The main venue for the Sochi 2014 Olympic hockey tournament is "amazing," the International Ice Hockey Federation said on a recent inspection, despite the fact that there's "still work to do."
The Bolshoi Ice Dome is one of six venues in the coastal cluster of facilities being built from scratch for Russia's first Winter Games.
The 12,000-capacity arena, designed to look like a frozen water droplet, is scheduled for completion in September.
“It was amazing,” said IIHF facility committee secretary Cornelia Ljungberg, “It was half-done, there’s still work to do on the inside, but on the outside it looks quite ready and the plaza in front was impressive.”
The arena's first test event comes in December, when it hosts the Russian stage of the Euro Hockey Tour. It will mark the first test event for any of the coastal venues after this year's inaugural test event program for the mountain cluster passed off successfully.
The April 2013 the world youth championships are also set to take place there.
“This was a very encouraging visit as we are very confident that not only will everything be ready for the Olympics, but the main hockey venue will be ready for hockey one year ahead of the Olympic tournament,” said IIHF vice president Kalervo Kummola.
The IIHF will operate the Bolshoi Ice Dome complex, which also includes the Maly Ice Palace and a third rink for training.
