Xu made his first international appearance at the 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck . There he won the bronze medal over 500 m and 1000 m and the silver medal with the relay. At the beginning of the 2014/15 season he made his debut in Salt Lake City in the World Cup and finished 19th in the 1500 m. With the relay he reached second place there. At the World Cup in Seoul , he came third in the relay. At the 2015 World Championships in Moscow , he won the gold medal with the 5000 m relay. The following year he repeated this success at the 2016 World Championships in Seoul. At the Junior World Championships in Sofia in 2016 , he won over 500 m and the gold medal with the relay. In the 2016/17 season he won the World Cup in Salt Lake City and Shanghai with the relay. At the 2017 World Championships in Rotterdam , he won the silver medal with the relay. In February 2017, he won the gold medal with the relay at the Winter Asian Games in Sapporo . The following season he came in second at the World Cup in Budapest and in Dordrecht on third place with the relay. At the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang , Xu won the silver medal in the 5000 m relay. In March 2018 he won the silver medal in the 3000 m at the World Championships in Montreal . In December 2018 he finished third with the relay and the mixed relay at the World Cup in Almaty . At the 2019 World Championships in Sofia, he won the silver medal with the relay. In the all-around competition he achieved 12th place there.
Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Chinese. Xu is the family name here, Hongzhi is the first name.