Satellite images provide sneak peek of competition venues in Zhangjiakou, co-host city for Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics

With less than 80 days to go before the opening of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, how are the preparations for the sporting events going in Zhangjiakou, a co-host city for the Games located in north China’s Hebei Province?

The Zhangjiakou competition zone consists of the Taizicheng venue cluster, the Genting venue cluster and the Guyangshu venue cluster. With all of its scheduled events, it will be responsible for awarding 51 gold medals during the Games. Let’s take a sneak peek at the competition venues as captured in images produced by the Jilin-1 satellite.

The Genting venue cluster

The Genting Snow Park

The Genting Snow Park is located in Chongli, a district of Zhangjiakou. It will host a variety of freestyle skiing and snowboard events at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games and Winter Paralympic Games. It will see events leading to 20 gold medals during the Games. All six ski tracks at the Genting Snow Park have now completed construction. The Park is also the only snow sports competition venue built on the site of a ski resort.

Photo taken on June 10, 2021, by the Jilin-1 satellite shows the Genting Snow Park under construction.

Photo taken on Oct. 17, 2021, by the Jilin-1 satellite shows the Genting Snow Park under construction. In this picture, a number of buildings can be seen, with supporting facilities being built near them. As the snow-making activities have already begun along the tracks for snowboarding cross events, the snow-covered tracks look much whiter than other areas.

The snow-making activities are in full swing along the six tracks at the venue on Nov. 14, 2021. The snow-making activities will come to an end by the beginning of December. 

The Zhangjiakou Mountain Media Center

The Zhangjiakou Mountain Media Center has been built at the site of the Genting Hotel. Designed to cover 8,000 square meters, it will be used as a media center and an office for journalists, among other purposes.

Combo photo shows the progress of construction for the Zhangjiakou Mountain Media Center during the period from June 10 to Nov. 14, 2021.

The Guyangshu venue cluster

Seen from high above, a jade-like belt located inside the Guyangshu venue cluster, which is called “Bingyuhuan,” stands out and is very conspicuous. It is a C-shaped pedestrian overpass that connects competition venues inside the Guyangshu venue cluster.

National Ski Jumping Center

The National Ski Jumping Center is the first sports venue in China that has been built mainly for hosting ski jumping events. During the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, eight gold medals will be awarded there. The National Ski Jumping Center is also called “Xue Ruyi” owing to its resemblance to the shape of a “Ruyi,” a traditional Chinese ornament symbolizing good luck.

Photo taken by the Jilin-1 satellite on Nov. 14, 2021, shows the National Ski Jumping Center.

National Cross-Country Skiing Center

Five competitions will take place at the National Cross-Country Skiing Center, including two cross-country events and three Nordic combined and biathlon events, all to be held in the evening. Fifteen gold medals will be awarded at the National Cross-Country Skiing Center.

Photo taken by the Jilin-1 satellite on Nov. 14, 2021, shows the National Cross-Country Skiing Center.

National Biathlon Center

Having seven competition tracks with a total length of 12.3 kilometers, the National Biathlon Center will see 11 gold medals for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games and 38 gold medals for the 2022 Winter Paralympic Games.

Taizicheng venue cluster

With no competition venues built inside of it, the Taizicheng venue cluster consists of the Zhangjiakou Winter Olympic Village, a medal plaza, the Taizicheng high-speed railway station and transfer center, a ruins park, a hotel, along with a cultural and creative street, among others.

Zhangjiakou Winter Olympic Village

Temporary transportation stations have been set up at multiple sites inside the Zhangjiakou Winter Olympic Village to provide passenger transport and transfer services, as well as serving as a working and resting area for the transport service providers.

Covering 7.6 hectares, the temporary transportation station located in the northern part of the Zhangjiakou Winter Olympic Village provides transport and transfer services for athletes and staff members travelling between competition venues located in the Genting venue cluster, the Guyangshu venue cluster, and the Thaiwoo Ski Resort. The station has a total of 673 parking spots, including 292 for shuffle buses, 19 for minibuses and 362 for private cars.

Combo photo taken by the Jilin-1 satellite shows the progress of construction for the temporary transportation station located in the northern part of the Zhangjiakou Winter Olympic Village during the period from June 10 to Nov. 14, 2021.

Photo taken by the Jilin-1 satellite on Oct. 17, 2021, shows that the construction of the temporary transportation station located in the northern part of the Zhangjiakou Winter Olympic Village has been completed.

Photo taken by the Jilin-1 satellite on Nov. 14, 2021, shows the snow-blanketed transportation station located in the northern part of the Zhangjiakou Winter Olympic Village.