When to watch: The snowboard cross quarterfinals, semifinals, and medal round are scheduled to air on February 11 at 9 p.m. EST.
Aerial freestyle skiing (mixed team)
For the first time ever, freestyle skiing—historically an individual sport—will include a team event. In aerial skiing, athletes take off from a jump that launches them into the air, where they execute a dizzying routine of twists and flips before landing at the bottom of the slope. Now teams of aerial skiers will work together to reach the podium on the Olympic stage.
The teams include three athletes—one must be a man and one must be a woman—whose combined scores make up the team finish.
Who to watch: First-time Olympian Winter Vinecki looks ready to contribute to Team USA’s podium chances after helping the Americans earn a silver medal in the aerials team event at the Finland world cup events in December 2021.
When to watch: Catch the finals of the mixed team aerials event airing on February 10 at 6 a.m. EST.
Short track relay (mixed team)
A third relay has been added to the short track skating program for the first time in Beijing. In addition to the men’s 5,000-meter and women’s 3,000-meter relays, athletes will compete on mixed-gender teams for a distance of 2,000 meters.
The squads consist of four skaters (two men and two women) competing over 18 laps of the track. The relay begins with the two women racing for two and a half laps each. The men follow for the same distance, before the two women race again for two laps each. The men close out the race by completing two laps each to reach the finish line.
Who to watch: Expect South Korea to bring the heat in the mixed relay. After all, the country has earned 48 total medals (including 24 golds), solidifying its place as the top nation in Olympic short track speed skating, the IOC reports.
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The women of Team USA are looking to earn their first medal since 2010, when the relay earned bronze at the Vancouver Games. With five women—including 2018 Olympian Maame Biney—named to the U.S. team and two men aiming to rebuild the U.S. men’s short track squad, the mixed-gender relay will provide another chance for the Americans to chase a medal opportunity on the Olympic stage.
When to watch: The mixed team relay quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals will be shown live on February 5 at 6 a.m. EST.
Ski jumping (mixed team)
While men have been competing in ski jumping at the Olympics since 1988, a women’s competition was just recently added to the program in 2018. Now both genders have another opportunity to earn medals at the Games.
The mixed-gender team competition takes place on the normal hill (the smaller of the two Olympic ski jump hills with a 98-meter takeoff) and includes four athletes who jump in the order of woman, man, woman, man. The skiers’ individual scores—which include components like distance and style—are tallied together to make up the team score.
Who to watch: After winning the last four world championships, Germany is the favorite to earn gold in Beijing. The team of Markus Eisenbichler, Katharina Althaus, Karl Geiger, and Anna Rupprecht repeated in 2021, representing a country that has dominated the event with podium finishes in the last five world championships, the IOC reports. (Team USA will not have a mixed team at the Beijing Games, since U.S. women’s ski jumpers failed to qualify for spots at the Games after the International Ski Federation posted the final Olympic quota allocations, NBC reports.)
When to watch: Catch the mixed team competition airing on February 7 at 5:25 a.m. EST.
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Source: https://www.self.com
