Yu Jing (; ; born 29 May 1985) is a Chinese long-track speed-skater who specializes in the sprint distances. She became the World Sprint Champion in 2012, setting world records in both the sprint combination and the 500 metres. She held the world record in the sprint combination until

Heather Richardson Heather Bergsma (''née'' Richardson; born March 20, 1989) is an American former speed skater who competed between 2006 and 2020. Career Bergsma is a native of North Carolina. She represented the United States at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vanc ...

bettered it in January 2013, and the world record in 500 metres until

Lee Sang-hwa Lee Sang-hwa (Korean: 이상화, Hanja: 李相花, ; born 25 February 1989) is a South Korean retired speed skater who specialises in the sprint distances. She is a two-time Olympic champion in 500 metres (2010 and 2014) and the 2010 World Sp ...

broke it in November 2013. The time, 36.94 seconds, was the Chinese record until broken by

Wang Beixing Wang Beixing (; born 10 March 1985) is a Chinese long track speed skater, specializing in short distances (500 m and 1000 m). Wang first competed in 2003. However, her breakthrough came in the 2004–05 season, winning several times in the Worl ...

in November 2013.

Career

Yu Jing made her World Cup debut at the Changchun meeting in 2008, after winning a gold and a bronze at the Asian Championships the year before. Already a week later, Yu won her first World Cup victory in the 500 m at Nagano, and a second-place in the 1000 m. During the 2009 World Sprint Championships in Moscow, she managed to secure a bronze medal. The rest of the season, she raced consistently and acquired multiple podium places in the World Cup, but there were no more victories. In the World Cup total, Yu placed 5th in the

500 m The 500 metres is a rarely run middle-distance running event in track and field competitions. All-time top 25 *i = indoor performance *OT = oversized track (exceeding 200m in circumference) *A = affected by altitude *h = hand timing Men *Co ...

and 9th in the

1000 m The 1000 metres is an uncommon middle-distance running event in track and field competitions. The 1000 yards, an imperial alternative, was sometimes also contested. All-time top 25 *h = hand timed *i = indoor performance *A = affected by ...

. At the 2009 World Single Distance Championships in Richmond, Yu missed the podium in both the 500 m and 1000 m events, finishing 4th and 12th, respectively. Her next season at the top level was a lot less fruitful than the first. In the World Cup, she was struggling to copy the results of her first year, and at the end of the season, she was never anywhere near reaching the podium. At the 2010 World Sprint Championships in Obihiro, Yu finished 6th. Yu also represented

China at the 2010 Winter Olympics China participated at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, sending its largest delegation at a Winter Olympics with 94 athletes. China had its best ever Winter Olympics medal finish, winning five gold medals and eleven ...

in Vancouver, but finished a disappointing 32nd in the

. In the 2010–11 season, Yu returned as a force to be reckoned with and was on the podium three times in the 500 m World Cup stops in Changchun and Obihiro in December 2010. She chose not to compete anymore in the World Cup in order to concentrate on the

2011 Asian Winter Games The 2011 Asian Winter Games ( kz, 2011 жылғы қысқы Азия ойындары, 2011 jılğı qısqı Azïya oyındarı) was a multi-sport event that was held in Nur-Sultan, Astana and Almaty, Kazakhstan, that began on January 30, 2011, an ...

in Astana, starting in the end of January 2011. The gamble turned out to be successful, and on 1 February, she managed to take the gold medal in the 500 m event, beating

and

. When the World Cup circuit started again in the fall of 2011, Yu began to dominate in the 500 m. At the first meeting in Chelyabinsk, she won both of the races over that distance, each time with a winning margin over 0.4 seconds. After skipping the second meeting in Astana, she likewise went on to triumph in both 500 m races in Heerenveen and also gained a second place in the 1000 m. Obviously, she could be a major contender for the 2012 World Sprint Championships in Calgary, and perhaps the only one capable of challenging the reigning champion,

Christine Nesbitt Christine Nesbitt (born 17 May 1985) is a Canadian retired long track speed skater who currently resides in Vancouver, British Columbia. She won the gold medal in the 1000 metres event at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. She had previously ...

. On the first day of the championships, Yu had technical trouble in the 500 m and finished a disappointing 7th there, as well as gaining a respectable 4th spot in the 1000 m. After the first day of racing, she was in the fifth position, 0.665 points behind Nesbitt, who had set a world record in the 1000 m and looked like the clear favorite. On the second 500 m, Yu was paired with the then-current world record holder

Jenny Wolf Jenny Wolf (born 31 January 1979) is a former German speed skater. On 10 March 2007 at the ISU World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships in Salt Lake City, Utah, she broke the world record for the women's 500 m in her second race. ...

, but raced phenomenally, and passed the finishing line setting the time 36.94, thereby snatching the world record and becoming the first woman ever to skate a 500 m in under 37 seconds. She also overtook Nesbitt as the leader of the championships, though having a slim lead of 0.57 seconds before the final 1000 m, where the two would face each other in the final pair. There, Yu started aggressively and had the lead over Nesbitt after 200 m and 600 m. As expected, Nesbitt had the better last round and went on to win this distance, but she only managed beat Yu with 0.54 seconds. Yu finished with the time 1.13.47, and cut her personal best with over a second. In the end, Yu became the world champion by only 0.02 point margin, and also set the world record in the sprint combined.

Records

Personal records

World records

References

External links

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Yu Jing
at SpeedSkatingNews.info * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Yu, Jing 1985 births Chinese female speed skaters Speed skaters at the 2010 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 2018 Winter Olympics Olympic speed skaters of China Living people Asian Games medalists in speed skating Speed skaters at the 2011 Asian Winter Games Speed skaters at the 2017 Asian Winter Games Medalists at the 2011 Asian Winter Games Asian Games gold medalists for China World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships medalists World Sprint Speed Skating Championships medalists Universiade medalists in speed skating Universiade gold medalists for China Universiade silver medalists for China Universiade bronze medalists for China Speed skaters at the 2007 Winter Universiade Competitors at the 2009 Winter Universiade Medalists at the 2007 Winter Universiade