The New Events Being Introduced at the 25th Winter Olympic Games
It’s almost time for the Winter Olympics. The next quadrennial competition will be held in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, in Northern Italy, with the games opening on February 6 and running until February 22. Flavor Flav will be there to pump up the American bobsleigh and skeleton teams, American Mikaela Shiffrin is a favorite in Alpine skiing and Jordan Stolz, the youngest world all-round champion speed skater, is a gold hopeful in three different events.
What’s New at the 2026 Games?
The 2026 games will feature a number of new events:
- Ski mountaineering—A completely new event at the Olympic games, ski mountaineering involves scaling a mountain with skis, either carrying them or traveling on them. The contestants also descend on skis. There are men’s and women’s sprints, as well as a mixed-team relay event.
- Luge—In keeping with the Olympics committee’s commitment to offer equal opportunities to women at the games, men’s and women’s luge doubles will replace what was previously an open doubles competition
- Freestyle skiing—This unique event, where contestants perform acrobatic tricks while on skis (such as jumps, flips and spins) will be expanded to offer men’s and women’s moguls, where skiers will be able to compete head-to-head
- The skeleton—This event has contestants sprinting toward, then leaping on a small sled that travels down a twisting and turning ice track where athletes can reach speed of up to 80 mph. The sleds have no steering mechanism, so contestants change direction through shifts in body weight. The Milan Cortina Olympics will introduce a mixed team event.
- Ski jumping—For the first time in Olympic history, there will be a women’s large hill ski jumping competition. The large hill size is typically between 110 and 149 meters, compared to the normal ski jump hill, measured at 85 to 109 meters.
- Alpine skiing—A men’s and women’s team combined event has been added to the competition for the 2026 Olympics
In addition, Olympic organizers have made all distances for men’s and women’s cross-country skiing uniform.
