Zhang Hong

Zhang Hong (张虹) is a Chinese speed skater, who shot to the stardom after winning China’s first ever Olympic speed skating gold medal as she claimed the women's 1,000m title at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi on Feb. 13.

Zhang was clocked at 1 minute and 14.02 seconds, 0.67 seconds ahead of second-placed Ireen Wust of the Netherlands, breaking the track record and just missing the Olympic mark set by Chris Witty at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games. Her winning margin of 0.67 was the largest in the women's 1,000 since the 1994 Lillehammer Games.

At the 500m event in Sochi, Zhang narrowly missed reaching the medal podium by finishing fourth, while Wang Beixing, China's biggest hope in the event, finished seventh.

Career

Born 12 April 1988 in Harbin of northeastern China’s Helongjiang Province, Zhang started her skating career in 2000 as a short track speed skater and turned to long track speed skating in 2008. In 2012, she had victories in the Chinese National Winter Games 2012 where she represented the People's Liberation Army delegation.

Merits

2012 China National Winter Games: gold 1000m, silver short-track 500m

2012 World Sprint Speed Skating Championships: bronze 1000m

2014 Winter Olympics: gold 1000m