Data map: Beijing National Speed Skating Stadium, citizens have skating experience accompanied by coaches. Image source: IC photo
Demystifying the ice team behind the “fastest ice”
Our reporter Zhao Xiaosong
“This is the best ice surface I have ever skated on!” “Competing on such a good ice surface, I immediately want to hit the PB (personal best score)!” “The ice surface here is really smooth, especially the aisle!” ——In the 2022-2023 National Speed Skating Youth Championships that ended earlier this month, almost all the players were full of praise for the ice surface of the National Speed Skating Stadium “Ice Ribbon” where the event was held.
These praises are the affirmation of the “Ice Ribbon” ice service team. After the successful completion of the support work for the Beijing Winter Olympics, the entire team continued to explore and gradually worked out a set of support work systems suitable for this “fastest ice”.
Meet the different needs of competitions and the public
Geng Baonan, Director of the Tourism and Ice Affairs Department of the National Speed Skating Hall, told reporters that in order to allow young athletes to better experience the “fastest ice” in this competition, the ice affairs team adjusted the thickness and temperature of the ice surface, as well as the relative humidity and temperature of the competition venue. Ambient temperature, etc. “These parameters are not fixed. They also need to be scientifically and dynamically adjusted according to the lighting settings in the stadium, the number of participants in the venue, and the number of spectators during the competition, so that the ice surface can be restored to the level of the Winter Olympics. Play your best.”
“Ice Ribbon” uses carbon dioxide transcritical direct cooling to make ice. The control of ice surface temperature is realized by adjusting the carbon dioxide temperature. Zhao Xianfeng, senior business manager of the National Speed Skating Stadium Facilities Department who is in charge of this work in the background, told reporters that there is a temperature difference between the ice surface and carbon dioxide, and the latter drives the former to adjust the temperature, but the process must be extra careful. He gave an example: “(The ice surface) needs to be lowered by one degree Celsius, and it takes about an hour to complete. If the drop is too fast, the ice surface may crack.”
The lower the temperature of the ice surface, the higher the hardness of the ice surface, and it is easier for athletes to ski well, but the risk of falling in the corner is also higher. Zhao Xianfeng said that after the Beijing Winter Olympics, the “Ice Ribbon” took the initiative to increase the temperature of the ice surface when it was open to the public to reduce the risk of amateurs when skating. When holding professional competitions, turn down the temperature and switch between “popular ice” and “fastest ice” according to different needs.
Ice replenishment and pouring work is easy
“An athlete fell on the corner, and the ice surface was damaged, and the ice needs to be replenished.” “Received! The ice service team will repair it immediately.” After receiving the notice from the corner referee, the staff on standby immediately brought wipes Shoveling and carrying a small bucket filled with snow at a suitable temperature to the damaged ice surface, first leveling it with snow, and then using liquid carbon dioxide to instantly cool the entire ice surface to make the temperature of the entire ice surface uniform – this is what the “Ice Ribbon” ice team did in this day. During the ice replenishment process on the first competition day of the 2nd National Speed Skating Youth Championship, the damaged ice surface was restored to its original state in less than two minutes.
In addition to replenishing the ice, another important task of the ice service team “in front of the stage” is pouring ice. During this competition, two ice pouring trucks will be dispatched every hour to clean and repair the ice debris and scratches on the ice.
It seems that it is just driving an ice pouring truck to “circle” on the ice. The technical content of this work is really not low. The cutting depth of the skates on the car and the amount of water need to be controlled accurately. In addition, the ice pouring vehicle is an engineering vehicle, and the driving difficulty is much higher than that of ordinary vehicles. “It’s not easy just to drive perfectly on the track without pressing the lane lines!” Geng Baonan said that the current ice car drivers in the team have rich experience in the industry, and have passed the Beijing Winter Olympics and other competitions. test.
The team also has “next-generation ice-making talents”
The “Ice Ribbon” has the largest multi-functional full-ice surface in the world using carbon dioxide transcritical direct cooling ice-making technology. For this reason, there is no ready-made experience that can be copied and referred to in the relevant ice surface protection work, and a set of the most suitable system needs to be accumulated through practice.
It is worth mentioning that the “Ice Ribbon” ice service team includes not only experienced old comrades, but also young people who study hard. At the beginning of the construction, the National Speed Skating Stadium and National Aquatics Center affiliated to Beijing State-owned Assets Corporation and Beijing Vocational College of Electronic Science and Technology jointly opened the “Double Ice Venue Ice-making Talent Order Class”. 24-year-old Zhang Qiang is one of them. A young man from Beijing who majored in heating, ventilation and air conditioning began to practice ice making at the “Ice Ribbon” during the 2021 test competition, and participated in the support work for the Beijing Winter Olympics. After two years of training, he has officially joined the “Ice Ribbon” ice service team, and began to take charge of the team alone, responsible for important tasks such as ice surface data monitoring.
Zhang Qiang told reporters that he was deeply impressed by the experience of working with Canadian senior ice maker Mark Pete Messer during the Beijing Winter Olympics. He has to do all the work by himself, and I admire his love for ice making.” He said, “From the test competition to now, the craftsman spirit of Chinese and foreign ice makers has always inspired me. I do what I do and love what I do. I hope that I If you can continue to cultivate on the road of ice maker, you will win glory for the country in this position in the future!”
[Responsible editor: Wu Wenda]