Ice-making technicians inspired by athletes’ good results at the Ice Ribbon

Ireen Wust (R) of the Netherlands competes during the women's 1,500m final of speed skating at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 7, 2022. (Xinhua/Wang Fei)

On Feb. 7, Dutch speed skater Ireen Wust won gold in the women’s 1,500m held at the National Speed Skating Oval, known as the Ice Ribbon, by clocking one minute and 53.28 seconds, setting a new Olympic record.

“This is the third day in a row that a new speed skating record has been set at the Ice Ribbon,” said Shao Yi, director of the ice-making team at the National Speed Skating Oval.

As the only newly-built ice venue for Beijing 2022, the Ice Ribbon hosts the speed skating competitions, during which a total of 166 athletes will compete for 14 gold medals. At the beginning of January, an 18-member ice-making team was established, consisting of 12 ice making technicians and their assistants from China, as well as international ice-making experts.

Shao took part in the first ice-making activity at the Ice Ribbon, an ice-making activity ahead of the test activities, an ice-making activity ahead of the test competitions, and an ice-making activity prior to the Beijing Olympic Winter Games.

Different from the first three ice-making activities during which the ice-making technicians were required to place two Olympics-themed logos, while preparing ice for the Beijing Olympic Winter Games, they had to place six logos, with the longest one, “Beijing 2022,” being more than 20 meters in length. To ensure that the logos would be placed at correct locations, the technicians first built prototypes of the logos, put them on the ice surface to figure out optimal locations for them, and then placed the logos at the marked locations. Despite the complicated procedures and the intensity of the work, they eventually completed the ice-making task on time.

With its ice surface covering an area of 12,000 square meters, the Ice Ribbon has the largest ice surface in the world built through the use of the carbon dioxide transcritical direct cooling ice-making technology, which achieved near-zero carbon emissions. In addition, the ice making technology keeps the temperature difference on the ice surface below 0.5 degrees Celsius, which can increase ice-making efficiency by more than 20 percent and helps the athletes achieve better results.

“We feel enormously inspired seeing that the athletes are constantly getting good results during the Games,” Shao expressed, disclosing that his team has been making meticulous efforts to maintain the ice surface on a daily basis. On Feb.7, they watered the ice surface eight times to increase its smoothness.

“Seeing the athletes creating new records at the Ice Ribbon, we feel that the Chinese ice-making technicians are writing our history, too,” said Shao, expressing hope that his ice-making team can demonstrate the craftsmanship of Chinese ice-making technicians on broader international stages.