/PRZWT/ On February 9, 2026, the Shijingshan Mass Cross-Country Skiing Challenge concluded at the Yongding River Ice and Snow World - Shijingshan. As an important practice for activating the Winter Olympics legacy in Shijingshan District, this two-day event focused on "zero barriers, everyone can enjoy" and was open to the general public, allowing skiing enthusiasts of all ages and levels to experience the fun of winter sports on professional tracks, effectively promoting the vision of "300 million people participating in winter sports" from a goal to reality. The event leveraged the resource advantages of the Winter Olympics demonstration zone and integrated with the Yongding River ecological scene, enriching the winter fitness life of citizens and injecting new vitality into the popularization of winter sports and the development of national fitness.
As a demonstration area for the Winter Olympics, Shijingshan District has kept the Olympic legacy "alive" through the event, bringing winter sports from the competitive arena into the daily lives of ordinary people. This event precisely meets the needs of different groups of people, setting up two categories: "Public Experience Group" and "Skiing Sports Group". It began in an orderly manner on February 8th and 9th, truly achieving the original intention of "universal participation and universal sharing" in organizing the event. Among them, the Public Experience Group is open to the general public, completely breaking the threshold restrictions based on professional background, and also introducing a free policy for the public, so that novice skiers can also deeply participate. The event organizers specially organized an open course on cross-country skiing to explain the basic skills and safety protection knowledge of cross-country skiing to the participants. After completing the course learning, the participants can start the competition experience. This way, citizens with no skiing experience can also easily unlock the joy of winter sports and personally experience the "Winter Olympics-level experience" at their doorstep. A large number of newbies in winter sports have enthusiastically participated. The Skiing Sports Group is open to enthusiasts with certain cross-country skiing experience. Contestants need to provide a proof of skiing experience in the past year to participate. In the 3-kilometer short-distance freestyle event, the contestants were agile and skilled, competing in speed and technique on the snow course that combined Winter Olympics elements with natural scenery. They fully demonstrated the unique charm and competitive spirit of cross-country skiing.
Since the registration for this event began on January 25, 2026, it has been enthusiastically embraced by the citizens of the entire city. The cumulative number of participants has exceeded 500. It has become one of the most popular fitness activities for the public in the capital during the winter season. During the event, the organizing committee meticulously arranged for professional photographers to follow and capture the vigorous figures of the athletes racing on the ski slopes and the joyous moments of the citizens' first attempts at skiing.
The successful organization of this event would not have been possible without the strong support of China Sports Lottery. As an important measure to promote the development of fitness sports in the capital and enrich the winter cultural life of the citizens, the Shijingshan Mass Cross-Country Skiing Challenge not only enabled more people to enter the world of ice and snow and fall in love with it, but also achieved remarkable results in popularizing cross-country skiing and promoting the Olympic spirit, adding vivid practice to the construction of the Shijingshan Winter Olympics Demonstration Zone.
Whether it's a beginner who has never touched ice and snow before, or a seasoned skiing enthusiast who loves competition, everyone in this event has gained happiness and challenged themselves. In the future, Shijingshan District will continue to leverage the advantages of the Winter Olympics Demonstration Zone to build more platforms for all citizens to participate in ice and snow sports. It will continuously activate the value of Winter Olympics heritage and spread the charm of ice and snow beyond age and social circles to thousands of households, contributing Shijingshan's strength to the further realization of the goal of "three hundred million people skiing".
