Big Air Shougang, the venue for Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, lit up on Nov. 28, 2019. The only snow event venue in the downtown area for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games, Big Air Shougang will host an FIS Freestyle Ski and Snowboard World Cup competition from Dec. 10 to 14. Photo: China News Service

 Big Air Shougang, the venue for freestyle and snowboard big air events at the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, will be kept as a permanent facility after the Games, which will be a first in Olympic history, the Global Times learned from the venue operation team. 

Big Air Shougang is a ski jump platform built for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and was the first newly built arena to be finished in the Beijing competition zone on October 31, 2019, less a year after construction began.

First opened to the public at the Air & Style Beijing FIS World Cup in December 2019, the venue will be a permanent big air facility.

The venue is constructed on top of a former steel mill, which was shut down more than 10 years ago. Located in the old Shougang Industrial Park, it is the only snow event venue in downtown Beijing, awaiting freeski and snowboard big air athletes to jump against the backdrop of coolant towers.

The total length of the track is 164 meters, with the highest point of the shape being 60 meters. 

“The design of the Big Air Shougang is inspired by ancient Dunhuang frescos. The ribbon flying in the air and the shape of the big jump track curve fits very well,” Zhang Shunjie, designer of the Big Air Shougang, told the Global Times. 

One of the highlights of Big Air Shougang is that its run-in section uses variable profile technology, Liu Yuchuan, assistant director of the coordination department of the Big Air Shougang project, told the Global Times. 

“There are about 1,100 modules using building blocks to make the track surface change, thus realizing the switch between snowboarding and freestyle skiing tracks,” Liu said. “This is in line with the concept of sustainable use for the venue.”

The snowmaking project of the venue is also currently in preparation. The project team expects to start snowmaking in December to prepare the competition program, which will begin in February, Liu told the Global Times.