BEIJING, January 8 (Xinhua) – China’s winter sports athletes are turning to high-tech facilities and advanced approaches in their preparations for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
The national skeleton team is currently based in Yanqing, one of the three competition zones for the 2022 Winter Games. .
The national jumping squad has moved from Beidahu in Jilin Province to Laiyuan in Hebei Province, which offers a jumping platform, wind tunnel and other physical training facilities.
Team leader Xu Gaohang noted that “very few teams in the world can use such a good wind tunnel for training. We have very good scientific research and training environment. Now it’s about training and improving.”
Xu added that the team has prepared individual training plans for the athletes.
“The older ski jumpers will focus on fine-tuning their movements while trying to avoid injuries. For the young athletes, they have to go through intensive training,” he said.
Meanwhile, the national ski team has used the ski simulator, developed by the Chinese company Sky Tech Sport, to improve the performance of athletes, as the technically supported sports equipment has undergone successful runs at both the Sochi and PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games in 2014.
Feng He, a member of the national snowboard cross team, said that technical support has increased their self-confidence. “It really helps. My goal for 2021 is to do my best to stand on the podium again in International Snow Federation events and fight for the championship,” he said.
That feeling was repeated by Tang Jialin, who is currently in the biathlon team’s training camp in Chongli, the city that will host six disciplines during the 2022 Winter Olympics.
“Even though we could not test our abilities after the test events were interrupted, all athletes were still driven to get the best out of ourselves, to keep fit and competitive,” says Tang.
The Chinese curling team has been training regularly in Shougang Industry Park, where the Beijing 2022 Organizing Committee is located, for almost a year. The Swedish head coach Peja Lindholm said that he is considering holding training sessions regularly at the Olympic venue before the games.
“I hope we get to know the venue facilities in advance,” said Lindholm, who previously won three world titles and a couple of European championships during a career that spanned two decades.
Source: sn.dk