China celebrated a landmark day at the Beijing World Cup on Saturday as Xinyu Lin claimed the country’s first World Cup victory and Xirui Zhang became its first male medallist at this level.
Kate Waugh continued her strong finish to the season with bronze behind Lin and Hungary’s Márta Kropkó, while Max Studer extended his winning record on Chinese soil in the men’s race.
But torrential rain made for a punishing day at Yanqi Lake, where Gwen Jorgensen’s World Cup podium streak ended with a distant 25th place.
A historic double for China
There were two breakthroughs for the home supporters to celebrate, with Zhang’s silver in the morning followed by Lin going one better in the women’s race.
Lin settled the gold-medal contest with an acceleration around 150 metres from the finish, finally shaking off Kropkó to win by five seconds in 2:00:33.
Her race-best 33:51 run delivered another major success following her recent Asian Games title.
Waugh keeps the medals coming
Waugh’s late-season resurgence continued with another individual bronze to follow her podium at the WTCS Finals in Pontevedra.
The Briton has also helped Great Britain win mixed relay gold in Rome during that spell, an encouraging sequence after injuries disrupted her season.
In Beijing, she put herself in contention by making the seven-woman breakaway on the bike.
Waugh initially stayed with Lin and Kropko on the run before the leading pair moved clear. She held third in 2:01:28, finishing 55 seconds behind the winner and 25 seconds ahead of Huang.