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 Olympic record set by a skater at the Ice Ribbon during the ongoing Games, proving that the venue is indeed the “fastest ice”.
As the only newly-built ice venue for Beijing 2022, the Ice Ribbon hosts the speed skating competitions, which will offer 14 gold medals.
The interior of the National Speed Skating Oval (People’s Daily Online/Hu Xuerong)
The Ice Ribbon produces the largest ice surface in Asia with an area of 12,000 square meters. The Winter Olympic venue uses carbon dioxide transcritical direct cooling ice-making technology, which is more advanced, environmentally friendly and saves more energy than traditional methods. .
While traditional technology can maintain a temperature consistency of between 1.5 and 2 degrees Celsius across ice surfaces, the carbon dioxide transcritical direct cooling icemaking technology keeps the temperature difference on the ice surface below 0.5 degrees Celsius, which is beneficial for athletes and helps them to log good results.
