Just in case you’ve been living under a rock the past week… the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang have begun! There are 15 different sports you can watch this year, and you have until February 25th to tune in. You probably know most of the sports: skiing, snowboarding, figure skating, etc. But have you ever heard of “skeleton”? I definitely hadn’t until I wrote this article.
Here are some facts about the lesser-known winter sports!
1. Skeleton
This is the world’s first sliding sport. It involves plummeting down an ice track…head first. Sounds scary, right? The sport was developed in Switzerland and first debuted in the Olympics in 1928. It was dropped until its comeback in 2002 at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.
2. Bobsleigh
Most of you have probably heard of the bobsleigh event, but I still think it’s underrated. Two people typically sit in a bobsleigh however they do have something called a monobob where the athletes can fly solo!
3. Speed Skating
This sport is nothing like figure skating. Athletes compete to get the best time, not the best scores. They race each other by traveling a certain distance around an oval track. There are three events in speed skating: short track, long track, and marathon speed skating.
4. Biathlon
Biathlon consists of two sports: skiing and shooting. A very odd combination of sports, if you ask me. The race consists of skiing for a certain distance and then stopping to shoot in two positions: prone and standing. I will definitely have to watch it this year since this is the first time I’m even hearing about it!