A ceremony marking the one-year countdown to the Beijing Winter Paralympics took place in Beijing on Thursday.

Themed "one year to go, let's keep it up," Chinese athletes attending the event said they look forward to welcoming their competitors from across the world.

"Every athlete wants to snatch a medal and make a contribution to the country. The COVID-19 pandemic didn't impact our training because our team has stringent control measures," said Peng Yuanyuan, a veteran para cross-country skiing athlete.

"We have been training very hard all this time. We're continuing to improve our skills and build up our team spirit. We're well prepared," said Wang Meng, a wheelchair curling gold medal winner.

As the athlete who won the first-ever gold medal for China at the Paralympics, Wang also invited athletes from other countries to the Games.

The Beijing Organizing Committee (BOC) said preparations for the Winter Paralympics are going well, and all the competition's venues have been completed.

"Hosting the Beijing Paralympic Winter Games will promote the development of sports for disabled people in China, and encourage them to embrace life more bravely and confidently," said Zhou Changkui, vice president of the BOC for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

The Winter Olympics will be held in Beijing and its neighboring city of Zhangjiakou in north China's Hebei Province. It will feature competitions across six sports, with 78 gold medals up for grabs. 

China has 124 athletes for the six sports, namely Para Alpine skiing, Para snowboarding, Para cross-country skiing, Para biathlon, Para ice hockey, and wheelchair curling.

Since Beijing won the bid for the Winter Paralympics, Chinese disabled athletes have won 38 gold medals from 59 international winter events. As the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympic Games approaches, these athletes are looking forward to more victories in their home country.