A quick snapshot at the events that will make their debut on the Olympic menu in 2018:
Big air snowboard
This is slopestyle simplified (no rail section) and amped up (one big jump) and it’s the embodiment of the International Olympic Committee’s desire for more dramatic, spectator-friendly events that appeal to a younger audience. Off a high scaffolding jump, snowboarders drop in with their most stylish and difficult combination of flips, spins and grabs with their best two jumps counting for the score. Big air is also a freestyle ski event but it was only included in the 2018 Olympics for snowboarders. Canadian men, who compete in both slopestyle and big air, dominate and there’s a Canadian or two (and occasionally three) on the podium at most events, so Canada’s Olympic medal hopes are very strong here.
Alpine team ski
This is a modern take on the classic discipline of alpine skiing. Each run takes just 20 seconds and teams of skiers are pitted against each other on parallel slalom courses. The head-to-head competition, knockout brackets and team dynamics add new elements to skiing within a much shorter and less-tactical race. As is often the case with emerging sports, Canada has had success here with the Canadians winning a silver medal at the 2015 worlds in Vail, Colo., after narrowly missing the podium with a fourth-place finish in 2013. The next test comes at the upcoming world championships, where other, more traditionally dominant, alpine nations may have turned their attention to this event a year ahead of its Olympic debut.
Mixed doubles curling
The sheet of ice is the same but different rules — fewer curlers, ends and rocks — result in a faster and higher-scoring game. Instead of being played with teams of four, this game is played with just two curlers — a man and a woman — and the person who throws the rock also helps sweep. Canada is one of the most dominant curling nations and Canadians enter the 2018 Olympics as the defending champion in both men’s and women’s traditional curling, but whether that will translate to success in this new format remains to be seen.
Mass-start speed skating
This adds short-track speed skating action and team tactics to a long-track distance event. In mass start, long-track skaters aren’t on the ice two at a time in defined lanes, there are up to 24 on the ice at once. They cover 16 laps with points available for sprints in certain laps. The first three across the line win the medals while the other skaters are ranked based on their sprint points. Canada’s Ivanie Blondin excels in this event, having won numerous World Cups, but currently South Korea tops the World Cup rankings on both the men’s and women’s side with Blondin sitting second.
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