Ice-making completed at Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic ice hockey venue

BEIJING -- The ice-making at Beijing's National Indoor Stadium has been completed, and the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics ice hockey venue is ready for test competitions, the Beijing Major Projects Construction Headquarters Office announced on Thursday.

After two years of renovation, the venue, which hosted gymnastics, trampoline and handball events during the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, has been transformed into a winter sports venue, with two main halls. One hall is used for formal competitions, while the other is for pre-competition training and warm-up.

According to the venue's operations team, the ice-making work began on January 22, consisting of 11 layers. Through the use of advanced monitoring equipment, staff could check the ice structure layer by layer and correct it at any time to keep the overall flatness error within 5 millimetres.

In order to improve the competition and viewing experience, the National Indoor Stadium also boasts an advanced sports lighting system that meets Olympic requirements.