TESERO, Italy, March 12 (Xinhua) -- As a Beijing 2022 gold medalist, China's para skier Guo Yujie has yet to reach the podium at the Milan-Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games, in either para cross-country skiing or biathlon, with only three competition days remaining.

The 21-year-old told Xinhua she regarded the defeats as part of her growth as an athlete.

Photo: Xinhua

"We may embrace victories and suffer defeats in competitions. At the moment, I think how to face setbacks and get back on my feet are the most important things for me," Guo said.

In the para cross-country skiing women's sprint classic standing event on Tuesday, Guo failed to reach the final and finished 11th. In the two biathlon events she has contested at the Games, Guo, who won gold in the women's biathlon sprint standing at Beijing 2022, has also finished outside the medals at the Tesero Cross-Country Skiing Stadium.

"Actually, I have some injuries on my waist. However, that didn't affect me a lot in recent days," Guo said.

"What really troubled me are not injuries but mental pressures."

Guo competed at the Tesero venue in 2025 but did not achieve the results she hoped for. As a Paralympic champion, she had set a podium finish as her goal before arriving in Italy.

"However, the willingness was too strong. It brought me pressure and interrupted my shooting rhythm in the biathlon events," Guo said.

On Tuesday, midway through the semifinal, Guo fell while trying to chase the athletes ahead of her.

"I intended to change my skiing track. However, my waxed skis stuck on the snow due to the high temperature, making me fall," Guo recalled.

When she got back on the track, the young skier was exhausted. She finished sixth in her semifinal group and failed to qualify for the final.

Still, Guo believes she has a chance to win a medal in Milan-Cortina. Her next chance to achieve that goal comes in Friday's women's biathlon sprint pursuit standing event.

Four years ago, Guo and Wang Zhidong were named flag bearers for China's delegation at the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games.

Since then, Guo said her mindset has become more mature.

"When I began to practice biathlon, my coach said it is a sport that favors the elderly over the young. When I was young, I liked to be impatient and charge forward. After several years of training and competitions, I became patient," Guo said.

"I could have a more stable performance in shooting, but I have to admit that I might have encountered a period of stagnation since last season."

Recent setbacks, she said, have also brought new perspectives.

"I can suffer failures on the Paralympic stage. Then I can overcome any difficulty in my life," Guo said.

Guo has burst into tears many times in recent days. To cheer her up, teammate Wang Yue, who has already won two gold medals at Milan-Cortina, asked Guo to hold her medals when they were in the Paralympic Village.

"Besides Wang Yue, many of my teammates, coaches and officials encouraged me a lot. They said they believed in my abilities and strengths," Guo said, adding that the support made her feel warmth in Tesero.

Guo was born in March 2004 in Zhangjiakou, in north China's Hebei Province. Born with a disability in her left hand, she passed entrance tests for provincial para swimming and gymnastics teams as a child. Because of her parents' hesitation, she did not begin her sports career at that time.

When China began selecting para skiers for Beijing 2022 in the winter of 2015, Guo passed the test and joined the national biathlon team, marking a turning point in her life.

In the mixed zone, questions from reporters reminded Guo of the early days when her parents brought her to the national team's training base, more than a thousand kilometers from home.

"An owner of a grocery store near my base said my parents were heartless to let their daughter go so far from home. That sentence can still make my mom cry today," Guo recalled.

Despite her setbacks at Milan-Cortina, Guo still likes to apply makeup and place a Chinese national flag sticker on her face when competing against the world's best para athletes.

"Ever tried, ever failed, no matter. Try again, fail again, fail better," the 21-year-old said.