Wheely interesting spectacle aimed at new fans

Featuring thrills without chill, roller skiing is defying seasonal odds to attract urban spectators at the World Cup series opener in Beijing.

Built for the 2008 Summer Games, the Olympic Park in northern Beijing seems the least likely location for winter sports in July, but the arrival of an international roller skiing event has turned it into a sizzling summer showcase for the snowless version of cross-country skiing.

The three-day opening leg of the International Ski Federation's roller skiing World Cup series kicks off on Thursday with 131 athletes, including 42 locals, competing in three disciplines ranging from a 200m sprint to a 22.7km endurance race on a track encircling the Bird's Nest and Water Cube, two iconic 2008 venues.

Developed in the 1940s as a dry-land training regimen for cross-country skiers, roller skiing involves racing on wheeled skis on tarmac or plastic tracks. It has evolved into a competitive sport in its own right, with the annual World Cup series and biennial world championships sanctioned by the FIS.

From Beijing, the series moves on to Russia and Italy for three more legs through September, and organizers said staging the event here will go a long way towards redefining the Chinese public's perception of winter sports.

"Roller skiing as a summer training tool for elite cross-country skiers has great potential in our country for expanding entry-level mass participation in winter sports," said Ding Dong, executive deputy director of the National Winter Sports Administrative Center.

"It's a fun exercise for general fitness and a great tool for people who are not familiar with cross-country skiing to have a sense of what the sport is about."

The Beijing World Cup event was approved by the FIS after China successfully hosted a lower-profile competition last summer on the hot highlands around Baiyin in Gansu province, but the recent scorching weather in the capital has raised health concerns for athletes and spectators at the afternoon sessions.

The Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau said the organizing committee has heatstroke prevention measures in place and has made the program flexible if rescheduling becomes necessary.

The track will open to the public to experience roller skiing for free after the competition, according to the bureau.

"It will be a waste if we don't get the public involved," said Chen Jie, deputy director of the bureau. "Roller skiing is an ideal exercise in a country like China that for the most part lacks natural snowfall for skiing."

The organizing committee, with support from skiing wax producer Swix, has invited Norway's three-time Olympic champion skier Johannes Hosflot Klaebo to compete in Beijing and help promote the event.

Klaebo rose to stardom at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in South Korea after becoming the youngest Olympic champion in the sport by winning the men's 1.4km classic sprint at the age of 21 years, 114 days. He won two more golds in the 4x10km relay and team sprint to cement his supremacy in the sport.

"I think the roller skiing World Cup in Beijing is a super way to bring new fans to our sport," Klaebo said.

"We've had snow skiing competitions in China, but now it's time to put on the roller skis. We are really looking forward to competing there."

China's best cross-country skiers, including Pyeongchang Winter Games participants Wang Qiang (men's 50km classical) and Li Xin (women's 15km + 15km skiathlon), have set their sights on catching up with the world's best ahead of the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

"The accessible nature of roller skiing can buy us more time to improve our skills all year long. Hopefully, we can be more competitive at the Olympics three years from now," said Wang.

The best result China has achieved in Olympic cross-country skiing, which produces roughly a quarter of the gold medals up for grabs at each Games, is a 16th-place finish in the women's 4x5km relay at Turin in 2006.