Beijing venues unfamiliar to some Canadian Olympians due to COVID-19

Canada's Olympic champion Justin Kripps is a big fan of the bobsled track at the Yanqing National Sliding Centre in China, particularly the 360-degree spiral corner that drops about 20 metres and shoots him out after what feels like "a couple of minutes."

Kripps got to know the Beijing Olympic bobsled venue, which boasts the world's longest artificial bobsled track, snaking 1,975 metres down the mountain, during the Games test event last fall.

Kripps is one of the lucky ones.

COVID-19 restrictions severely limited access to Olympic venues, so many of the Canadian teams were cramming to study courses upon arrival at the Games.

Peter Judge, the CEO of Freestyle Canada, said this is a first — the Canadian team has never competed at a major Games or world championships with such limited access to venues.

"So it's definitely new ground for us," Judge said. "But many of the other sports are in the same situation just because of restricted entry into China because of COVID."

Out of the freestyle ski disciplines, only halfpipe had a test event.

"The mogul courses and the aerial courses — particularly aerials — are pretty much standard from venue to venue, the parameters are pretty tight," Judge said. "But certainly, for slopestyle, it will be a pretty big challenge because it will be something that they haven't seen or experienced before.

"There's a lot of unknown going into these Games, much more than we've ever experienced before not having test events."

Angled takeoffs for snowboarders

Australian snowboard course designer Charles Beckinsale attempted to build replicas of the Beijing slopestyle and big air features for athletes training at Whistler, B.C., piecing together what he could from PDF files of the Olympics schematics and Instagram posts by athletes who'd been to China for test runs.

"We're basically trying to get as close as we can with what we know and as close as we can with the terrain and the snow that we have to work with here," Beckinsale said a couple of weeks ago. "They've got these angled takeoffs that they use, we built those. But even if they're not exactly the same it'll be quite similar.

"It'll get Mark [McMorris, Canada's snowboard star] in the habit of taking off on an off-camber angle like that and using his edge."

Off-camber is when the outside edge is lower than the inside, so the opposite of banking.

"So, even if it's not exactly the same, it's still relative to what he's going to be expecting," added Beckinsale.

I believe they've built a wind wall. So, hopefully, we ... only have to deal with cold temperatures.— Canadian freestyle skier Brendan Mackay

Four years after dangerously strong winds wreaked havoc on the slopestyle events at the Pyeongchang Winter Games in South Korea, the same course designers Schneestern GmbH & Co., have incorporated a "Great Wall" of snow that runs the length of the course at Genting Resort Secret Garden. It's both a protective measure for athletes against the prevailing west winds, and a cultural nod to China. It will surely make for stunning visuals on TV broadcasts.

Wind has been a concern at Beijing venues after the worst sandstorm in a decade, originating in Mongolia, blanketed the city and mountain venues last spring.

Canadian freestyle skier Brendan Mackay competed in the halfpipe test event, and said wind was an issue.

"The halfpipe is comparable to Calgary because it's generally really cold and really windy," said Mackay, who captured his first World Cup victory last month in Calgary. "I believe they've built a wind wall, which is really nice. So, hopefully we won't have to deal with the winds and only have to deal with cold temperatures.

"So, the halfpipe itself is fantastic, and if we're not dealing with winds, I think we can expect a really high level of competition."

'Bird's Nest' hosting opening, closing ceremonies

Beijing Olympic venues are spread across three hubs, with the ice events being held in the city. The Yanqing zone, which is in a mountainous area 75 kilometres northwest of Beijing, is staging the alpine skiing events, plus bobsled, luge and skeleton. And Zhangjiakou, a popular ski destination 180 km northwest of Beijing, is staging much of the ski and snowboarding events, including freestyle, cross-country, ski jumping, Nordic combined and biathlon.

Beijing is the first city in history to host both a Summer and Winter Olympics, and has incorporated some of the venues from the 2008 Summer Games.

The 80,000-seat National Stadium, also known as the "Bird's Nest" for its unique web of 35 kilometres of twisting steel, was the centrepiece of the 2008 Games, and will host the 2022 opening and closing ceremonies.

The newly named Ice Cube is also a legacy from '08. Known then as the Water Cube, the brightly coloured rectangular building meant to resemble a collection of soap bubbles was home to swimming. It's been transformed into the curling venue, with the rink being constructed overtop of the pool.

"I think we all watched back in 2008 in Beijing when the facility was used as a swimming pool and there were a lot of records set," said Scott Pfeifer, Canada's curling mixed doubles coach. "It is a great venue, one of the iconic ones, from the outside seeing all the lights changing right across from the Beijing opening ceremonies, the [Bird's] Nest there.

"I'm sure there's going to be fantastic icemaking with [chief ice technician] Hans Wuthrich, who has done a lot of international events, including the last Olympic Winter Games. We're excited about playing in that venue and I think it's going to be a great show for everyone to watch."

Long track venue only newly constructed arena

The two hockey venues have been repurposed from 2008. The 18,000-seat Wukesong Sports Centre hosted basketball in 2008. And the National Indoor Stadium, nicknamed "The Fan" because it resembles a Chinese folding fan, hosted rhythmic gymnastics, trampoline and handball in 2008.

Capital Indoor Stadium, home to volleyball in '08, is the site for figure skating and short track speed skating.

The Ice Ribbon, the long track speed skating venue, is the only newly constructed arena for the Games. It boasts an ice surface of 12,000 square metres and is the first speed-skating venue to use carbon dioxide as a refrigerant at a Games.

Big Air Shougang, the only outdoor venue in the city, is hosting snowboard and freestyle skiing big air events. One of the most visually striking venues of the Games, it resembles a giant crystal stiletto when it's lit up at night. It was constructed on the site of an old steel mill that was shut down before the '08 Games due to concerns about air pollution.

The bobsled, skeleton and luge venue, meanwhile, was constructed to resemble the shape of a mythical Chinese dragon. The bobsleds will negotiate 16 corners while travelling at nearly 135 km/h. The track favours experienced drivers, said Kripps, who captured gold in the two-man event at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

"I really like that because it gives you a chance to build a lot of speed down the track, and lots of places to make mistakes and cost you on time," said Kripps, who was fourth in both the two-man and four-man at the Beijing test event. "I feel like it's going to make for some really exciting racing.

"They've done a really good job of incorporating some really unique corners into the design. It's got some really interesting features."

While some sports began play on Wednesday, the Olympics officially open on Friday.