The flame for the Harbin 2025 Asian Winter Games is lit at the Sun Island Scenic Area in Harbin, Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, on January 20, 2025, with 18 days to go before the opening of the Games. Photo: VCG

The flame for the Harbin 2025 Asian Winter Games was lit in Harbin, Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province on Monday, which marked an 18-day countdown to the event that will kick off on February 7.

Three test events for the Asian Winter Games will be held at the ­Yabuli ski resort from Tuesday to Thursday, per the organizing committee's announcement on Monday. Additionally, the torch relay for the Asian Winter Games will start on February 3. 

Tickets for the Games went on sale on January 11, with tickets for short track speed skating and figure skating becoming the most popular.

Aside from the organizer's preparations for the Games, Chinese athletes are also ramping up their own preparations through a series of international competitions. 

In the lead-up to the Games, China's freestyle skiing aerials team made a resounding statement at the FIS Freestyle Skiing World Cup in Lake Placid, the US over the weekend. 

The Chinese team, composed of Olympic champion Xu Mengtao, Li Xinpeng and Sun Jiaxu, secured the mixed team gold with a total score of 328.41 points. Individual golds in the men's and women's categories went to Xu and Sun respectively, with Li claiming bronze in the men's event. 

The team plans to continue training and competing in the US before returning to China on January 28 to make final preparations for the Games. 

Xu Mengtao (center), Li Xinpeng (second from right) and Sun Jiaxu (second from left) celebrate on the podium after winning the aerials mixed team event during the FIS Freestyle Skiing World Cup in Lake Placid, the US on January 19, 2025. Photo: VCG

Head coach Ji Dong expressed confidence in the squad's ability to showcase their skills on home soil, particularly in the freestyle skiing aerials events, which will award five gold medals, including those in two new categories: men's and women's synchronized aerials.

Beyond freestyle skiing, other Chinese athletes across various disciplines are using international competitions as part of their build-up to the Games. 

Speed skating star Ning Zhongyan, who won three medals at the ISU Speed Skating World Cup in Beijing at the beginning of December 2024, emphasized the importance of the Asian Winter Games as a stepping stone toward the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan.

The 2025 Asian Winter Games, which will last till February 14, follow the previous Asian Winter Games held in Sapporo, Japan in 2017. Chinese athletes aim to capitalize on their home advantage in Harbin and build on their past success. 

At the Games in Sapporo, Chinese athletes won 12 gold, 14 silver, and nine bronze medals, finishing third in the medal tally. 

Zhang Bin, a Beijing-based sports commentator, told the Global Times on Monday that the Asian Winter Games is a "touchstone" for Chinese athletes who want to make international headlines.

"The Asian Winter Games, despite traditionally intense competition among powerhouses like China, Japan, South Korea and Kazakhstan, still present a golden opportunity for teams to test the effectiveness of their training regimens," Zhang told the Global Times on Monday.

"The results could be a reflection of their preparations for the upcoming world championships in various winter sports disciplines this year, also a stepping stone toward the Winter Olympics next year."

The 2025 Asian Winter Games mark the event's return to Harbin after 29 years, following China's successful hosting in 1996 in Harbin and 2007 in Changchun in Heilongjiang's neighboring Jilin Province. 

The Games, another major international multi-winter sports event held in China after the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, will feature 11 disciplines, with several new additions, including mixed doubles curling and synchronized aerials in freestyle skiing. 

Over 1,200 athletes from 34 countries and regions in Asia are expected to compete, making it the largest Asian Winter Games to date. Cambodia and Saudi Arabia are set to make their debut.

Being the only candidate city for hosting the event, Harbin won the hosting bid in 2023.

The first gold medal of the Games will be awarded on the morning of February 8, while the highly anticipated short track speed skating events will yield gold medals on February 8 and 9.