Coach hopes young Chinese skiers gain experience for Beijing Winter Olympics

Source: Xinhua| 2018-02-06 22:17:43|Editor: Shi Yinglun
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PYEONGCHANG, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- Scott Rawles, coach of the Chinese mogul skiing team, hopes that his young Chinese skiers could gain experience for the 2022 Beijing Olympics after competing in the upcoming PyeongChang Winter Olympics.

"They have improved a lot during the past three years. If they kept making the progress they made, when the time for Beijing arrives, I do not know [if] there will be a big chance for [a] medal or not, but there will be some progress," said Rawles, who coached US skiers to a record three medals at the 2010 winter Olympics.

Two Chinese young skiers Wang Jin and Guan Ziyan took their training session in Phoenix Snow Park during the past two days.

"I really just try to get them concentrated on their performance, and not everything around them. We talk a lot; we watch a lot of video, and go over a very specific plan tonight of what they do in the first, second, third, fourth and fifth run, "added Rawles.

According to Rawles, lacking experience is the biggest difference between the world's top skiers and young Chinese skiers.

"In the US, it's a normal thing that happens that kids are skiing in [their] family, go to ski school between three and seven, and after that, they join the ski club. My two girls started skiing when they were 15 years old," said Rawles, who started coaching the Chinese mogul skiing team in October 2014.

"My expectation is to use this chance to compete in PyeongChang to build towards Beijing. We can use this to gain experience; this is the biggest stage that we ski on. I hope that they perform [at] their highest level and they can gain good experience that helps them [to be] better motivated and work hard going towards Beijing," added Rawles.

Rawles will take his team back to China for the Spring Festival after the PyeongChang Olympics, and then compete at the Freestyle Skiing World Cup in Japan and Switzerland.

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