While the Winter Olympics has only about half the events of the Summer Olympics, and might be considered the less exciting of the two seasonal events, there is still a lot of content to navigate. That’s why Her Campus is here to tell you which sports are the most riveting and when you can watch them during this year’s games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
1. Curling
Curling is the Winter Olympic sport that everyone talks about as not really being a sport, but more of a skill. Yet, there is something surprisingly very exciting about watching the concentration and passion that goes into using a broom to manipulate the sliding of a heavy rock across the ice. Watch the final curling tournament Friday, Feb. 23 through Sunday, Feb. 25.
2. Bobsleigh
There are three categories of Winter Olympics sports that involve hurtling down a steep and narrow track of ice at break-neck speeds, and bobsleigh is one of them. Perhaps the most exciting aspect of this sport is the team element, specifically the beginning of the run when all four team members most push the sleigh at top speed and then literally hop in before they reach the first giant hill. Watch on Feb. 18, 21 and 25.
3. Luge
The second and fastest of the three ice sledding sports, this variation is a one or two person race down the track. The tiny sled and very clear opportunities for it to go very wrong will keep you glued to the screen. Watch the final luge relay on Feb. 15.
4. Skeleton
The third and most exciting ice sledding event is skeleton. This one really pushes the sport to its most extreme in that the athletes race down the track head-first after jumping onto the sled. It is truly crazy to watch. Watch skeleton on Feb. 16 and 17.
5. Figure Skating
From incredible athleticism and beautiful costumes to enticing drama, figure skating has it all. Like many of the other Winter Olympic sports, there is always a high risk of the athletes falling, but for some reason, it always hurts the most to watch the moment the ice skaters have worked toward their whole lives for go wrong. Watch figure skating on the Feb. 17, 20 and 23.
6. Big Air Snowboarding
There are many different snowboarding events, but this iteration is a new event this year! Snowboarders tend to use this event to display new tricks while getting lots of air and launching themselves off ramps. The women’s finals are on Feb. 24 and the men’s are on Feb. 25.
7. Ski Jumping
Ski jumping is essentially when athletes launch themselves off giant ramps, trying to reach the target line while maintaining form. This is one of those sports where it’s hard to imagine how you would go about learning how to do it, but makes all of us jealous that we won’t ever be able to do one of the closest things to flying. Watch ski jumping on Feb. 17 and 19.
8. Freestyle Skiing
Freestyle skiing can consist of many different runs from moguls to half pipes, and is incredible to watch in that it allows the athletes to show off their ariel skills. Freestyle will (rightly) have a lot of on-screen time, and can be watched from Feb. 16 through 18 and Feb. 20 through 23.
Gifs Courtesy of Giphy