After two and a half years of construction, the Gangneung Ice Arena is officially completed. The 60m by 30m ice rink and 12,000 spectator capacity venue is set and ready to be tested by athletes and officials for the ISU World Cup Short Track which takes place on 16 – 18 December.
The Gangneung Ice Arena is located in Gangneung Olympic Park and is one of the six newly built venues for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018. It is the first ice venue to be completed with three other ice venues scheduled for completion later this month. The ice arena will be used for Short Track Speed Skating and Figure Skating during the Games.
Prior to construction completion, the venue was used for the 33rd KSU Short Track Speed Skating Championships in November 2016 as a trial run to ensure smooth operations during the upcoming test event.
As the first official test event of the ice sports, an impressive 90% of tickets for the ISU World Cup Short Track events have been sold to date. With such high interest, the Gangneung Ice Arena is expected to be filled with excitement amongst the audience as athletes race their way around the 111.12m track.
Representing the venue owner, Gangwon Province, Governor Choi Moon-soon said, "The completion of the ice venues is a meaningful step for PyeongChang 2018. The venues will be the center of excitement during the Games. After PyeongChang 2018, they will be returned to the public and open doors for potential athletes and create new horizons for Gangneung residents."
The test event will feature 10 events - four individual distances and a relay (ladies and men). A total of 104 male and 80 female athletes from 31 countries will be competing this week. Japan, Canada, China, Netherlands, and Russia are the top three participating countries in this event with more than 15 athletes competing from each.
The athletes have arrived in PyeongChang and are now preparing for the race which begins with qualifications on Friday (16th) before moving onto quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals over the weekend (17th – 18th).
Top male and female skaters to look out for include Canadian siblings Charles and François Hamelin, Shim Suk-hee of Korea and Wu Daijing of China.
Charles Hamelin is a four-time Olympic medalist with three gold and one silver spanning across the 2006, 2010 and 2014 Games. Shim Suk-hee – the world record holder in ladies 1000m, 2012-13 ISU Short Track Speed Skating World Cup - will be hoping for some home advantage as she steps out in front of a local crowd.
Details and images of the Gangneung Ice Arena are available on the PyeongChang 2018 website.
Further information on schedule, tickets and results are available at www.hellopyeongchang.com.
For more information, please contact:
POCOG Press Office
Email: pressoffice@pyeongchang2018.com
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