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Alpine skiing venue ready for Olympic test event

Jan. 13, 2016 - 15:16 By KH디지털2

Organizers of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games said Wednesday the alpine skiing venue for an upcoming Olympic test event is ready for competition, awaiting only a final inspection by the sport's international federation.

The organizing committee said the Jeongseon Alpine Centre in Jeongseon, Gangwon Province, is now ready to host the International Ski Federation Alpine Skiing World Cup from Feb. 3-7 and is undergoing test runs.

Jeongseon, some 210 kilometers east of Seoul, will be among the sub-hosts of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics. Olympic host cities stage international events in the months leading up to the actual Olympics to test their venues.

The Alpine Skiing World Cup, expected to host some 250 athletes and officials, will be followed by the FIS Snowboard World Cups in Bokwang, another satellite town of PyeongChang -- first in slopestyle from Feb. 19 to 21, and then in snowboard cross from Feb. 25 to 27. Bokwang will also host the FIS World Cup in Freestyle Skiing from Feb. 18 to 20.

The Olympic organizing committee has said it will host 28 international events in Olympic and Paralympic sports, including five world championships, from February 2016 to April 2017.

According to the organizers, construction for the Jeongseon Alpine Centre appeared to fall behind schedule last December owing to administrative snags and inclement fall weather, but construction personnel and officials at the organizing committee and at the Gangwon provincial government worked over weekends and the Christmas holidays to get the venue ready.

"The course itself is 100 percent ready, and we're putting finishing touches on the venue," the organizing committee said in a statement. "The final inspection by the FIS is scheduled for next Wednesday, and our preparation will be complete once the FIS issues its international authentication."

Yeo Hyung-koo, secretary general of the organizing committee, said concerns expressed earlier by the FIS and the International Olympic Committee about Jeongseon's ability to stage the test event are now fully behind them.

"We will leave no stones unturned until the last minute to make sure we run a perfect event," Yeo said. (Yonhap)