A Quiet Exit, a New Mission
Ren Ziwei, the short track speed skater who won two gold medals for China at the Beijing 2022 Olympics, did not get the farewell he might have scripted. His last competitive race came at a World Tour event in Tilburg, Netherlands, in February 2025, where he was disqualified for a rule infraction in the men's 500m heats. He has since said he never imagined that would be his final race, and that he regrets not getting the kind of send-off the moment deserved. Rather than post a retirement statement or hold a ceremony, Ren confirmed his retirement quietly in a March 2026 interview and moved almost immediately into coaching.
Building a Team From Scratch in the South
His new project sits far from China's traditional winter-sports strongholds. In November 2025, Chongqing's winter sports authority screened 32 young skaters from across the municipality, put them through a month of training and evaluation, and kept 21 for a newly formed Chongqing short track team. The program runs on what organizers call a "dual-track, champion-coached" model: a Jilin-based group is led by Sochi 2014 Olympic champion Li Jianrou, while Ren Ziwei took charge of the Chongqing-based group himself, betting that grassroots talent can be developed in a southern city with no history of producing ice sport athletes.
First National Meet, First Medals
That bet paid an early dividend at the 2026 "Mingxing Cup" National Short Track Speed Skating Youth Open, held September 25-27 at the Qitaihe Sports Center in Heilongjiang, where 336 young skaters from across China competed. Competing nationally for the first time, Ren's Chongqing group came away with two bronze medals in technical-skating events: nine-year-old Lü Guoni and eleven-year-old Peng Junlin both reached the podium, with Peng also placing fifth in the 500m and the group's U13 mixed relay team finishing eighth. Ren called it a proud result for children facing much more established rivals in their first national-level test.
Why a Small Bronze Medal Matters
The medals are modest by senior World Cup standards, but the symbolism is not: a two-time Olympic champion who retired without fanfare is now building short track speed skating essentially from zero in a province better known for its subtropical climate than its ice rinks. For a country still working to convert its 2022 home Olympics into a broader skating base beyond the traditional northern provinces, a bronze medal from a nine-year-old in Chongqing is exactly the kind of small, early proof point China's winter sports federation is looking for. It also gives Ren, barely a year removed from competing himself, his first tangible evidence that the coaching bet is paying off, with a second national leg still to come later this season.
