Chinese skiers overcome injuries to win Olympic medals

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China's Zhang Xin completed three jumps in women's freestyle skiing aerials finals on Friday, sealing a silver medal, and her compatriot Kong Fanyu earned bronze. CGTN caught all the action, and interviewed the two medalists.

Zhang was the fifth to compete in the third round of the finals and the 32-year-old got 95.52 to claim a silver medal. "For me I am very happy about the result, but for our team, our goal was gold medal, so there are disappointment and regrets," she said.

Kong would have won the first gold for China if she beat Belarus' Hanna Huskova, but she faltered and had to settle for bronze with 70.14 points.

China's Kong Fanyu, the bronze medalist celebrates on the podium during the victory ceremony for the women's aerials event. /VCG Photo

"This is my first Olympics, I was hoping to gain experience and learn. I didn't think too much about the result. I just want to be myself. Of course I would yearn for the gold, but my last run was not perfect," Kong said.

However Sochi Olympics silver medalist Xu Mengtao washed out in the second round after a blunder in landing ended her campaign. She got only 59.25 points and ranked last, getting eliminated.

"Actually I didn't pay too much attention to Xu Mengtao's fault because I didn’t see her competing, when I was standing by for the final run, I didn't see her and I was assuming that she might made faults in the second run," Zhang said. "I didn’t pay too much attention though because I didn’t perform very well during practicing prior to the competition, so I was mainly focusing on my own moves," she added.

Zhang Xin seals a silver medal in the freestyle skiing women's aerials. /VCG photo

Just one month ago, Zhang was competing in the US and got injured during practice. She suffered a meniscus tear on her left knee. It was very serious at the time, and when the China National Team was selecting athletes for the PyeongChang Winter Games, her injury was a concern.

"I want to express my gratitude to my country and my team for trusting me, because of this I get the chance to finish my competition today," Zhang said. "I feel a little bit sorry because our team China have claimed three consecutive silver medals at Olympics for this sport, and we were aiming for the gold."