Although shocked and wounded, Sun will never give up fighting and is expected to compete in the men's 5,000m relay, Liu said.

"I believe he won't give up, none of us would although we are having a hard time," Liu said, who won two Olympic gold medals in 5,000m relay at Peyongchang 2018 and 500m at Beijing 2022, both representing his born nation Hungary.

"We will pull it through anyway, even without luck on our side. We will never back down in the face of challenges, and we will do it together as a team," Liu said, who chose to switch his nationality and represent his father's native country China in 2023.

Earlier on Saturday, during the women's 3,000m relay, China's quartet of Gong Li, Zhang Chutong, Yang Jingru, and Wang Xinran finished first in the Final B to eventually rank fifth overall in the team event.