The Winter Olympics have arrived! Here's a breakdown of each sport.
Posted February 4, 2022 5:03 p.m. EST
The opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics Games was on Friday, Feb. 4, in Beijing. This year, Team USA will have 223 athletes competing in 109 medal events across 15 sports at the Games.
Just like in the Summer Olympics last year - which were held a year late due to the coronavirus pandemic - the 2022 Winter Olympics have new events to showcase, including the women's monobob, men's and women's freeski big air, mixed team aerials, short track mixed team relay, ski jumping mixed team and mixed team snowboard cross.
As the games get underway, here's a breakdown of the events you can look forward to watching on WRAL-TV.
Sliding sports
Skeleton athletes get a running start before being positioned stomach down on their sleds. As they race head-first, athletes can reach speeds up to 80 miles per hour.
For the Winter Olympics, athletes will get four runs over the course of two days on the same track. Olympic officials will time the four rides down to the hundredth of a second and the times are added together. Olympic rules states the athlete with the fastest total time is the winner.
Skeleton racing will be held from Feb. 10-12. Olympic athletes will compete in either the men's singles or the women's singles.
Meanwhile, luge is the fastest of the sliding sports with racers reaching speeds up to 87 miles per hour.
Luge athletes will lie on their back on top of the sled and use their shoulders, abs and thigh muscles to control their pace and direction.
There are 12 medals in luge up for grabs at the 2022 Winter Olympics. Luge events will be held between Feb. 5-12.
The final sliding sport at the Winter Olympics is the bobsled, where athletes use a mechanically steered and braked sled.
Bobsled athletes will race down a steep, ice-covered run with banked curves.
Twelve bobsled medals are up for grabs at this year's Olympics, including in the new women's monobob sled event.
Bobsledding events will take place Feb. 13-20.
The track used for sledding events at the Winter Olympics is "a first of its kind," according to Olympic officials, and includes a 360-degree turn.
Skating sports
Short track skating is described as a "chaotic sport in which athletes race in packs across nine events," by Olympic officials.
In short track skating, racers face each other rather than the clock. Athletes will wear skates with blades between 12-18 inches long and can reach speeds up to 30 miles per hour.
There will be nine short track events — four for men, four for women and one mixed event. Short track skating events will be held Feb. 5-16.
On the other hand, speed skating athletes race against the clock instead of each other.
Two skaters compete in each race, except for the mass start event. Speed skating features 14 events from Feb. 5-19.
One of the most popular and oldest events at the Winter Olympics is figure skating. There are five events for figure skating — men’s singles, women’s singles, ice dance, pairs and team event.
For each event, skaters will typically perform a short and long routine to help determine their score.
With each routine, Olympic rules state each skater will receive two sets of scores: the technical element score, which evaluates the difficulty and completion of the routine, and the program component score, which is based on presentation.
The U.S. is the most successful nation in figure skating with 51 medals. Figure skating events will be held this year from Feb. 4-22.
Skiing sports
Alpine skiing is described as "one of the signature competitions at the Winter Olympics," with skiers reaching speeds up to 95 miles per hour.
There are speed, technical, combined and team events. Speed events have one run while technical and combined events have two.
Olympic rules state that after each run, officials will check equipment to make sure it complies with regulations.
Alpine skiing events will be held Feb. 6-19.
Cross-country skiing is one of the top-three calorie burning sports at the Winter Olympics. Cross-country skiing events are broken into six competition formats: individual, sprint, team sprint, skiathlon, relay, mass start.
There are also three types of terrain: uphill, undulating and downhill.
Overall, there are 12 medals up for grabs for athletes. Events will be held between Feb. 5-19.
Freestyle skiing has three new events at the 2022 Winter Olympics — women's big air, men's big air and mixed team aerials.
There are several disciplines in freestyle skiing including moguls, aerials, halfpipe, slopestyle and skicross. There are 13 events that skiers can medal in at this year's Winter Olympics.
Freestyle skiing events will take Feb. 5-14.
The final skiing sport at the Winter Olympics is the biathlon, which combines cross-country skiing and shooting. Biathlon athletes carry a rifle on their backs during the skiing portion of the competitions.
There are six events for the sport including individual, sprint, pursuit, relay, mixed relay and mass start.
The U.S. has never won an Olympic biathlon medal.
Biathlon events will take place Feb. 5-19.
Snow sports
Ski jumping has been "a key fixture of the Winter Olympics since it made its debut at the inaugural Winter Games at Chamonix 1924," according to Olympic officials.
Athletes are evaluated by the distance traveled and the style of the jump. Olympic rules state "the distance is measured along the curve of the landing hill from the takeoff point to the spot where the jumper lands."
Each athlete will get two jumps and the jumper with the highest combined score is deemed the winner.
There are four events for athletes to medal in. Ski jumping events will take Feb. 5-14.
Nordic combined is the only sport that women cannot compete in at the Winter Olympics.
The sport is made up of two separate sports: ski jumping and cross-country skiing. In the sport, where athletes start in the ski race is determined by how they finish in the jumping event.
There will be three Nordic combined events at the Games. Events will be held Feb. 9-17.
Another popular event at the Winter Olympics is snowboarding, which has 11 events for athletes to medal in this year.
There will be speed events, which include the parallel giant slalom and the snowboard cross, and technical events which include the halfpipe, slopestyle and big air.
Olympic officials say that because each snowboarding event requires a different skill set, there is rarely an athlete that medals in multiple events. At the 2018 Winter Olympics, U.S. athlete Jamie Anderson was the only snowboarder to medal in two events.
First-year Olympic snowboarders beware — all gold medalists from the 2018 Winter Olympics will be returning for this year's events.
Team sports
Curling is one of the more eccentric sports of the Winter Olympics. In curling, a 42-pound stone is pushed down a sheet of ice while players sweep the surface in front of the stone.
Athletes sweep the surface to warm up the ice and reduce friction, which makes the rock move straighter.
While unusual, curling is one of the oldest team sports in the world, Olympic officials say, with the sport originating in 16th century Scotland.
The three curling events will take Feb. 2-20.
While there are only two ice hockey events at the Winter Olympics, officials say it's one of the most popular sports at the Games.
Since the NHL decided against allowing NHL players to compete at the 2022 Winter Olympics, the U.S. men's team consists of 15 NCAA players and 10 players from AHL or European leagues.
The U.S. women's team has also been a powerhouse at the Olympics since the debut of the sport in 1988. Since then, the U.S. women's team has finished on the podium at every Olympics.
In fact, in the women's tournament, the U.S. and Canada have played in the finals for three straight Winter Olympics.
Hockey events will take place between Feb. 3-20.
