(Beijing Winter Olympics) Breaking records every day, why is the ice of the "Ice Ribbon" so silky?
China News Agency, Beijing, February 8 (Wang Hao) With the strong sprint of Dutch player Neuss, the "Ice Ribbon" broke out with enthusiastic cheers.
In just a few minutes, the Olympic record was rewritten again.
This is what happened in the men's 1,500-meter speed skating competition on the evening of the 8th. In the end, News successfully won the championship.
While News broke the 20-year-old men's 1,500-meter Olympic record in speed skating, the "record" of the "ice ribbon" that created a new Olympic record every day also continued.
The Beijing Winter Olympics speed skating event has a total of 14 events, all of which are held in the "Ice Ribbon" of the National Speed Skating Stadium.
Since the official start of the competition on February 5, "breaking the Winter Olympics record" has become the only way for champions of various events.
In the women's 3,000 meters, Holland's Schouten won the championship and broke the Olympic record; in the men's 5,000 meters, Sweden's Van der Poel won the championship and broke the Olympic record; in the women's 1,500 meters, the Netherlands' Worcester won the championship and broke the Olympic record.
In the men's 1500-meter race, just minutes after Holland's Kroll broke the Olympic record, his teammate Neuss broke the record again.
In addition to the excellent performance of the players themselves, the venue is also an important factor in breaking records so frequently.
The competition venue of the National Speed Skating Hall has the title of "fastest ice".
The ice of the "Ice Ribbon" adopts the advanced carbon dioxide transcritical direct cooling ice-making technology, which is not only environmentally friendly, but also controls the temperature difference across the ice surface to 0.5 degrees Celsius.
In speed skating venues, the smaller the temperature difference, the more uniform the hardness of the ice surface, the smoother the ice surface, and the more "silky" in popular terms.
Such an ice surface is more conducive to the skater's skating, the softness and hardness of different areas are consistent, and the speed will not be affected by the ice surface, which is more conducive to creating good results.
With advanced technology, the ice-making process can't be sloppy.
The ice-making process of the "ice ribbon" has gone through multiple processes such as bottom cleaning, bottom ice pouring, painting and line drawing, layered ice pouring, and ice eye laying.
During the construction process, laser measurement technology was also applied to minimize the deviation of the flatness of the ice surface.
As a result, a smooth and flat ice rink appeared in front of everyone.
And how to maintain this "fastest ice" is a matter of knowledge.
Since the opening of the stadium, during training breaks or between games, the staff will water and repair ice according to the rules of the game.
Such a procedure ensures that the runners are able to glide on fields with good ice conditions.
For example, in the men's 1500-meter race, after about half of the contestants have appeared, the race enters a time-out period.
Three ice pouring trucks drove on the ice surface and repaired the ice surface meticulously.
Soon after the competition resumed, the two players broke Olympic records one after another.
In addition, during the use of the "Ice Ribbon", the ice maker also needs to constantly detect the thickness of the ice, and accordingly repair the flatness of the ice rink. If it is seriously damaged, it may need to be thawed and refrozen.
"The fastest ice" provides a stage for players to better show themselves, behind it is the support of technology and the efforts of countless people.
In the next few days, the "Ice Ribbon" will also have 10 competitions, and there may be more records generated here.
(Finish)