Sochi will be a showcase for the new and improved Games, with twelve events making their Olympic debut. Here are some of the top new competitions to look forward to.
Luge Team Race
This new event will have nations competing in three-part teams, made up of a men’s single sled, a women’s single sled and a doubles sled. For each run, the clock will begin with the start of the first sled — doesn’t matter which. The next sled will be allowed to start when the first sled sets off a censor on the course, and the same for the third sled. The team’s time for the course will conclude when the third sled has crossed the line. This may cause problems if any of the three sleds happen to crash on the course. Not only will the final time be affected but it may leave the crashed sled in more danger of being hit by the next.
Men and Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle
This new event will debut on the first day of competition, Feb. 6, a day before the Opening Ceremony. The downhill course will consist of different sized rails and a variety of jumps, as the athlete will look to show off their technical tricks with big air that the judges will be looking for when scoring each run. There will be three phases for the event: qualifiers, semis and finals. The length of the course runs 655 meters.
Figure Skating Team
One male, one female, one pair and one ice dance couple will make up of each of the 10 competing figure skating teams. The top five teams will move on after the first round of short programs. The judges’ scoring will consist of a technical score and a presentation score. Each routine will be judged individually and the team with the highest aggregate score will win the gold. This will allow all figure skating lovers to get double the action they would normally get at the Winter Olympics.
Men’s and Women’s Ski Halfpipe
Skiers will compete in this downhill half-pipe event, in which they’ll be critiqued on their execution, amplitude, variety, difficulty and use of the pipe. They’ll perform their big air tricks in hope of impressing the crowd and judges. Skiers will get two runs in the qualification phase and if they reach the finals phase, they’ll get another two runs. The course runs 234 meters long and is 18 meters wide. The walls of the half-pipe are 7 meters high, which should launch the athletes 20 feet above the half-pipe. The event is sure to produce plenty of excitement and attract new fans.
Men’s and Women’s Snowboard Parallel Slalom
Athletes will ride down the course two at a time, race style. There will be two parallel courses side by side outlined by gates, which each rider will navigate down through triangular flags. There will be 32 snowboarders competing in both the men’s and the women‘s events. There will be a qualification round and those who qualify will make it to the final round. In the round of 16, competitors will face off one-on-one in two runs, one from each course. The loser of the first run will start the second run with a time disadvantage, the amount of time lost by in the first run. The first to cross the line in the second run will be the winner of the heat, and so on until, there is one golden champion.
