ST. MORITZ, Switzerland, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- Chinese luger Bao Zhenyu finished 14th in the men's singles at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games here at the Olympia Bob Run on Saturday, but was seen big potential by his coach en route to the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games.

Failing to reach in the pre-tournament goal of a top 10 finish, the 18-year-old Bao raced to the 11th in his first run and finished 14th overall with a time of one minute and 50.905 seconds over two runs.

Tony Benshoof, coach of the Chinese luge team, said Bao had problems at the start of both runs, especially the second one.

"The first curve is challenging and he had some problem with that. We did not reach our goal today. It's very close, but unfortunately, he was a few tenths of seconds slow," he said.

Having nine test runs before the competition, Bao said the Olympia Bob Run was not a difficult track, but it was hard to reach a good result.

"It feels more comfortable to race on a natural track than an artificial one," said Bao, "It's snowy today, so the speed is not as fast as usual. But everyone is a bit slower."

A year ago, Bao participated in the Luge World Cup at St. Moritz, but his coach said it's no help to him in Saturday's race.

"It's a natural track here and every year is different. That makes the track unique. Every year you have to learn the track all over again. It's similar but not exactly the same," said Benshoof.

"Overall, his sliding is very good and he's getting much better. Luge is a sport that takes lots of experience. Bao is still very young and he's improving every day," commented the 45-year-old American.

Bao is believed to be one of the talents in China's luge team and is expected to make much more progress before making his way to the Beijing Winter Olympics.

"Only one year ago, he was much worse than right now. He has made big improvements in the last year. We have a lot of time before Beijing 2022," Benshoof said. "If he continues to work hard and improve, he can do very well in the Olympics."

Bao will participate in the team relay on Monday before racing the next World Cup tournament at Sigulda, Latvia.

"For the World Cup, our target is to qualify. It's not easy and he has only five runs to qualify the final. That's a big step for Bao. He has never done that before. If he can do that, it's a big thing," said Benshoof.

Gints Berzins from Latvia lifted the men's singles trophy with a time of 1:48.045, while Russia's Pavel Repilov claimed the silver at 0.184 seconds and German Timon Grancagnolo was third at further 0.607s.

The women singles silver medalist Jessica Doreen Degenhardt from Germany, pairing with her fellow compatriot Vanessa Schneider, claimed the victory of women's doubles competition on Saturday, finishing 1:51.443 over two runs. The silver and bronze went to Canadian and Latvian duos respectively. Enditem

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