Chinese speed skater Yin Qi is looking for ways to remain on Olympic ice long after Milano-Cortina 2026, whether as an athlete, or, eventually, as a coach.

Yin placed 12th in the women's 1,000 meters on Monday with a time of 1 minute, 15.87 seconds, improving on the 15th-place finish of her Winter Olympics debut at Beijing 2022.

"Overall, I felt quite clear-headed in my skating today," Yin said.

"Step by step, from technical execution to other aspects, everything was fairly normal. The tactical plan and energy distribution were also pretty good."

After Beijing 2022, Yin chose to study overseas, joining a university-based training program in Canada, as she began thinking seriously about a future coaching career. Her long-held ambition, she said, is to remain part of the Olympic ecosystem across multiple Games.

"I want to keep making progress for Chinese speed skating. I want to learn more," Yin said. "There are many coaches who have been to six, 10 or even 11 Olympic Games. I hope that, at every Olympic Games, I can still be on the ice."

Yin said studying abroad has been demanding but has left little time for loneliness, with her days filled by classes and training from early morning until the evening.

"The biggest change is that it's much harder," she said with a laugh."But I've gained a lot."

She said the experience has strengthened her ability to analyze problems and make adjustments during races.

"I've gained much more experience, and my mind is definitely sharper than it was four years ago," she said.

That approach was evident in Monday's race, where Yin could be seen applying additional force through one leg during her sprint, an adjustment she described as a tactical experiment.

"During my training abroad, I've watched many athletes and different skating styles," she said. "I tried borrowing sprinting elements from the 500m. I thought that if I could be faster, even by a little, it might help, so I gave it a try."

Yin said she once dreamed of attending elite universities in China while balancing her skating career, a goal she believes she has now achieved through a different path.

"I chose to go abroad instead," she said. "More importantly, I wanted to see how overseas training systems work, what we can learn from them and where our own strengths lie."

Next up for the 33-year-old Yin is the women's 1,500m, scheduled to be contested on Feb 20.

When probed on what her next steps would be following the Games, she responded: "Honestly, I haven't even thought beyond my 1,500m race yet. Right now, I'm just focused on that. I just want to skate every meter well."

Xinhua