China sports: Inspiring 2022, promising 2023 (2)

New generation of hope

Young, enthusiastic and vigorous, China's next-gen sports talents took to their fields and carried the country's hope.

The combo photo of Gu Ailing (left) and Su Yiming (right). [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Gu Ailing and Su Yiming, both under 20, were the nation's most-decorated stars at the Beijing Winter Olympics in February. Gu won three medals, two golds and a silver, while Su grabbed one gold and one silver.

China finished the highest-ever third on the Games' overall medal standings with nine golds, four silvers and two bronze.

The combo photo of Wu Yibing (left), Zheng Qinwen (right up), and Zhang Zhizhen (right down). [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

On tennis court, Wu Yibing, 23, and Zhang Zhizhen, 26, became the first male Chinese mainland players to compete in the Grand Slam's main draw after battling through qualifying rounds.

Wu went on to extend his winning streak until the third round when he lost to world No 1 Russia's Daniil Medvedev at the US Open. Zhang became the first male Chinese mainland player to crack the world's top 100 in October.

On the women's side, 20-year-old Zheng Qinwen elevated her world ranking by 118 to No 25 within the year after battling in all the four Grand Slams. She finished as last 16 in the French Open.

Zhou Guanyu consults with Alfa Romeo team officials during the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday. XINHUA

On F1 circuit, China's first F1 driver Zhou guanyu kept his engine growling.

Zhou finished 10th on his F1 debut in Bahrain to score his first-ever Grand Prix point in March

He took a strong eighth place in the Canadian Grand Prix, achieving his best finish among the 22 Prix he raced this season.