SHANGHAI, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- Chinese teenage short track speed skater Zhang Tianyi stood on the podium in his international debut, winning a silver medal in the men's 1,000 meters at the 2019 Shanghai Trophy here on Thursday.
The 15-year-old, the only home athlete qualifying for the Final A, came from the behind to lead the race until the last two laps before he was surpassed by Olympic champion Liu Shaolin of Hungary.
"I didn't expect that [I could win silver] before and just tried to avoid errors. My opponents were all world-class skaters and I competed in a proactive strategy," Zhang said. "I am a little bit excited now, but I don't think the coach will praise me."
The promising youngster from Jilin province of Northeast China ranked second in one minute and 25.561 seconds, while Liu Shaolin clocked in 1:25.369 to win the gold and Seo Beom-suk of South Korea got a bronze in 1:25.611.
"I didn't expect that [I could win silver] before and just tried to avoid errors. My opponents were all world-class skaters and I competed in a proactive strategy," Zhang said. "I am a little bit excited now, but I don't think the coach will praise me."
Both Semen Elistratov of Russia and Liu Shaoang, another Hungarian skater, tumbled on the rink to finish fourth and fifth in 1:43.190 and 1:43.251 respectively.
In the women's 1,000m Final A, Dutch Suzanne Schulting, the reigning Olympic and world champion, stormed to the top place in 1:33.596, ahead of Petra Jaszapati of Hungary and China's Zhang Chutong who took the silver and bronze medals respectively.
"We should have done better in the final if we were more aggressive in the race," the 16-year-old Zhang said with frustration. "But I am still young with no fear. I will try my best in every race to improve myself."
The semifinals of men's 5,000m relay and mixed 2,000m relay will kick off on Friday.
