A tailored testing program for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games kicked off in six competition venues in Beijing and the Games co-host city Zhangjiakou in north China's Hebei Province this week. It serves as a comprehensive rehearsal to test infrastructure and operational procedures less than a year before the official start of the Olympic Games.

Last November, organizers canceled all international test events scheduled in the 2020-2021 season for Beijing 2022 due to global travel restrictions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, only domestic athletes participated in the testing program. 

In northwest Beijing, the National Sliding Center in Yanqing District just staged the first bobsled, luge and skeleton events in the country, on February 19.

Chinese athlete Hu Huilan, who ranked first in the women's luge singles, said, "I am happy, but I still made some errors in sliding. I hope I can perform better in the coming days. The tracks are very comfortable to slide on. The ice is in great quality today."

Meanwhile, three-time snowboarding Olympian, 27-year-old Chinese Cai Xuetong claimed the title in the halfpipe event. She shared her excitement on China's leading social media platform, Weibo, after the game, saying, "Long-lost game atmosphere."

Seventeen snow and sliding discipline tests are scheduled within 10 days in February, while ice test events are slated in April in downtown Beijing. 

Ten full test events are expected to be held between October and December this year. 

The Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games will be staged from February 4 to 20 and the Paralympic Winter Games from March 4 to 13 next year.