XC skiing: Qiang Wang ends his stay in Europe in Annecy
Qiang Wang – namesake of a tennis player – will compete on Saturday in Annecy (Haute-Savoie) at the Martin Fourcade Nordic Festival. The Chinese athlete is not well-known to the general public. XC skiing fans discovered him in March 2022 when, in Drammen (Norway), he finished second in a classic sprint, flanked by two Frenchmen. It was his very first top 3 finish in a World Cup, after already making it to the finals in Lahti (Finland).
Previously, he had participated in several competitions in Pyeongchang in 2018, and in the summer of 2019, he even won a stage of the rollerski World Cup in Beijing over 22.7 kilometers. A first for a Chinese athlete. Then, due to the coronavirus pandemic, Qiang Wang could not join the world elite until the Beijing Olympics in 2022. After settling in the Himalayas, he learned a lot alongside Russian Nikita Kryukov, an Olympic champion in cross-country skiing.
In 2022, he made headlines at the Beijing Olympics by bringing down the Norwegian Paal Golberg. His technique and race vision are sometimes called into question. “When you do that, you have no place at the Olympics,” commented Erik Valnes vehemently.
We still remember an exhibition race in February 2022 in Helsinki (Finland), where he had only been beaten by Johannes Hoesflot Klæbo.
Subsequently, the Chinese national cross-country ski team was purely and simply disbanded after a new Minister of Sports was appointed in the Middle Kingdom. As a result, the Chinese athlete, who had returned to his home country, did not participate in any international races last season, notably missing the World Championships in Planica (Slovenia).
He made his return to the international stage in 2023 under the guidance of Lars Christian Aabol, his Norwegian coach. He was seen at the Blink Festival in Sandnes (Norway), then at the Toppidrettsveka in Aure (Norway), placing third in the classic sprint. Last winter, he only participated in the World Cup stage in Trondheim (Norway) in December (with a 2nd place in the sprint qualification), before disappearing from the rankings.
Today, Qiang Wang is thirty-one years old. This summer, he trained in Scandinavia and participated in several summer races. Even though he did not achieve impressive results, he once again made a name for himself. Notably with his fourth place in the Trollhättan sprint (Sweden), behind Edvin Anger, Eskil Engdal and Elias Danielsson.
“I spent twenty days in Europe and participated in six competitions. I am really happy, every competition excited me and thanks to these competitions I made great progress. I will try to maintain this momentum and aim for the podium for the winter,” he says on his Instagram.
“I thank my team, the event organizers, and my friends in Europe. This trip was truly wonderful and a learning experience. I will continue to work hard because there is still room for improvement,” he added.
This winter, the Chinese skier plans to play a role in the World Cup. He also aims to participate in the World Championships in Trondheim (Norway) in early 2025.
