The Haituo Mountain in Beijing's Yanqing District is a decent choice for skiing for its shape, and that's why the Chinese national para-alpine skiing team has been training in the area with their coach, 50-year-old Dario Capelli from Sauze d'Oulx in Val di Susa in northwestern Italy.

Keeping his eyes on every athlete skiing down from the top, Capelli did not forget to remind those who were not doing it in the standard way by shouting "stand, stand, stand."

Last week, the team finished the test event for the Beijing Paralympic Winter Games. Capelli said he's very satisfied with the performance of his athletes: "I'm very satisfied with their performance because they were really good. There weren't steep slopes like this in China. I'm happy to see that they perform well on them."

Capelli started skiing when he was five and received an Italian national coaching level-2 certification at 23. He started coaching para skiers three years later and helped his athletes won multiple gold medals at the Winter Paralympic Games in Turin in 2006 and in PyeongChang in 2018.

Alpine skiing, which is about a century old and has been known as a true challenge to the participant's bravery, only began to take root in China a few years ago. However, the country's athletes are learning fast and Capelli, who started coaching the Chinese national team in 2018, has made decent contributions to that with his rich experience.

"Dario looks rough, but in fact, is nice and caring," said 26-year-old Liu Sitong. Liu added that the coach would be there with every athlete, helping them change equipment and teaching them many details, including what kind of wax to choose as well as how to repair and maintain the equipment.

Liu recalled that she was not in the best form once prior to a World Cup match. It seems that no one can understand how I felt when I stood at the starting point," said Liu. Then the coach came, encouraging her that she must conquer herself first before beating her opponents.

27-year-old Song Hongsheng used to have a fear of heights when she just began to try alpine skiing. "Dario took me to a psychologist and always tried to find a way for me to overcome this problem. He would tell jokes to distract me when I was on the cable car."

Capelli and his athletes skipped the Spring Festival holidays this year and spent their day's training in Chongli of north China's Hebei Province for the Winter Paralympics in 2022. "The pandemic is affecting us. We couldn't go overseas and lost opportunities to compete with other athletes. We don't have time to rest because we don't have time to waste. We need to continue training and to get the experience," said Capelli.

Some of his athletes will compete on behalf of China at the Paralympic Games next year, and Capelli wants nothing but the best for them. "I'm trying to push them to their best conditions and teach them everything possible to the rivalry to Beijing, I love China. It's a beautiful country with very nice people. China is my family now. If possible, I can lead them to my hometown Italy for the 2026 winter Paralympic Games."

(All quotes are from Xinhua News Agency)