With the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics less than 15 months away, two-time world champion pair figure skaters Sui Wenjing and Han Cong face a race against time to compete as Han recovers from hip surgery.
Sui Wenjing and Han Cong
2020 has been a difficult year for all, but also marked the 14th year of their partnership. Sui and Han have been through the ups and downs in life, glories and defeats on ice. Their career has been a rollercoaster, struggling with health issues. As a result, Sui and Han have learned to live with injuries and rehabilitations, and have surprised the world as comeback kids.
Talking about injuries, Sui became serious. "We both know that we are not born skaters. We are not tall enough and our height difference is not big enough. But our hard work paid off. And it's normal that injuries come with practice," said the 25-year-old. "It gave us enormous satisfaction every time we achieved something and went one step further. It's all about experience."
In 2015, Sui had ankle surgery on both feet, meaning that she had to learn to walk again before she could even think about skating. "I didn't even know if I could walk again," Sui said.
Fortunately, Sui fully recovered one year later. Performing to "Bridge Over Troubled Water", Sui and Han won the pairs gold medal at the 2017 World Figure Skating Championships for the first time, ending China's seven-year wait for another title.
Sui Wenjing and Han Cong
The joy didn't last long. After winning silver at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, Sui underwent another surgery on her right foot and had to sit out over half the season. Nobody expected that Sui and Han would come back as world champions yet again at the 2019 World Figure Skating Championships.
With the World Figure Skating Championships in Montreal, Canada canceled due to COVID-19, Han returned to China to have hip joint surgery in April. Despite a speedy recovery, Han still couldn't make it to the ISU Figure Skating Grand Prix Cup of China this November.
"I went to visit him shortly after his surgery and found that he was already able to walk with a crutch. It was way better than I expected so I'm not that worried," Sui smiled.
Han was even more optimistic. "My injury was not that bad and I'm pretty confident about it. I will take my time to make a full recovery."
Sui Wenjing and Han Cong
"I've learned a lot from my injuries in the past years," added Han. "It's not always a bad thing. You have to face it without fear and just deal with it. It would all add up to something significant in my future career."
With Han undergoing rehabilitation, Sui has had to find new practise partners to stay fit - just as Han did when Sui was injured. "My first practise partner was my coach Zhao Hongbo," said Sui cheerfully. "With different partners, I came to know what advantages to keep on top and what to improve next. The only thing I can do without my partner is to enhance my own skills."
With not much time left before the 2022 Winter Olympics, Sui and Han remain quite confident. "The most important thing for me is to get rid of injury first and gravity next. Higher and further is our goal," said Sui. "We need to improve the quality of our moves. What matters more though is to stay away from injuries to make it to the Olympics."
Sui Wenjing and Han Cong
Sui is younger and more outgoing, while Han is more mature. With 14 years of practising and competing together, Sui and Han are more than just partners and friends, but rather family with mutual trust and tacit understanding.
"It really helps our performance on the ice and let us strive for a shared goal," said Sui.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas City Chiefs appear to be mere days away from taking a big step toward a move across the state line, and eventually leaving their longtime home at Arrowhead Stadium in Missouri for a new and likely covered stadium in Kansas.
With a year-end deadline approaching, the Legislative Coordinating Council is scheduled to meet Monday in Topeka, Kansas, where it will consider approving STAR bonds that would fund up to 70% of a stadium project to help lure the NFL franchise to the state.
The Chiefs and the Kansas City Royals have played for more than 50 years in side-by-side stadiums in Jackson County, Missouri. But those leases are due to expire in January 2031, and the two franchises have been working for years on their future plans.
Voters in Jackson County soundly defeated a local sales tax extension last year that would have helped to finance an $800 million renovation of Arrowhead and a $2 billion ballpark district for the Royals in downtown Kansas City. Since then, the Chiefs and Royals have pursued separate plans, though momentum appears to be growing behind both of them moving to Kansas.
The likely destination for the Chiefs is The Legends, a regional shopping mall and commercial area in Kansas City, Kansas. There is plenty of land available for a stadium and mixed-use commercial district, but it also has anchors in place, such as Kansas Speedway, the Hollywood Casino and Children's Mercy Park, the home of Major League Soccer club Sporting Kansas City.
The location is also ideal because it stands at the crossroads of Interstates 70 and 435, allowing for relatively easy traffic flow.
“The state of Kansas is in active discussions with the Kansas City Chiefs about the prospects of building a new stadium and other facilities in Kansas,” the Kansas Department of Commerce said in a statement. “No final agreement has been reached, but this would be a massive economic win for Kansas and benefit Kansans for generations to come. We are aggressively pursuing this opportunity.”
It would also be a massive loss for Missouri, which lost the St. Louis Rams to Los Angeles a decade ago, and Gov. Mike Kehoe. He had backed a special legislative session in June to authorize bonds covering up to 50% of the cost of new or renovated stadiums, plus up to $50 million of tax credits for each stadium and unspecified aid from local governments.
Missouri's move came after Kansas lawmakers had approved their own bond package in an attempt to land the two franchises.
Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt has long said that his preference would be to renovated Arrowhead Stadium, which was beloved by his father and team founder, the late Lamar Hunt. But by building an enclosed facility, the Chiefs would have access to revenue streams not available at Arrowhead Stadium, such as new luxury seating and the ability to host year-round sporting events.
That could mean fulfilling another dream of Lamar Hunt: hosting a Super Bowl.
While the Royals will not be discussed during the LCC meeting Monday, that doesn't mean they couldn't be moving across the state line as well. There is a groundswell of support for the team to move to the suburb of Overland Park, Kansas, and a tract of land known as the Aspiria Campus that once served as the headquarters for Sprint and now houses the offices of several companies.
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, who has been working to keep both of the professional sports franchises on the Missouri side of the state line, issued a statement Thursday night saying that the city doesn’t negotiate in public.
“As the city and our Missouri partners continue discussions with our long-term partners at the Chiefs and the Royals," the statement read, “we remain steadfast in working toward an arrangement in the best interest of our community and the greatest success of our teams on and off the field.”
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) scrambles as Los Angeles Chargers safety Tony Jefferson (23) defends during the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)
