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NORDIC COMBINED Alpensia Ski Jumping Centre; Alpensia Cross-Country Centre 14-22 February Medal events: 3 First appearing at the inaugural Olympic Winter Games Chamonix 1924, Nordic combined has been on the Olympic programme for every subsequent edition. It features three events: individual normal hill/10km, individual large hill/10km and the team competition. The discipline combines the endurance of cross-country skiing and fl ying ability of ski jumping, meaning athletes need a broad range of skills. SHORT TRACK SPEED SKATING Gangneung Ice Arena 10-22 February Medal events: 8 So called because the ice rink is shorter than the one used in speed skating competitions, there will be eight short track events in total in PyeongChang: 500m, 1,000m and 1,500m individual races for men and women, as well as the team relays (5,000m for men, 3,000m for women). One lap of the track is 111.12m in length, versus 400m for speed skating. ICE HOCKEY Gangneung Hockey Centre; Kwandong Hockey Centre 10-25 February Medal events: 2 Matches are split into three 20-minute periods in this physical sport. While fi ve players and one goaltender per team are allowed on the ice rink during play, the overall squad size is 25 per team for men and 23 for women. If the scores end level then medal-round games go into overtime, where the fi rst team to score wins. If overtime ends scoreless, three shooters from each team take alternate shots until a decisive goal is scored. FREESTYLE SKIING Phoenix Snow Park 9-23 February Medal events: 10 The spectacular acrobatic thrills of freestyle skiing are performed across 10 events, divided equally between men and women: moguls, aerials, ski cross, halfpipe and slopestyle. For the majority of the events, the emphasis is on executing aerial tricks – including fl ips and spins – with points awarded by judges. For slopestyle, this includes skiers sliding on rails and over boxes. For ski cross, the emphasis is on speed where four athletes race down a course fi lled with jumps and other features. LUGE Olympic Sliding Centre 10-15 February Medal events: 4 Using a small sled, the luge athletes are capable of hitting speeds of up to 140km per hour along the sliding track. The singles events (one each for men and women) tally up the aggregate time from four runs over two days, while the doubles event is made up of two runs. In the mixed team relay, teams made up of one man, one woman and a doubles pair combine their runs to record a total time. PYEONGCHANG 2018 PREVIEW 42 OLYMPIC REVIEW