China finish one-two in Para cross country men's long distance sitting at Beijing Paralympics

CHONGLI, Zhangjiakou, March 6 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Para cross country skiers Zheng Peng and Mao Zhongwu finished one-two in men's long-distance sitting Sunday in the second day action of the Beijing Paralympic Winter Games.

29-year-old Zheng, who was placed fourth in the event and 10th in sprint sitting at PyeongChang Games, clocked a time of 43:09.2, 14.6 seconds ahead of his teammate Mao, who was followed by Canadian Collin Cameron, the sprint sitting world champion in 2019 and also the bronze medalist in 7.5km sprint and 15km individual in Pyeongchang. Cameron was 4:27.4 behind the winner.

"I had a good command of the rhythm today. It's a distance of 18 kilometers, if you were too fast at the early period, you can't maintain your energy all through the race," said Zheng, who lost his legs in an accident at work in 2011.

Zheng's fourth-place finish at PyeongChang had been China's best result in Para cross country until Sunday's gold-winning performance.

"I am super excited. It is a dream come true. Back in PyeongChang, I wasn't strong mentally or physically.

"I was close to getting a medal, like 10, 15 seconds or so but now, with four more years of training, I am in better physical condition.

"I know better about what I can do, how to make the most out of it. Whether I win or lose, I can keep it together."

Zheng recalled his training in the last four years and gave credit to his preparations for the Beijing Games.

"I had sustained and systematic training after the PyeongChang Games. To improve stamina and physical conditions is stressed in the training, then you need to learn how to allocate your energy to cover the long distance," added Zheng, who had fully reached his target of winning a medal at the home Paralympics.

The Beijing 2022 is the first international competition for 35-year-old Mao and he is quite happy with a silver medal.

"It's a good result for me and I'm satisfied with my performance and I gave the best try," said Mao.

The Chinese duo led all through the 18km race and was never really challenged to reach the podium.

Cameron, 33, first tried Para-Nordic skiing back in November 2015 and had played Para ice hockey in Ontario. To him, Sunday's event was a great warm-up for his other races.

"It's great. I love these long cross-country races. Honestly, I don't know what to say about today, I didn't expect this. I was kind of using this as a training race for the next couple of races building into it," said Cameron.

"It hasn't settled in what I just did today, but I'm pretty happy about it for sure.

"The whole time I felt really great, my skis were incredible today, I kept getting really good splits so I was just trying to focus on staying in my zone and keeping my heart rate, and not trying to blow it too early because we are racing (at a) much higher (altitude than usual) here."

Cameron believes his background in Para hockey has helped him in sitting skiing.

"There's a lot of the technique and skill that you can easily transit from a (Para hockey) sled onto the snow and to skis. I give a lot of credit to my early hockey career for the move into this sport for sure," added he.

China topped the medal tally at the Summer Paralympics in Tokyo last year but has had limited success at the Winter Games, where their only previous medal -- a gold -- came in wheelchair curling at Pyeongchang. In Beijing, China has made several breakthroughs, leading the medals tally with six gold medals and 16 in total so far.

China has sent the largest delegation among all participating countries and regions, with 96 athletes expected to take part in all six sports.