Zhangyu Li hopes to be back in full form at Tokyo 2020

After an interrupted training schedule, Zhangyu Li felt there was no guarantee of success at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. But the Chinese still walked away with two gold medals in the men’s 3,000m individual pursuit C1 and the 1,000m time trial C1, including a world record in the latter.

“Before I went to Rio, I was seriously injured during training. It was bad that I couldn’t keep on with normal training. Without enough training, no good competition result can be guaranteed,” said Li, who also won one gold, one silver and one bronze at London 2012.

Li is now training hard with a provincial team to regain fitness and recover from his past injuries, hoping to resolve them before his next major event. But due to his current condition, there’s no telling when this event will be.

“I am not sure whether I will compete at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games or not, mainly because of my injury. My physical condition decides if I can make it to Tokyo. But I will try my best and cooperate with my coach for proper training.”

The 29-year-old said he still feels motivated to practice the sport, but admits his life and priorities changed since his child was born.

“I took a long vacation after Rio to be with my newborn son. I owe him and my family a lot of time since I could not be with them as much as I wanted because of my trips.”