by sportswriters Yue Wenwan, Ding Wenxian and Wang Junbao

BEIJING, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- As the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics opened Friday night, 15-year-old Chen Keyu, a rising star on China's national ice hockey team, sat glued to her screen in Shenzhen, tracking every shift of the hockey competitions in Italy.

Six years ago, as China prepared to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, indoor rinks and ski slopes began spreading nationwide. One rink that opened near Chen's home in Wuhan drew her to the niche sport. "I fell in love with ice hockey the moment I saw it," she said.

After years of childhood training, Chen moved south last year to join a professional club in Shenzhen. Earlier this year, she led China to five straight victories to claim gold at the U18 Women's World Championship Division 1, Group B.

"Beijing 2022 gave me a dream I never thought I'd have," Chen said. "Now my dream is to compete for China at the Winter Olympics."

Her journey reflects the profound transformation of winter sports in China since Beijing 2022.

A STRONGER FORCE IN GLOBAL ARENA

Defending Olympic snowboard big air champion Su Yiming secured his place in Friday's final after landing two clean runs to finish fourth overall in the qualification.

"The level here is much higher than it was four years ago," Su said afterward. "It's impressive to see how fast snowboarding is developing. I'm proud to be part of this generation."

Su's confidence is well-founded. This season he claimed the big air World Cup overall title and made history by becoming the first snowboarder to land a back-to-back 1980-degree spin in competition, earning a Guinness World Record.

Su is far from alone. Gu Ailing recently captured the slopestyle World Cup title in Laax, Switzerland, while freestyle skiing aerials veterans Xu Mengtao and Sun Jiaxu clinched respectively the women's and men's overall World Cup championships. Skeleton racers Zhao Dan and Yin Zheng stood atop the podium in the mixed team event in St. Moritz.

This broad success is reflected in China's Milan delegation - its largest overseas Winter Olympics team ever. The 286-member delegation, including 126 athletes, will compete in 91 events across seven sports. Chinese athletes will participate in 78.4 percent of all medal events, a significant jump from 52 percent at Pyeongchang 2018.

The team includes nine Olympic champions from Beijing 2022, with veterans like Xu Mengtao and Cai Xuetong competing in their fifth Games.

When China bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics, nearly one-third of winter disciplines had no national teams. By 2022, Chinese athletes competed in every event and delivered nine gold, four silver and two bronze medals, finishing third on the gold medal table.

Speed skater Gao Tingyu, who won China's first-ever men's Olympic gold in speed skating at Beijing 2022, sees the progress as part of a larger story.

"I want to go beyond myself, beyond limits," he said while preparing for Milan. "But I also hope people can see the overall development of Chinese speed skating - that we're not just capable of making history, but of sustaining success."

FROM PASSION TO THRIVING INDUSTRY

The Olympic legacy extends far beyond elite athletes.

At 6 a.m., Li Jinfeng is already on his way to the slopes in Wuhan, a city better known for summer heat than winter snow.

"Once you start skiing, it's hard to stop. The thrill of racing down the slopes is simply unmatched," said Li, a 39-year-old freelancer.

"During the Olympics, we even made plans with friends to ski together and watch competitions live at the resort," added Li, who has skied more than 20 times this year.

Such scenes were hard to imagine before 2022. While snowfall is rare south of the Yangtze River, 55 of China's 79 indoor ski resorts are now located in southern provinces. Wuhan now boasts four, all built since Beijing's successful bid. During the current season, the city's ski venues have rolled out Olympic-themed activities, including free trial sessions and live broadcasts of events.

According to the Wuhan Winter Sports Association, the city's indoor ski resorts received more than 1.25 million visits in 2025. Operators said visitors increasingly arrive not only from Hubei province, but also from neighboring Hunan and Anhui, as well as coastal hubs like Shanghai and Zhejiang.

The participation surge is nationwide. In Heilongjiang, China's winter sports heartland, local governments have created nearly 3,000 community-level rinks and snow playgrounds. Regions like Jilin, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang have introduced "snow holidays" for students, backed by policies offering free access and parental discounts.

Data released by China's General Administration of Sport in February 2025 showed that 313 million people nationwide had taken part in winter sports since the close of the Beijing 2022 Winter Games.

"The Games accelerated the spread of facilities, especially benefiting southern and western regions," said Zhang Desheng, a professor at Wuhan Sports University. "It lowered barriers to participation and helped cultivate a culture of winter sports, creating conditions for long-term growth."

The boom has fueled rapid industrial expansion. From 2016 to 2024, the size of China's ice and snow industry surged from 364.7 billion yuan to 980 billion yuan, and is expected to surpass 1 trillion yuan in 2025, according to the 2025 China Ice and Snow Economy Development Report.

Thomas Bach, International Olympic Committee Honorary President for Life, acknowledged the scale of the change.

"I always said there would be winter sports before Beijing 2022 and winter sports after Beijing 2022, and this has proven to be true," he told Xinhua last December.

"Engaging more than 350 million people and now around 365 million, represents a totally new dimension for winter sports worldwide."

"This growth in participation and facilities is a great legacy and will continue to drive winter sports forward, both in China and globally," Bach noted. ■