Zhang made his debut in Speed Skating World Cup in December 2010 in Harbin and finished it in second place over 1000m in Division B. In January 2011 she was at the Sprint World Cup in Heerenveen ninth in the Sprint-around competition. At the individual distance world championships in 2011 in Inzell she came in ninth place over 2 × 500 m and seventh place over 1000 m. In the 2011/12 season she achieved a podium finish in the World Cup for the first time at the World Cup in Berlin with third place over 1000 m. She won the bronze medal at the 2012 Sprint World Championships in Calgary . In March 2012, she achieved 19th place over 2 × 500 m and seventh place over 1000 m at the individual distance world championships in Heerenveen. At the beginning of the following season she finished second over 1000 m at the World Cup in Heerenveen. At the World Cup in Harbin, she won her first World Cup victory in the second 1000 m run. She came second in the first 1000 m run. At the 2013 Sprint World Championship in Salt Lake City , she came in sixth. In March 2013 she took second place over 1000 m at the World Cup finals in Heerenveen and reached fifth place in the overall World Cup over 1000 m. In the same month she came at the individual distance world championships in Sochi on the ninth place over 2 × 500 m and on the seventh place over 1000 m. She won the silver medal at the 2014 Sprint World Championship in Nagano . In February 2014, she became Olympic champion over 1000 m at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and came fourth in the 2 × 500 m run. At the beginning of the 2015/16 season , she won her third World Cup victory in the second 500m run in Calgary. In addition, she took third place over 1000 m and second place in the first 500 m run and in the team sprint.
IOC membership
At the 2018 Winter Olympics, she was elected to the IOC Athletes' Commission for 8 years and is therefore also a full IOC member .
Personal bests
500 m 36.94 sec. (installed on November 15, 2015 in Calgary)
1000 m 1: 12.65 min. (installed on November 14, 2015 in Calgary)
1500 m 1: 59.42 min. (installed on November 16, 2012 in Heerenveen)
3000 m 4: 30.27 min. (installed on December 20, 2012 in Changchun)
5000 m 7: 43.08 min. (installed on December 21, 2012 in Changchun)
Participation in World Championships and Olympic Winter Games
Olympic games
2014 Sochi : 1st place 1000 m, 4th place 2 × 500 m
Individual distance world championships
2011 Inzell : 7th place 1000 m, 9th place 2 × 500 m
Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Chinese. Zhang is the family name here, Hong is the first name.