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China's Meng Fanqi competes in the women's 4x6km relay final of the Harbin Asian Winter Games on February 13, 2025. Photo: VCG

The Chinese delegation wrapped up the snow sports at the Harbin Asian Winter Games on Thursday with 19 gold, 18 silver and 14 bronze medals, marking the best performance for Chinese skiers in the history of the Games. 

In Yabuli Ski Resort, which hosted the snow events for Harbin 2025, Tang Jialin, Wen Ying, Chu Yuanmeng and Meng Fanqi clinched gold in the biathlon women's 4x6km relay. 

In the men's 4x7.5km relay, Hu Weiyao, Wuhantu, Yan Xingyuan and Gu Cang took bronze.

The medal count greatly surpassed the previous record of eight gold medals set at the 2007 Changchun Asian Winter Games. At the 2017 Sapporo Asian Winter Games, only four out of the 12 gold medals won by the Chinese delegation were in snow sports. 

In ice hockey, the Chinese men's team were defeated by the defending champion Kazakhstan 1-3 in the semifinals on Thursday. Despite the loss, this result marked the closest score line between the two teams in the history of the Asian Winter Games. 

The Chinese women's ice hockey team suffered a 1-2 loss to Kazakhstan in their second group game on Thursday. China, currently standing in third place after one win and one loss, will face off against Japan on Friday, with the final ranking determined by group standings.

The biathlon relay gold medal might make up for the regret Tang felt at missing out on the women's 7.5km sprint gold medal on Tuesday. 

The 33-year-old said she is happy to see the expanding talent pool in the sport in China and would help the youngsters develop. 

"I feel that the development of the biathlon has improved significantly compared with the past. Back when I first started competing, there were only around 15 athletes in the field. Now, we see 50 to 60 athletes participating. It's inspiring to see so many local teams getting involved in the sport. The growing pool of young talent is particularly exciting. It's clear that the future of the biathlon is bright," said Tang.

"Now, as one of the veterans on the team, I have stepped into a leadership role, guiding and mentoring the younger teammates. It's really rewarding to see them develop, improve, and even surpass what I've achieved. Seeing their progress takes me back to my own early days, when I was fortunate enough to be mentored by the Chinese legend Wang Chunli," Tang noted. 

Meng, who ran the anchor leg in the relay and won silver in the women's 7.5km spirit earlier, echoed Tang's sentiment. 

"I finished seventh in Sapporo in 2017. With our win here today, I hope more people will get to know the biathlon better and that it will inspire younger generations to join us. I also hope that the biathlon will flourish in China," said Meng. 

A new crop of Chinese skiers established themselves at the Harbin Games. Li Xinpeng, 20, outshone Olympic champion Qi Guangpu to claim gold in the men's freestyle aerials.

Luo Le, a sports scholar at the Beijing University of Chemical Technology, told the Global Times that from competitive sports to mass fitness sports, the successful hosting of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics helped expand China's talent pool in winter sports and laid a solid foundation for preparations for the 2026 Milan Winter Olympics.

Meanwhile, the men's and women's snowboard halfpipe finals were canceled due to poor weather conditions on Thursday. China's Wu Shaotong claimed the bronze as the final rankings were determined based on the qualification results.

Xu Mengtao, who won gold in the freestyle skiing women's aerials and mixed team aerials, was named the flag bearer at the closing ceremony for the Games on Friday.