LANZHOU, China, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- During the Chinese Lunar New Year, Nikita Kriukov, coach of China's cross-country skiing training team, learned how to make dumplings at the Baiyin national snow event training base in northwest China's Gansu Province.
The 35-year-old Kriukov, who won the cross-country gold at the 2010 Winter Olympics and silver at the 2014 Games, hopes that all of his athletes could make a breakthrough at the Beijing Winter Olympic Games in 2022.
Many of the Chinese cross-country skiers, who kept routine training during this Spring Festival holiday, hold the same wish as their Russian coach.
"I can't wait to take part in the Beijing Winter Olympics," said Zhao Lei, who won the men's team sprint classical technique ten days ago at the 2020-2021 Chinese national cross-country skiing championships.
"As a crossover athlete, I should practice much more than others," added the 21-year-old Zhao.
33-year-old Sun Qinghai, who participated in the last three Winter Olympic Games since Vancouver 2010, has been focusing on strength training after the championships.
"Cross-country skiing is a sport of physical fitness, so we can't stop training," he said.
With the 2022 Winter Games less than one year to go, the national team will make training plans according to each athlete's form and character, team manager Zhang Bei said.
"We will head to Zhangjiakou of Hebei Province for a pre-Olympics test event after concluding our training camp in Baiyin," said Zhang. Enditem
