Beijing 2022
Li Xu
February 16, 2022
Mark Peter Messer and Matthew James Messer are ice-making engineers at the National Speed Skating Oval (NSSO, aka the “Ice Ribbon”) during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. The ice surface there is dubbed as “the fastest ice”, as evidenced by the fact that 13 Olympic speed skating records have been broken by February 15, including a world record. The father and the son shared their story of how their work helps the athletes in a press conference.
the press conference held at the Main Media Centre in Beijing on February 16
“We’re getting very good feedback from the athletes and from the coaches that we have made a good surface for them to perform on,” said Mark.
After setting a new Olympic record in the men’s 500m, the Olympic champion Gao Tingyu said it was not a surprise. “You have to break the Olympic record or you cannot win the gold as the ice ring makes everyone skate faster.”
According to Mark, the ice ring is superb for the athletes because the transcritical CO2 (R744) refrigeration system keeps the ice temperature almost the same across the ice surface (less than 0.5°C (0.9°F) difference).
Moreover, the CO2 refrigerants help reduce the carbon emissions at the Oval to nearly zero, contributing to a “green, inclusive, open and clean” Winter Olympic Games.
“The air flow, the humidity, the lights, the attendees, all affect the quality of the ice,” said Mark.
Some skaters might have found the ice somewhat soft in test events, but the conditions were different for real competitions. Mark explained that the ice temperature can be modified for various purposes. The ice needs to be harder in the real games than it is for training.
In addition, we must make sure that the ice surface should be of no difference for all the matches on the same evening.
Mark started the ice making business in 1987 for speed skating at the Olympic Oval for the Calgary Winter Games. It is his sixth Olympic Games this year. 35 Winter Olympic records have been created on the surfaces made by Mark.
His son Matthew Messer is working in his second Olympics at the NSSO. He spoke highly of the cooperation between Chinese and foreign ice-makers.
“The ‘Ice Ribbon’, the speed skating venue for the Olympics will be open to the public for ice sports”, said Wu Xiaonan, director of the operations team for the NSSO.
Mark said, “we want to make sure that when we leave that, there’s a string of persons here that could carry the legacy.”
Rewritten by Shou Chenjia and Wang Yanqiang, Fudan University
