MOSCOW, October 6. /TASS/. A national team of Russian bobsleigh and skeleton athletes, who are in China to test a newly-built Olympic track, were tested for the novel coronavirus upon their arrival at the Beijing Airport and their tests returned negative results, Danil Chaban, the head coach of the Russian team, told TASS on Wednesday.

The Russians as well as athletes from other countries landed in Beijing on Tuesday using a special flight, which was chartered earlier by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF). Bobsleigh and skeleton racers will be the first athletes to test Olympic facilities in Beijing ahead of the 2022 Winter Games in China.

"All our athletes, who arrived yesterday in China, have successfully passed COVID-19 tests," Chaban said. "We have started a walking tour of the track today to study the new track. Tomorrow, we have scheduled training sessions and our skeleton racers will be the first to hit the icy course of this track."

The Russian Bobsleigh Federation (RBF) told TASS earlier that all candidates for the national Olympic team were vaccinated with Russia’s Sputnik V jabs.

The Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games announced to TASS earlier this week that athletes inoculated with Russian-made anti-COVID-19 vaccines will be allowed to participate in the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing.

Russia has so far registered five COVID-19 vaccines. They are Sputnik V and Sputnik Light developed by the Gamaleya National Research Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology, EpiVacCorona and EpiVacCorona-N created by the Vector State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology and CoviVac from the Chumakov Federal Scientific Center for Research and Development of Immune and Biological Products.

Sputnik V, EpiVacCorona, EpiVacCorona-N and CoviVac are two-dose viccines, while Sputnik Light is a single-dose vaccine.

2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing

The 2022 Winter Olympic Games in the Chinese capital of Beijing are scheduled to be held between February 4 and 20.

During the 128th IOC session in Kuala Lumpur on July 31, 2015, Beijing was chosen to host the 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games making the Chinese capital the first city ever to host both the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games (in 2008) as well as the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games (in 2022).

Beijing won the right to host the 2022 Olympics and Paralympics in a tight race, beating Kazakhstan’s Almaty in 2015, by chalking up 44 votes against its rival’s 40.