A brief guide to every sport at the Winter Olympics

Just six months aft the occurrence was doused successful Tokyo, the Olympics get underway again Feb. 4 successful Beijing (and 50 miles northbound successful Yanqing and 100 miles northbound of that successful Zhangjiakou).

Here’s a look astatine each athletics that volition beryllium contested astatine the Games successful China.

Alpine Skiing, 11 golden medals awarded

Mikaela Shiffrin, who won a golden medal successful 2014 and 2018, volition spell for a 3rd oregon possibly more. She is inactive astatine the apical of her game, and successful November she tied the vocation grounds for World Cup wins successful a azygous discipline, slalom. Petra Vlhova of Slovakia and Lara Gut-Behrami and Michelle Gisin of Switzerland volition beryllium challengers arsenic well.

In the men’s events, Alexis Pinturault of France has a metallic and 2 bronzes astatine the Games but volition beryllium looking for golden No. 1 arsenic the reigning World Cup wide champion.

The disciplines see downhill, the fastest event; super-G, with much turns added; elephantine slalom, inactive much turns; and slalom, the slowest and astir method event. There is besides a combined lawsuit (downhill and slalom) and a mixed-gender squad slalom event.

Biathlon, 11 golds

Take the endurance trial of cross-country skiing and shingle it up each fewer kilometers by having athletes halt to sprout rifles astatine targets. Too galore misses, and skiers indispensable instrumentality a punishment lap. Germany, France, Sweden and Norway should predominate the medals.

Bobsled, 4 golds

Joining the four-man, two-man and two-woman events is simply a contention for conscionable one: women’s monobob. The archetypal satellite champion was crowned this year: Kaillie Humphries, a two-time Olympic golden medalist for Canada present representing the United States. But Humphries is inactive awaiting U.S. citizenship to vie successful Beijing.

Humphries is besides the satellite champion successful the two-woman bob, with Lolo Jones arsenic her pusher.

Cross-Country Skiing, 12 golds

Norway dominates this sport, but the United States claimed its archetypal golden medal successful 2018 erstwhile Jessie Diggins and Kikkan Randall won the sprint relay. Diggins volition beryllium backmost successful 2022. The revered Norwegian Marit Bjorgen has retired from Olympic contention aft winning 8 golden medals implicit 3 Games.

Curling, 3 golds

For galore Americans, who look to clasp the granite rocks and brooms of curling each 4 years, a item of the 2018 Games was the U.S. men, led by John Shuster, streaking to the golden medal aft a somewhat shaky 5-4 start. The Swedish men and Swiss women person been the astir palmy since then, and Canada is ever a contender.

Figure Skating, 5 golds

The heavy Russian squad swept the apical 3 spots successful the women’s contention astatine the past satellite championships, with present 17-year-old Anna Shcherbakova connected top.

American Nathan Chen skated a unspeakable abbreviated programme 4 years agone that knocked him retired of contention. But helium won his 3rd consecutive golden medal astatine the worlds this year, and a imaginable duel with Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan, the 2014 and 2018 Olympic champion, could beryllium a item of the Games.

In the pairs event, Sui Wenjing and Han Cong could bring the golden to the big nation. In crystal dance, Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov of Russia are the satellite champions.

Freestyle Skiing, 13 golds

There are six disciplines. In the aerials and the caller large aerial event, skiers motorboat themselves disconnected a ramp and execute flips and spins. In halfpipe, they execute successful a U-shaped bowl, and successful slopestyle, they skis down a people with rails and jumps. In moguls, they skis implicit a bumpy people and are judged connected turns, jumps and speed.

The lone lawsuit that is timed alternatively of judged is skis cross, successful which skiers contention against 1 different successful groups of four.

Canada won 4 golden medals astatine the past Games; nary different federation had much than one. That squad is led by moguls superstar Mikael Kingsbury, the defending Olympic champion.

Ice Hockey, 2 golds

After missing retired successful 2018, NHL players volition beryllium backmost astatine the Games, assuring a star-laden field. The United States (Patrick Kane and Auston Matthews), Canada (Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid) and Sweden (Nicklas Backstrom and Victor Hedman) could beryllium the strongest teams connected paper.

China volition besides beryllium participating successful the men’s event, contempt concerns that the squad is not astir bully capable to beryllium competitive.

In the women’s event, Canada and the United States person won each six golden medals since the athletics was added and 5 of the six silvers. Finland, Russia and possibly Switzerland are apt to vie for the bronze.

Luge, 4 golds

Germans person won 34 of 48 golden medals successful this athletics implicit the years, including 7 of the past eight.

In lawsuit you can’t remember, luge is the feet-first sledding race; skeleton is headfirst.

Nordic Combined, 3 golds

To triumph successful Nordic combined, athletes indispensable beryllium large astatine 2 precise antithetic events: cross-country skiing and skis jumping. After years of Norwegian domination, Germany won each 3 golden medals astatine the past Games.

Nordic combined is the lone Olympic athletics without a women’s event, but that whitethorn alteration successful 2026.

Skeleton, 2 golds

And here’s the headfirst sledding event. The United States does overmuch amended here, winning 3 of the 12 golds awarded. (The Americans person ne'er won luge gold.) Germany, Austria and Russia are the countries to ticker this year.

This is simply a athletics that beats athletes up, acknowledgment to the G-forces and vibrations rattling the sledders.

Ski Jumping, 5 golds

Men leap successful “normal hill” and “large hill” competitions, portion pistillate jumpers, who joined the Games lone successful 2018, are constricted to mean hill. There is besides a mixed-gender squad contention being added this year.

Some person said that the apical of the skis jumping tower, wherever athletes hold earlier the exhilarating travel down, is the quietest spot astatine the Games.

Snowboarding, 11 golds

Several of the events are the aforesaid arsenic successful freestyle skiing: large air, halfpipe, slopestyle and snowboard transverse (rather than skis cross). There is besides a head-to-head elephantine slalom competition.

One of the stars of the 2018 competition, American halfpipe golden medalist Chloe Kim, volition beryllium backmost to support her title, with an quality connected “The Masked Singer” nether her belt. Three-time golden medalist Shaun White plans to beryllium backmost arsenic good astatine property 35.

Speedskating, 23 golds

Long-track speedskating, successful which athletes usually contention 2 astatine a clip against the clock, is dominated by the Dutch. They won 7 of 14 golden medals successful 2018 and 8 of 12 successful 2014. The United States, down satellite champions Joey Mantia and Brittany Bowe, volition beryllium looking for a archetypal golden medal since 2010.

Short-track, with aggregate skaters racing, and sometimes colliding, implicit a choky course, provided China with its lone golden of the 2018 Games. South Korea volition besides beryllium a large contender. Though the United States picks up medals present and there, it has not won a golden since Apolo Ohno did successful 2006 and 2002.

This nonfiction primitively appeared successful The New York Times.