People's Daily reporter Yang Lei.
From February 17th to 27th, the 14th National Winter Games (hereinafter referred to as the "14th Winter") will be held in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. As the first major national sports event held after the Beijing Winter Olympics, what is the difference between the "14th Winter" and the previous Winter Games?
Set the project to benchmark the Milan Winter Olympics.
On February 1, the 14th National Winter Games Ski Mountaineering Open Group Mixed Relay Competition was held in Jinlongshan Ski Resort, Zhalantun, Hulunbuir City, Inner Mongolia. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Beihe.
The "14th Winter" competition includes 8 major events, 16 sub-events and 176 sub-events of ice skating, skiing, biathlon, curling, ice hockey, bobsleigh, luge and ski mountaineering, which are fully benchmarked against the 2026 Milan Winter Olympics. Among them, ski mountaineering is the first appearance of the National Winter Games.
There are changes to the party mode.
For the first time, the participating teams of "14 Winters" are based on provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government. Sichuan, Guizhou, Hong Kong, Macao and other places that launched ice and snow sports late, will also show their style in the National Winter Games.
For the first time, a mass contest was set up.
On January 13, Heilongjiang team player Song Yudi in the women's 4 1km team relay (free technique) competition. On the same day, the mass cross-country skiing competition of the 14th National Winter Games opened at the Donghe Ice Rink in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Beihe.
For the first time, the "14th Winter" set up mass competitions, including speed skating and cross-country skiing, with more than 400 people from 21 delegations across the country participating. On January 14, after two days of competition, the "14th Winter" mass competition project was successfully concluded, with the Jilin provincial team winning two snow championships and the Hebei provincial team winning two ice championships.
77 gold medals were awarded before the opening.
On January 12, in the men's 500m race of the "14th Winter" speed skating (open group), the champion Heilongjiang team player Gao Tingyu (middle), the runner-up Liaoning team player Yang Tao (left), and the third runner-up Hebei team player Li Tianlong took a group photo at the award ceremony. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Kaiyan.
Since the start of the first competition on July 13, 2023, the "14th Winter" has had a wonderful end to ice hockey, bobsleigh, bobsleigh, speed skating (open group), Nordic combined and other competitions. On February 17, a total of 77 gold medals were produced before the opening of the "14th Winter".
Multiple projects are held in different places.
The venues of the "14th Winter" competition are distributed in 7 venues in Hulunbuir, Chifeng, Ulanqab, Hohhot in Inner Mongolia, Yanqing in Beijing and Zhangjiakou in Hebei. Among them, the bobsleigh, bobsleigh and Nordic combined events in Inner Mongolia that do not have the conditions to host the competition are held by the Yanqing National Alpine Skiing Center, the Bobsleigh Center and the Zhangjiakou National Ski Jumping Center.
Fourteen Winters" is the most in many places.
It is expected that more than 3,700 athletes will participate in the "14th Winter" events, which will also be the largest, most events and highest standards in the previous National Winter Games.