, we have made rapid progress. There is still a gap between Chinese athletes and their strong European counterparts, but we have been catching up and the gap is getting smaller," said Zhang. 

After winning the men's sprint gold, Buluer, who is from China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, shared his hopes by saying: "I aspire to participate in the Olympic Winter Games in Milan and play my due part for Team China. I will focus more on subtle details in my training, so as to continuously improve my abilities."

Yang Wenlong and Xiong Shirui swept the golds respectively in the men's and women's snowboard big air on Monday. 

"I hope to make my moves more consistent, and once all conditions are ideal, I'll challenge myself with more difficult tricks," said the 18-year-old Xiong after the final.

Luo attributed the expanding talent pool in both competitive sports and mass fitness of China's winter sports to the legacy of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

While chalking up a historic feat at ski events, the short track speed skating team faced stern challenges from longtime rival South Korea, who led the medal tally with six golds.

Zhang Jing, head coach of China's short track speed skating team, told the Xinhua News Agency that "our athletes have gained valuable experience for the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, and learned lessons, particularly regarding athletes' mindset."

More events coming

Harbin has been committed to leveraging the Asian Winter Games to establish the city as a brand of winter sporting events.

Bai Zhiguo, chief spokesperson of the Harbin Asian Winter Games Organizing Committee, said at a press conference on Monday that following the Asian Winter Games, Harbin will leverage its upgraded competition venues to plan and host a series of high-quality international and domestic ice and snow events that are highly entertaining and encourage widespread public participation.

"We will continue to consolidate and expand the achievements of 'engaging 300 million people in ice and snow sports.' We will organize high-level events such as the international youth ice hockey invitational, the Harbin Asian Speed Skating Marathon, the cross-country ski marathon, and the Winter Triathlon World Cup. Additionally, we will host professional international competitions such as championships and tournaments, aiming to build a distinctive brand of sporting events," Bai said. 

Harbin will also focus on the construction of the China-Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) ice and snow sports demonstration zone. Centered on building an ice and snow sports event hub, the city will introduce SCO ice and snow sports competitions, including snow biking, snow football, and ice hockey. These initiatives aim to fully leverage the significant role of ice and snow sports in fostering exchange and cooperation.