On March 3, the 2024 Asian Ski Mountaineering Championships Sprint Race officially kicked off at Vanke Songhua Lake Ski Resort in Jilin City, Jilin Province. Chinese athletes won the men's and women's sprint races.
Sprint runners need to start from the qualifying round and move on to the quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals, which is not only a great test of physical fitness, but also has high requirements for cardiorespiratory fitness, endurance, core strength, balance and coordination in more than 3 minutes. The sprint is the 2026 Winter Olympics and will cover a course of 900 metres with an elevation climb of 65 metres. The sprint race route includes anti-slip belt travel, backboard travel and sliding, and the sprint race route is short and the use of all techniques, so the sprint race is one of the most comprehensive test items for competitors in ski mountaineering competition.
The Chinese have a clear advantage in this event, having won the World Championships and four of the six finalists in the final. China's Jidan Yuzhen excelled in the long distance, but in today's sprint race she was at the front of the team, making up for her lack of skating skills with her climbing advantage and finally winning the championship in 3:34.46. In the men's competition, the Chinese team still showed super strength, and Ismal Tohetar Aili from Xinjiang finally won the championship in only 2:53.55.
The 2024 Asian Ski Mountaineering Championships is hosted by the Asian Ski Mountaineering Federation, organized by the Mountaineering Management Center of the General Administration of Sport of China, the China Mountaineering Association, the Jilin Provincial Sports Bureau, and the Jilin Municipal People**, and co-organized by the Jilin Municipal Sports Bureau. Nearly 100 top Asian players from China, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and other countries participated in the championship. The five-day race will feature four events: men's and women's vertical races, sprint races, individual cross-country races, and mixed relay races.