亚洲网紅露点

While there鈥檚 an undeniable draw to outdoor activities in the summer sunshine, winter brings its own set of beloved sports. And some of the most popular around the world, of course, are featured in the Winter Olympics every four years. In 2022, some of the world鈥檚 best winter athletes showcased their skills in skating, skiing, sledding, and snowboarding competitions in Beijing. Whether you鈥檙e a regular on the slopes or just enjoy watching people break records and complete flips, brush up on your winter sports vocabulary.

Alpine

Olympic Alpine skiing, sometimes called downhill skiing, is a set of races that are some of the fastest events on two skis. The goal is simple: get down the mountain course as quick as possible. The form gets its name from Europe鈥檚 largest and tallest mountain range, the Alps. Racers can reach nearly 100 miles per hour on the long and winding downhill courses.

础濒辫颈苍别听skiing for both men and women debuted during the 1936 Olympic 亚洲网紅露点 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, with a race that combined downhill and slalom (more on that later). Today, the Olympics have 11 Alpine events in which racers try to earn the best time.

slalom

Speeding down a hill on skis is one challenge. Doing so on a zigging and zagging course is something else entirely. The slalom is one of the Alpine skiing races. Each skier aims to pass through a series of two poles, called gates, that are between 13 and 19 feet apart. Whichever skier has the lowest combined time over two courses wins. The name comes from the Norwegian 蝉濒补濒氓尘, which means “sloping track.”

The slalom was part of the combined Alpine skiing event in the 1936 Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and has been a standalone event since the 1948 亚洲网紅露点 in St. Mortiz, Switzerland. Slalom today has the shortest course and fastest turns, and the vertical descent on the course ranges between about 600鈥�720 feet for men and 450鈥�600 feet for women on the standalone events. These are, from longest to shortest:

• the super-G
• giant slalom
• slalom

cross-country skiing

Whereas Alpine puts speed at the forefront, cross-country skiing highlights endurance. The sport consists of skiing through varying, but relatively flat, terrain on narrow skis with bindings that allow the heel on ski boots to rise. Cross-country is considered the oldest type of skiing鈥攐ne that was originally designed for getting from point A to point B rather than for competition.

biathlon

If you take cross-country and add in sharpshooting, you get the biathlon. This word comes from Greek and means an athletic contest of two consecutive events. Rifle hunting on skis was long a part of life in Scandinavia. The sport started when the Norwegian military held the first modern biathlon in 1912.

The first modern Olympic biathlon came during the 1960 亚洲网紅露点 in Olympic Valley, California (the women鈥檚 event came later, in 1992). Now there are 11 events:

• mixed relay
• women鈥檚 15km individual
• women鈥檚 7.5km sprint
• women鈥檚 10km pursuit
• women鈥檚 4x6km relay
• women鈥檚 12.5km mass start
• men鈥檚 20km individual
• men鈥檚 10km spring
• men鈥檚 12.5km pursuit
• men鈥檚 4×7.5km relay
• men鈥檚 15km mass start

The races are time-based, and missing a shooting target adds to the racer鈥檚 final time鈥攅xcept for the pursuit races. In those, the leaders from the individual events get a head start on the race, and their competitors are able to start based on their previous race times.

Nordic

The Nordic combined puts together ski jumping and cross-country skiing. The name, as you might assume, comes from Norway, where skis have been used for hunting and daily life for thousands of years (ski is related to the Old Norse 蝉办颈冒, meaning 鈥渟tick of wood鈥�). As a sport, the Nordic combined got its start at the Holmenkollen ski festival in Olso, Norway, in 1892.

The Nordic combined is one of the Winter Olympics originals, having started at the first Winter Olympics in Chamonix, France, in 1924 and held every Olympics since. These days, there鈥檚 still only an Olympic men鈥檚 competition with three events that feature both a ski jump and cross-country skiing race.

产辞产蝉濒别颈驳丑听

The bobsleigh is an Olympic event named after the sport鈥檚 defining piece of equipment: the bobsleigh (or, in the US and Canada, the bobsled). The 产辞产听颈苍听产辞产蝉濒别颈驳丑听refers to the motion of its riders, as the verb means “to move (a thing) up or down with a bob or slight jerk.”聽And that’s an apt description, as bobsledding involves two or more people on a sledge (the British term for a sled) that is made up of two short connected sleds with a steering mechanism and brake. The team maneuvers fast鈥攁round 90 mph鈥攄own a banked, icy run, and the fastest time wins. The sport was invented by the Swiss in the late 1800s when skeleton sleds, essentially just flat boards on long metal blades, were decked out with a way to steer and a chassis for protection.

Bobsleigh made an appearance in the first Winter Olympics in Chamonix in 1924. It鈥檚 been in every Winter Olympics except for one since then. The Olympics now has a:

• two-person race for men
• two-person race for women
• four-person men鈥檚 race
• monobob for women with just one rider

luge

The luge event is similar to the bobsleigh (luge is French for sledge). In fact, the luge, bobsleigh, and skeleton all use the same track. Differences can be found in the sleds and how they鈥檙e used. Luges are for one or two people. The sled itself is like a stripped down bobsleigh that lacks the protective sides and, crucially, brakes. To turn, lugers shift their weight, primarily through their calves on the sled鈥檚 runners. Just like the bobsleigh, people ride a luge laying on their back with feet forward and can reach speeds about 85 mph. Luge tracks were first built by Swiss hotel owners for tourists in the 1800s, with the first international course opening in Davos, Switzerland, in 1883.

Luge made it to the Olympics in 1964 when they were held in Innsbruck, Austria, and the races have been held on the bobsleigh track since 1976. Today, the sport includes:

• men鈥檚 singles
• men’s doubles
• women鈥檚 single
• and team relay events

skeleton 聽

The Olympic skeleton race uses the same track as the bobsleigh and luge, but two major differences make the event immediately stand out: the sled is slightly altered, and racers fly down the track head-first. It鈥檚 name is believed to have come from the fact that when the all-metal sleds were first used on the bobsleigh run in Davos in 1892, people thought they looked like skeletons. It also might get its name from the Anglicized Norwegian word for sled, kjaelke.

Skeleton made its Olympic debut at the 1928 亚洲网紅露点 in St. Moritz, Switzerland, and weren鈥檛 included again until the Winter Olympics again returned to St. Moritz in 1948. It鈥檚 become a regular event since the 2002 Salt Lake City 亚洲网紅露点, however. The Olympics features a men鈥檚 singles skeleton event and a women鈥檚 singles. Athletes start by running and then jumping onto their sled head-first, as opposed to the seated start position in bobsleigh and luge. Skeleton racers can go more than 80 mph.

肠耻谤濒颈苍驳听

Curling is all about precision. The game involves two teams of four players who slide curling stones in the direction of a circular target (the tee) on the opposite side of the court. The stone is helped along by team members who sweep the ice with a broom or brush to make the rock go faster as it travels more than 145 feet to the other side of the rink. The stones make a loud noise as they slide across the ice, which often has tiny ice bumps on the surface for better control. That鈥檚 where the game鈥檚 nickname, 鈥渢he roaring game,鈥� comes from. The word curling was first recorded in 1610鈥�20. Today, the game鈥檚 鈥渟tones鈥� aren鈥檛 your everyday stone but are instead a 42-pound piece of polished granite from Scotland’s Ailsa Craig with a handle attached to the top.

toe loop聽

Figure skating is one of the most popular sports in the Winter Olympics, and for many, the marquee event of the season. The name of the event refers to the patterns (or figures) skaters traced on the ice during competition. This skill was dropped from competition in the 1990s, but of course, the name remains.

Another skill figure skaters must master is the toe loop,听a common toe jump where the skater uses the toe pick (the serrated portion of the skate blade at the toe of the foot) to leap into the air. A skater doing a toe loop jumps off using the one toe pick while the other skate鈥檚 on the ice. The skater does a full rotation, and then lands on the outside edge of the same foot that was planted before. This is considered one of the easiest jumps in the sport. It鈥檚 similar to the Lutz with the critical difference being that the toe loop ends on the same foot the skater jumps from, while the Lutz lands on the opposite.

Figure skating is a special case among Winter Olympic sports. The first Winter Olympics were held in 1924, but the 1908 London 亚洲网紅露点 spanned from April until October and included some winter events鈥攆igure skating included. Figure skating again made an appearance in the general 亚洲网紅露点 in 1920 in Antwerp before figure skating events were held at the first Winter Olympics in 1924. Today, figure skating consists of men鈥檚, women鈥檚, and pairs events, as well as ice dancing, which was added in 1976.

厂补濒肠丑辞飞听

In figure skating, as in gymnastics, tricks are often named after the person who first completed it. That鈥檚 the case for the Salchow, which is when a skater jumps from the back inside edge of one skate, makes a full body rotation, and then lands on the back outside edge of the other skate. It鈥檚 named after the Swedish figure skater Ulrich Salchow (1877鈥�1949). It鈥檚 not the only figure skating trick that takes its name from an athlete, of course. The Axel, a one-and-a-half rotation forward jump, is named after Axel Paulsen, for example. Both the Salchow and Axel are edge jumps, which means the skater takes off from the edge of the skate blade.

If you think Salchow is hard to spell, you aren’t alone. Learn about more challenging words to spell here.

尝耻迟锄听

The Lutz is another jump named after the athlete to first complete the move. It involves the skater leaping from the back outer edge of one skate, making a full rotation in the air, and landing on the back outer edge of the opposite skate. The Austrian figure skater Alois Lutz first performed the jump in 1913. The move is in the family of toe jumps, in which the skater digs the toe pick into the ice to jump or pivot. It has one of the highest difficulty ratings of toe pick moves. In addition to the standard, one-rotation Lutz, there鈥檚 the double and triple Lutz, which require adding one or two more rotations in the air.

Take the quiz!

Do you feel comfortable with these terms now? You might not be ready to compete in one of these sports, but you can train your vocabulary skills using our Winter Sports 亚洲网紅露点 List which features flashcards, practice quizzes, and more. Then you can go for gold on our quiz on these winter sports.