In pics: Ice Ribbon, Ice Cube under construction (6)

The construction of all competition venues, including the National Speed Skating Oval and National Aquatics Center, in the Beijing competition area, which will host all ice sports during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games, is set to be completed by the end of this year.

The National Speed Skating Oval, dubbed the “Ice Ribbon,” will serve as the venue for the speed skating events for Beijing 2022, and will be open to the public to motivate people to practice winter sports after the event.

The facility is the first Winter Olympic speed skating stadium in the world to adopt a carbon dioxide transcritical direct cooling system, and is the largest ice surface in the world to use this cooling technology.

The National Aquatics Center, widely known as the “Water Cube,” was the venue for swimming and diving events in the 2008 Olympic Games. For Beijing 2022, it will be converted into the “Ice Cube” for curling events.

The pioneering attempt to convert the center’s swimming pool into a transferable rink marked the first time in history that transferable ice will be used in the Winter Games.