Training underway with half of Beijing 2022 athletes already arrived
Nearly half of all athletes for the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 have now arrived in China, and over the past few days have been familiarising themselves with the 12 competition venues following their opening for training.
In the mountain competition zones of Zhangjiakou and Yanqing, athletes have been testing out the cross-country skiing facilities.
Nearby, lots of teams have been training in the Zhangjiakou National Biathlon Centre. This includes Sweden, whose head coach, Johannes Lukas, told media earlier this week: "It really is a very cool stadium and the courses are very nice. I think the whole area is very good and it was a positive first day.”
Some of the first athletes to test out the Alpine skiing facilities in Yanqing included American skier Ryan Cochran-Siegle. He said: “First day skiing here in #Yanqing and I’m blown away by the venue we get to compete at. My PT and I took today to explore the whole mountain and got a good first look at everything. Spectacular snow and tantalizing terrain should make for some amazing race conditions!"
In Beijing, many of the ice venues have been busy. With lots of National Olympic Committees training in the “Ice Ribbon” for speed skating.
So far, several of the ice hockey teams have held on-ice sessions at the National Indoor Stadium and the Wukesong Sports Centre. This includes both the women’s teams and the men’s teams who have already arrived in Beijing.
Athletes from China, Italy and the USA were among the first figure skaters to take to the ice at the Capital Indoor Stadium.
Over the coming days, luge training will begin on 1 February, and bobsleigh and skeleton on 2 February, while Freestyle and snowboard athletes have two training slopes already available in the Genting Snow Park.
On first impressions, Polish snowboarder Oskar Kwiatkowski, in an interview published on the Polish Olympic Committee’s website, said that: "the Poles feel like we are in paradise". He explained: "While riding the lift, I spoke with one American who claimed that he had not seen such well-prepared objects [facilities] for a long time. It's something beautiful. Great snow, great driving pleasure, and the perfect temperature. It is supposed to be about minus 10 degrees Celsius, but you don't feel it at all due to the strong sun. There are no clouds. The weather is just perfect and it is supposed to last until our start."
His teammate, Weronika Biela-Nowaczyk, added: "These are the best conditions in which I have trained. The snow is perfect for me and I am impressed with the preparations”
Athletes who will be competing in big air in Shougang and those participating in the curling tournament in the Ice Cube are expected to begin training within the next few days as well, with mixed doubles curling one of the first competitions to begin, alongside luge, on 2 February.