MILAN, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Chinese short track speed skater Sun Long clinched silver in the men's 1,000 meters event at the Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games on Thursday, earning the first Olympic medal of his career.

Sun Long of China celebrates after the short track speed skating men's 1000m final A at the Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan, Italy, Feb. 12, 2026. (Photo: Xinhua)

The two-time Olympian clocked one minute and 24.565 seconds, 0.028 seconds behind Jens van't Wout of the Netherlands. South Korea's Rim Jong-un secured bronze in 1:24.611.

"I just told myself to stay steady and take it round by round," Sun said, fighting back tears. "I didn't think about fighting for a specific medal. I focused on maintaining a favorable position and minimizing my own mistakes."

The medal came two days after Sun's error in the mixed team relay condemned China to a fourth-place finish, a result he acknowledged was difficult to process.

"It's not easy to recover in such a short time," Sun said. "But no one in the team blamed me. Everyone knew I was trying to create an overtaking opportunity. It was a long and tough day. Still, the competition doesn't wait for you. Once it's over, you have to move on and focus on the next race."

China's Liu Shaoang, bronze medalist in the event at Beijing 2022, finished fourth in his semifinal before topping final B, placing sixth overall. Lin Xiaojun failed to advance to the semifinals, finishing 17th.

"There were two errors in the semifinal that shouldn't have happened," two-time Olympic champion Liu said. "I felt I skated well today. I can't say I'm very satisfied with the sixth place, but it's okay."

Liu added he was proud of Sun's breakthrough performance, which marked China's first podium finish in short track at the Milan-Cortina Games. "When he crossed the finish line, he didn't know what place he had finished," Liu noted. "I was cheering for him from the sidelines, but there were so many spectators he probably couldn't hear me."

After the race, the two Chinese skaters embraced each other. "He hugged me and said 'well done'," Sun said. "I believe we'll come back even stronger in the next race."