Crafting Olympic Ice for Milan-Cortina

Olympic ice is the uniform ice surface specified for international competitions, including the Winter Olympics.

Skilled technicians, known as 'ice masters,' are responsible for its creation and maintenance, ensuring optimal conditions for sports like curling, ice skating, and ice hockey.

For the upcoming Milan-Cortina Games, the ice hockey arena for both men's and women's matches was constructed from scratch. This significant undertaking followed initial delays and required last-minute construction efforts to be completed.

The Meticulous Process: Building the Olympic Rink

The creation of the ice surface for the rink involves several precise stages:

• Five centimeters of insulation are laid directly on the concrete floor, immediately followed by a vapor barrier.
• Engineers then carefully place mats containing glycol on top of the barrier, which are crucial to keep the ice cold.
• Boards and glass walls are precisely positioned to define the perimeter of the rink.
• Roughly two inches of water are added above the glycol mats to create the initial ice sheets.
• The surface is meticulously painted white and sealed, with all official ice hockey markings and logos carefully applied.
• Finally, three to four centimeters of water are added to form the playing field, with temperatures consistently maintained between -5 and -4 degrees Celsius.

Regular maintenance is vital; resurfacing machines, commonly known as Zambonis, are employed frequently to shave and smooth the ice surface, keeping it pristine.

Ice Masters Face Unprecedented Challenges

Mark Messer, an experienced ice master overseeing long track speed skating, highlighted the significant difficulties faced.

He identified the hardest part as "working with a new system for such a high profile event, with little time for preparation."

Messer added that while ice has been made in temporary settings before, it has never occurred on this scale for an Olympic Games. Milan-Cortina will mark a historic first, as it will be the inaugural use of a temporary venue for long track speed skating at a Winter Olympics.