A Chinese skater competes during a test event for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing on Thursday. Photo: IC

As China's newly built ­National Speed Skating Oval is hosting a test run for the 2022 Games this week, icemakers at the speed skating venue said they aim to provide athletes with a top-level ice rink during and after the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. 

"We want to leave a legacy here," Canadian icemaker Mark Messer, who is leading a blended team of Chinese and foreign ice-making experts at the Oval, told reporters on Thursday. "In some of the past Olympics, we didn't have a legacy. Coming into the building, we've done the Games and left. 

"At this time, there's a great legacy plan for this building. So we want to make sure that when we leave that, there's a string of persons here that could carry the legacy."

The Oval, completed in December 2020, is currently hosting a test run for the 2022 Winter Olympics until Saturday. The test run includes both men's and women's 500 meters, 1,000 meters, 1,500 meters, 5,000 meters, team pursuit and mass start events.

Messer, a veteran icemaker who has served five Winter Games in total starting with the 1988 Calgary Olympics in Canada, noted that a skating venue will reach its best condition in its fourth or fifth year, as by that time icemakers will have learned to adapt to the different conditions inside the venue.

"It is nine months to the Olympics and we've worked under pressure. That's no problem," Messer said. 

"Every time we make the ice again, we learn more. Now that we have some participants, we have some skaters and some coaches, so there will be feedback… I am sure we will make the best ice possible at the Olympics."

The current test events are not yet the official test events for the 2022 Olympics; those are expected to take place in the second half of 2021 when foreign athletes are likely to attend.

"We need to find the best way to make it all fit together. So it's a very valuable competition for us because we can see the effect of the changes that we make to the ice with temperature, with the quantities, the different factors that we can control," Messer said. 

"Every situation is different. Things that worked out in other buildings may not work here, but some of them grow on the experience from the buildings we've done, which helps us with this one."

A total of 14 gold medals will be competed for at the Oval during the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Long-track speed skating is not considered a well-known sport in China, as many still confuse it with its variant short track speed skating, which remains China's major medal contributor at the Winter Olympics.

China has won one gold, six silver and four bronze medals at the Winter Olympics since first participating in the 1980 edition. 

Zhang Hong's gold medal in the women's 1,000 meters at Sochi 2014 remains the best result for Chinese speed skaters. 

Gao Tingyu bagged the only medal for China at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, where he took the bronze in the men's 500 meters speed skating event.