Athletes attend the Beijing stop of the ISU World Cup Short Track series at the Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing, China, October 21, 2021. (Photo: CFP)

The 2022 Winter Olympics committee continues to prep for the upcoming sporting event and has taken advantage of the Beijing stop of the ISU World Cup Short Track series as a second test event to ensure facilities and staff are ready for next year.

The committee has also been working on strategies and procedures to ensure the smooth work of journalists and media staff and has drawn up plans for standard mixed zone interviews, press conferences and media requests.

Meanwhile, COVID-19 protocols remain a top priority, according to Sun Siyu, press manager of the Capital Indoor Stadium. Wearing masks is obligatory and those in close contact with the athletes must maintain a two-meter distance.

"As for the media stands which involve both closed-loop and outside closed-loop personnel, there's a wide gap to separate the two groups. All these measures are to ensure the safe operations of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics," Sun added.

During the Winter Games, one of the noticeable challenges for the stadium is how to transition between events smoothly. The same venue will host different events on the same day, requiring the organizing committee to make sure that changes are made to fit the nature of events.

''Our job is to use color and visuals to reflect the identity of a particular event," said event image spokesperson Wang Zhe. "And changing from Experience Beijing series to the ISU World Cup is a challenging task for us. We spent seven hours switching the iconic features between figure skating and short track speed skating and successfully made the switch."

Volunteers are the backbone of any successful sporting event and the committee is focusing on not only training 326 college students for their role, but also easing the pressure on them.

All in all, these dry runs and drills are being executed for one objective: to smoothly hold the Winter Olympics, which are less than four months away.