FILE: Changchun City, Jilin Province, northeast China - Nov 2-5, 2021 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
1. Young athlete Li Tianma performing freestyle aerial skiing
2. Various of Li training
3. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Li Tianma, freestyle ski aerial athlete (ending with shots 4-7):
"I came to Changchun to learn freestyle ski aerial at the age of nine. There were no overwhelming challenges during the training. I would encounter small setbacks sometimes and solved them by communicating with the coach in time."
4. Chinese national flag printed on Li's T-shirt
5. Li training
6. Li talking with coach
7. Various of Li training
8. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Li Tianma, freestyle ski aerial athlete (ending with shot 9):
"I hurt my shoulder during 2018's Freestyle Aerial World Cup Competition in Russia. It was my first time attending a World Cup event. I wasn't quite adaptable to the venue and made some mistakes."
9. Li in interview
10. Li in training center
11. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Wang Shuang, Li Tianma's coach (ending with shot 12):
"At Li Tianma's age, his technical level and capabilities are among the best in the country."
11. Various of Li talking with coach
12. Young short track speed skater Ren Xingchen tying shoes before training
13. Young skaters gathering before training
14. Various of skating training in progress
15. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Ren Xingchen, short track speed skater (starting with shot 14/ending with shot 16):
"It's been five years since I started practicing short track speed skating at the age of nine. We usually train from eight or nine o'clock in the morning to noon, and practice on ice after dinner."
16. Various of short track speed skating training in progress
17. Various of Ren in physical training
18. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Yuan Ye, Ren Xingchen's coach (ending with shots 19-20):
"In recent years, more and more children and teenagers are encouraged to learn ice and snow sports thanks to the national campaign. Currently in Jilin province alone, we have several thousand young athletes who are training [in short speed track skating]."
19. Various of Yuan instructing young skaters
20. Skating training in progress
21. Various of young athletes in physical training
22. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Jiang Wenbo, director, press department, Changchun Winter Sports Management Center (partially overlaid with shots 23-24):
"Our center will expand the group of talents for snow sports and send more talents to outstanding provincial-level teams. In recent years, we have kept enhancing our training capabilities by collaborating with other cities in the province and across the country on venues and human resources, and deepening cooperation with the local education sector to promote winter sports on campus. We will continue to play our role in cultivating young talents and aims to provide a sufficient pool of talents for China's winter sports and Olympics."
++SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
23. Various of young athletes training at Changchun Winter Sports Management Center
24. Banner on wall promoting winter sports
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25. Various of young athletes training at Changchun Winter Sports Management Center

As China continues to spot and groom aspiring athletes, the freezing winters in the northeast province of Jilin has provided ample training ground for future champions in the world's most prestigious sporting competitions.

At a training center in Changchun City of Jilin, a young freestyle ski aerial athlete was performing a series of dazzling techniques including somersaults and twists. The 20-year-old Li Tianma, born in Jiangsu Province in east China, has been training at the Changchun Winter Sports Management Center in Jilin for around 10 years.

"I came to Changchun to learn freestyle ski aerial at the age of nine. There were no overwhelming challenges during the training. I would encounter small setbacks sometimes and solved them by communicating with the coach in time," said Li.

After years of hard work, Li nabbed first place in the compulsory exercise part of the freestyle ski aerial in 2019's National Youth Games.

But his competition experience hasn't always been smooth sailing.

"I hurt my shoulder during 2018's Freestyle Aerial World Cup Competition in Russia. It was my first time attending a World Cup event. I wasn't quite adaptable to the venue and made some mistakes," said the young athlete.

Li said he had to stop training for two months after the injury. As the winter training season lasts for only four months, the accident affected him a lot. He said the coach helped him a lot during that period.

Wang Shuang, Li's coach at the Changchun Winter Sports Management Center, considers the boy a promising competitor.

""At Li Tianma's age, his technical level and capabilities are among the best in the country," said Wang.

Besides freestyle ski aerial, the management center also trains Chinese young talents in 10 other winter sports, such as figure skating and ice hockey.

Ren Xingchen is a short track speed skater. The 14-year-old has been training in this sport for five years and has claimed several first prizes in contests at provincial and national levels.

"It's been five years since I started practicing short track speed skating at the age of nine. We usually train from eight or nine o'clock in the morning to noon, and practice on ice after dinner," he said.

"In recent years, more and more children and teenagers are encouraged to learn ice and snow sports thanks to the national campaign. Currently in Jilin province alone, we have several thousand young athletes who are training [in short speed track skating]," said Yuan Ye, Ren's coach.

The Changchun Winter Sports Management Center was founded in 1978, and after four decades of development, the center has trained several world champions of ice and snow sports. These include Zhao Weichang, the flag bearer of China's first-ever delegation to a Winter Olympics, the 1980 games in Lake Placid, Zhou Yang, the Olympic women's short track 1,500-meter gold medalist, and Chen Lu, China's first figure skating women's singles world champion.

Building on its track record, the center is planning to provide more young talents for the country's winter sports.

"Our center will expand the group of talents for snow sports and send more talents to outstanding provincial-level teams. In recent years, we have kept enhancing our training capabilities by collaborating with other cities in the province and across the country on venues and human resources, and deepening cooperation with the local education sector to promote winter sports on campus. We will continue to play our role in cultivating young talents and aims to provide a sufficient pool of talents for China's winter sports and Olympics," said Jiang Wenbo, director of Press Department of Changchun Winter Sports Management Center.

Like other aspiring athletes, Li Tianma and Ren Xingchen have set their eyes on the world's most prestigious sporting competition - the Olympics.

They believe their years of hard work and dedication will pay off and that they could participate in the next Winter Games.