Lindsey Jacobellis earned redemption with Winter Olympics gold in the women's snowboard cross final at Beijing 2022 after missing out on top spot 16 years earlier.

Jacobellis dominated at Turin 2006 ago but fell on the penultimate jump, meaning she had to settle for silver. The gap of 16 years between her first and second Olympic medals is the largest gap between two medals for a snowboarder.

The American made amends on Wednesday as the most decorated snowboard cross athlete of all time added the only title she was missing to her six world championships, two Crystal Globes and 10 X Games triumphs.

But the 36-year-old insisted that she did not use her 16-year wait as motivation for redemption after managing first place at Genting Snow Park.

"I never thought of it that way," she said. "That was not in my mind. I wanted to just come here and compete.

"It would have been a nice, sweet thing, but if I had tried to spend [time on] the thought of redemption, then it's taking away focus on the task at hand, and that's not why I race.

"They can keep talking about it all they want because it really shaped me into the individual that I am, kept me hungry and really helped me keep fighting in the sport."

There were plenty of other stars breaking records in China and Stats Perform has taken a look at some of the numbers behind their stories.

36 years, 174 days – Jacobellis is the oldest snowboard gold medallist and oldest USA female gold medallist at the Olympic Winter Games.

2 – Birk Ruud claimed gold in the men’s freeski big air to become the youngest Norwegian Olympic medallist in freestyle skiing (21y, 313d). He is also just the second freestyle skier to win a gold medal at both the Youth Olympic Winter Games and the Olympic Winter Games.

3 – Hwang Daeheon became the third man to win a gold medal at the Olympic Winter Games and the Youth Olympic Winter Games (1000m at Lillehammer 2016).

1 – Petra Vlhova's gold medal was the first for Slovakia in Olympic Alpine skiing, and only the ninth in any sport, seven of which have been won by Slovakian women.

5 – Tobias Arlt and Tobias Wendl won their third consecutive gold medal in luge doubles, their fifth Olympic medal overall, equalling the Olympic best in the sport set by their countrywoman Natalie Geisenberger.

3 – Vinzenz Geiger made himself the third athlete to win multiple Olympic gold medals in Nordic combined for Germany, who have collected four consecutive golds in the event.

It was quite a day on Tuesday at the Winter Olympics with dramatic medals won and records broken, but Wednesday has the potential to supersede it as Beijing 2022 continues.

The men's ice hockey gets under way, while there are big medal events in the luge, Nordic combined and short track speed skating, among others.

The men will try to follow Tuesday's exhilarating effort from the women in the freeski big air final, while the women's slalom and snowboard cross promise more excitement.

Stats Perform has you covered ahead of Wednesday's action.

Alpine skiing

The women's slalom provides an opportunity for both success and redemption on the 'Ice River' course at the Yanqing National Ski Centre.

Sweden's Sara Hector will be hoping to follow up Monday's gold medal in the giant slalom, while Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States will want to make up for crashing out of the same competition just five turns into her opening run.

Petra Vlhova of Slovakia and Katharina Liensberger of Austria, the reigning world champion, are two who could also challenge.

Curling

After Italy's dominance ended in an inevitable gold in the mixed doubles on Tuesday, the men's competition gets under way.

The opening series of matches will see Denmark face Canada, the United States go up against Russian Olympic Committee, Norway will play Switzerland and hosts China face Sweden.

Three of the US's gold medal team from Pyeongchang return to defend their title, including skip John Shuster.

Freestyle skiing

Following a sensational victory for China's 'Snow Princess' Eileen Gu on Tuesday, the pressure is on the men to follow suit.

The big story had been the return to competition of reigning slopestyle world champion Andri Ragettli, but the Swiss star failed to qualify for the final having only finished 14th on Monday.

American trio Alex Hall, Colby Stevenson and Mac Forehand could challenge for the medals, while Sweden's Oliwer Magnusson and Norway's Birk Ruud are also among the favourites, with the latter topping qualifying.

Ice hockey

With no involvement from NHL players, the men's tournament gets going in Beijing, feeling like it could almost be anyone's game.

Defending Olympic champions Russian Olympic Committee face Switzerland on Wednesday, while Czech Republic play Denmark.

Luge

The doubles event is expected to be dominated by Germany, with the 2014 and 2018 Olympic champions Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt returning, while bronze medallists from 2018 and current World Cup leaders Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken will likely provide stern competition.

Eggert and Benecken are also the track record holders after their November 2021 run of 58.793 seconds.

Nordic combined

One of the primary stories in the Nordic combined is whether Olympic champion Eric Frenzel of Germany and world champion Jarl Magnus Riiber of Norway will be able to compete after both contracted COVID-19.

Should they not make the start line, Austria's Johannes Lamparter is likely to be the favourite after his numerous Nordic Combined World Cup wins, including three in January.

Short track speed skating

The men's 1,500m final takes place on Wednesday, with China's Ren Ziwei looking to add to the two gold medals he already has from the 1,000m and mixed team relay.

Hungary's Liu Shaolin Sandor was disqualified for causing a collision with Ren in the 1,000m and will want to make up for that in the longer form final.

Snowboard

The women's snowboard cross probably sees Great Britain's best chance at a medal in Beijing with Charlotte Bankes among the favourites.

The 26-year-old leads this season’s World Cup standings with five podiums from six events, while Australia's Belle Brockhoff and Italy's Michela Moioli are likely to provide her strongest competition.

The men's and women's halfpipe qualifying also begin, which will see superstar Shaun White - who has confirmed these will be his last Games - and fellow United States star Chloe Kim compete.

Matthias Mayer was one of several athletes to achieve an unprecedented Winter Olympics feat on Tuesday, as he claimed gold in the super-G at Beijing 2022.

The Austrian became only the third Alpine skier to win gold at three separate Olympics, and the first to do that in successive Games after defending the title he won four years ago in Pyeongchang after previous downhill success at Sochi in 2014.

Mayer did not finish the super-G in Russia eight years ago, with Kjetil Jansrud taking the gold on that occasion.

Norwegian Jansrud, a five-time Olympic medallist, could only finish 23rd on Tuesday and paid tribute to Mayer for his incredible achievement.

"Hats off. It's unbelievable to make it happen on days where it counts the most," said Jansrud. "I am a little lost for words because he has been dominating for so many years, but he's also one of the few who really steps up to the big occasions and does it. And he does it again, 'chapeau'."

There were plenty of other people breaking records in Beijing, and Stats Perform has delved into some of the numbers behind them.

18 years, 158 days – Eileen Gu became the youngest gold medallist from China at a Winter Olympics with her freeski big air success, surpassing short track speed skater Zhou Yang (18 years, 256 days) when she won the women's 1,500m in 2010.

12 – Benjamin Karl achieved his "life project" by topping the podium in the men's parallel giant slalom. The gap of 12 years between his first and latest medals equalled the longest in snowboarding history, matching Shaun White (2006-2018) and Kelly Clark (2002-2014).

4 – Cross-country skier Johannes Hosflot Klaebo became the first man to win multiple Olympic gold medals in the men's sprint by defending his title. He has now won four straight individual sprint golds at Olympic and World Championship level – no other man has more than two such wins.

0 – Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner won gold in the curling mixed doubles without suffering a single defeat along the way, following an 8-5 success over Norway. It is only the fourth time curling gold has been won with an undefeated record, after Great Britain in 1924, Canada's men in 2010 and Canada's women in 2014.

3 – Natalie Geisenberger made it a hat-trick by taking first place in the women's singles for the third straight Games, making her the first luge athlete to achieve the feat. With a haul of five gold medals in her career, she became luge's most successful individual.

1 – With success in the parallel giant slalom, Ester Ledecka joined speed skater Martina Sablikova as the Czech woman with the most gold medals at any form of Olympics.

Tuesday brought more enthralling action from Beijing, with Olympic records broken and one athlete on the verge of repeating a historic feat.

Ester Ledecka became the first female athlete to claim gold in two separate sports at the same Winter Games back in 2018, and the Czech is out to repeat that achievement this time around.

She is now halfway there, having won the women's parallel giant slalom at Genting Snow Park.

Teenage sensation Eileen Gu was also among the winners on day four, while Canada's women beat the United States 4-2 in the ice hockey, in what many view as a possible dress rehearsal for the final, and Italy defeated Norway to take gold in the mixed doubles curling final.

Ledecka on the brink of double glory

Ledecka clinched gold ahead of Austria's Daniela Ulbing. However, she does not have much time to celebrate, as her focus will now switch from snowboarding to going for the top prize in alpine skiing in three days' time.

"Part of my head is still racing right now on that course," Ledecka said. "The other side of my head is already trying to get through the lines on the skiing course. And then a small part is celebrating the win."

Slovenia's Gloria Kotnik took bronze, finishing on the podium for the first time in a career that has spanned 137 world cup events, 14 world championships and three Olympic Games.

Austria's Benjamin Karl took gold in the men's event. The 36-year-old, who is a five-time world champion, took bronze in the parallel slalom in Sochi and silver in the parallel giant slalom in Pyeongchang, making him the first snowboarder to have a complete set of Olympic medals.

Gu lives up to the billing

Gu had already made several headlines before Beijing 2022 had even begun. The 18-year-old Californian delighted China when she decided to represent the country of her mother's birth instead of the United States.

Nicknamed the "Snow Princess", Gu won two gold medals at both the Winter X Games 2021 and the FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships, and on Tuesday came first in the big air freestyle final.

"That was the happiest moment, day, whatever – of my life," said Gu, who landed a perfect left double cork 1620 jump for the first time in competition.

"Even if I didn't land it, I felt it would send a message out to the world and hopefully encourage more girls to break their own boundaries," the teenager added. 

Olympic record smashed

The Olympic record in the men's 1500m speed skating was broken twice over, as Kjeld Nuis defended his title from 2018 in emphatic style.

Dutchman Nuis now has three golds to his name, having also won the 1000m race in Pyeongchang, and has become the fourth man to win the 1500m twice.

Nuis and his compatriot Thomas Krol, who took silver, both broke the Olympic record of 1:43.95, which had stood for 20 years, with Nuis recording a time of 1:43.21.

In the cross-country skiing, Norway's Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo dominated as he took home gold in the men's sprint free event. He won three gold medals in Pyeongchang and is a two-time defending world champion.

Sweden enjoyed success in the women's equivalent, with world champion Jonna Sundling and Maja Dahlqvist completing a one-two.

Three in a row for Geisenberger

Natalie Geisenberger is the first female luge athlete to win gold for the third straight Olympic Games, as she triumphed with a combined time of 3:53.454.

Geisenberger's time was just under half-a-second quicker than her fellow German Anna Berreiter, who claimed silver, with Tayana Ivanova taking bronze for the Russian Olympic Committee.

"It's hard to compare Olympic medals, because every one has its own history," said Geisenberger, who took a break away from the sport in 2020 to have a child.

"My first was very, very special because I was a first-time Olympic champion and now I'm a five-time Olympic champion, but it is the first time as a mother. It's just great.

"Training was done around my child. I think we did a really pretty good job as a family. To have another gold is just amazing and a very special moment."

Sweden claimed top spot in the medal table at the end of day four at Beijing 2022 after winning their third gold thanks to Sara Hector's victory in the alpine skiing women's giant slalom.

Hector finished ahead of Italy's Federica Brignone and Switzerland's Lara Gut-Behrami on Monday to move Sweden to the top of the table.

The Russian Olympic Committee are into second place after gold in the figure skating team event, and now have the most medals in total at the Games with seven.

Ireen Wust's gold in the women's 1500m speed skating is the second for the Netherlands, with Antoinette de Jong's bronze in the same event and Suzanne Schulting's silver in the 500m final taking their total to five medals overall.

Hosts China are up to fourth after an eventual gold for Ren Ziwei, awarded the win in the men's 1000m speed skating final ahead of Hungary's Liu Shaolin Sandor, who was disqualified for causing a collision.

Germany earned their second gold in Beijing when Denise Herrmann won the women's 15km individual biathlon, while Norway have fallen from first to sixth place in the medal table after a day with just one bronze medal.

Slovenia move down a place to seventh despite becoming the first Olympic champions in the ski jumping mixed team event on the normal hill on Monday.

The team of Nika Kriznar, Timi Zajc, Ursa Bogataj and Peter Prevc finished 111 points ahead of the ROC (890.3), with Canada claiming bronze with a score of 844.6.

Italy claimed gold as Arianna Fontana successfully defended her women's 500m speed skating title to go along with Brignone's skiing silver, while Canada sit just behind them after their first gold of the Games through Max Parrot's snowboard slopestyle effort, with Mark McMorris also grabbing bronze.

Japan endured disappointment on Monday as they slipped from joint-sixth to 10th, with Miho Takagi only managing silver in the women's 1500m speed skating and the figure skating team settling for bronze.

Medal table (after day four):

1. Sweden (G3 S0 B0, Total: 3)
2. Russian Olympic Committee (G2 S3 B2, Total: 7)
3. Netherlands (G2 S2 B1, Total: 5)
4. China (G2 S2 B0, Total: 4)
5. Germany (G2 S1 B0, Total: 3)
6. Norway (G2 S0 B2, Total: 4)
7. Slovenia (G2 S0 B1, Total: 3)
8. Italy (G1 S3 B1, Total: 5)
9. Canada (G1 S1 B4, Total: 6)
10. Japan (G1 S1 B2, Total: 4)

Canada's Max Parrot won an emotional gold medal at the Beijing Winter Olympics in the snowboard slopestyle, three years after being diagnosed with cancer.

Parrot's score of 90.96 on his second run was enough to secure victory ahead of China's Su Yiming and fellow Canadian Mark McMorris, who won silver and bronze respectively.

Despite only finishing 10th in qualifying, Parrot put together a high-scoring run to go one better than the silver he achieved at PyeongChang 2018.

"This is so incredibly special, especially with the run I did today. It's the biggest run I've done in my entire career," he said afterwards. "I am extremely proud of myself and to take gold on that run means so much for me."

The 27-year-old was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma – a type of blood cancer – in late 2018 and was forced to stop competing so he could undergo chemotherapy.

However, he announced he was cancer-free in July 2019 and worked to get back to his competitive best.

"I don't take anything for granted anymore," he added. "It made me such a better snowboarder, as well. I try to appreciate every day now – the little things in the morning through to my passion of snowboard. I try to smile all day long now, and the results come with that now as well. It's amazing."

Speed skating glory for Wust

Ireen Wust became the first person to win an individual gold medal at five different Olympics after retaining her 1500m title on Monday.

Wust beat the much-fancied Japanese skater Miho Takagi, who claimed silver, breaking the Olympic record in the process with a time of one minute 53.28 seconds.

The 35-year-old is retiring next month, but despite being ranked seventh at the World Cup, had enough to secure her sixth gold medal and 12th medal overall at the Olympics.

In the shorter track events, Italy's Arianna Fontana retained her 500m title while  Hungary's Liu Shaolin Sandor initially won the men's 1000m final but was eventually disqualified for initiating contact when overtaking China's Ren Ziwei.

There was another collision between the two on the finish line but Ren was declared the winner after an official review ahead of countryman Li Wenlong and Liu Shaoang, Sandor's brother.

Valieva makes history in figure skating

The Russian Olympic Committee won gold in the figure skating team event but all eyes were on Kamila Valieva as the 15-year-old became the first female figure skater to land a quadruple jump at an Olympic Games.

The ROC had already sealed the win ahead of the United States and Japan before Valieva executed a quadruple salchow at the start of her free skate, then landing another quad later in the same routine, though she fell after attempting an ambitious third.

Valieva has been breaking records since making her senior debut less than six months ago, becoming the first woman to score more than 90 points and setting a world record in the short program at the European Championships last month.

She is the heavy favourite for the women's event, which takes place on February 15 and 17. 

Feuz wins downhill gold

Switzerland's Beat Feuz won the men's downhill, finishing ahead of 41-year-old Frenchman Johan Clarey at Yanqing National Alpine Skiing Centre.

Feuz's winning run of one minute 42.69 seconds was just one 10th of a second ahead of Clarey.

However, Clarey did make history with his silver medal, becoming the oldest Olympic medallist in alpine skiing, while Austria's Matthias Mayer claimed bronze.

"I knew I only had one chance left in my career to get a medal in the Olympics," Clarey said. "When you are a medallist, whether you are 20 or 41, it doesn't matter."

New Zealand celebrated their first ever Winter Olympics gold on Sunday, and Australia broke new ground by winning multiple medals on the same day.

On the medals table, however, Norway and Sweden occupied places one and two, the Scandinavian snow and ice sport specialists going through familiar motions.

Members of the New Zealand team performed a haka as 20-year-old Zoi Sadowski-Synnott was awarded gold for a virtuoso snowboard slopestyle triumph, a moment of sporting history for her country.

Sadowski-Synnott will go again later in the Beijing Games when she competes in the big air event, a famous double in her sights. New Zealand squeezed into the top 10 on the medals table thanks to their first medals success of any colour in China, tying for ninth place with the hosts so far.

Australia share sixth with Japan and Slovenia, each nation having a gold and a bronze so far. Japan savoured their first ski jumping Olympic title since 1998 as Ryoyu Kobayashi soared to gold in the men's normal hill competition on Sunday.

The Australians clasped their hands on two medals in a day for the first time in Winter Games history, with Tess Coady taking bronze behind Sadowski-Synnott while Jakara Anthony swooped for a mesmerising gold in the freestyle skiing women's moguls.

Still, the top five on the medals table had a familiar look to it, with Germany and Netherlands tied in fourth with one gold and one silver each. Johannes Ludwig delivered Germany's first gold in Beijing when the 35-year-old triumphed in the luge men's singles. Patrick Roest took silver for Netherlands in the 5,000 metres speed skating, his country's only medal on Sunday.

Russian Olympic Committee have captured the most medals so far, but only one of their five has been gold, so they sit third on the table. Alexander Bolshunov led an ROC 1-2 in the cross-country skiathlon on Sunday, as Denis Spitsov took silver.

Sweden are dealing only in gold at the moment, with Nils van der Poel's 5,000m speed skating glory run on Sunday following a podium top spot on Saturday for Walter Wallberg in the men's moguls.

That means Norway, the most successful nation in Winter Olympics history, head the table in its nascent stage. After landing gold twice on Saturday, their encore was understated, with bronze in the speed skating for Hallgeir Engebraaten their only top-three placing.

Ryoyu Kobayashi ended a 50-year wait for Japan as he landed ski jumping gold at the Winter Olympics on Sunday.

Not since Yukio Kasaya in 1972 had Japan triumphed in the men's normal hill ski jumping event, but the 25-year-old Kobayashi fended off all-comers to top the podium.

It was Japan's first Olympic gold in any form of ski jumping since the country hosted the 1998 Games in Nagano.

Kobayashi scored 275.0 points for his two jumps, placing him ahead of two surprise medallists, Austria's Manuel Fettner and Poland's Dawid Kubacki.

Fettner came into the event having not featured on a World Cup podium in an individual event since January 2017, while Kubacki has been enduring a tough season. Both outshone World Cup leader Karl Geiger, with the German only able to finish 15th.

Kobayashi, who finished seventh four years ago in Pyeongchang, said: "I can't believe it at all. My two jumps were perfect, which I was very pleased with.

"I had only good feelings when I was performing. At the last Olympics I realised many things that I was missing, so this time I did what I had to do. This is why I got the victory."

It was a remarkable day for Australia too, landing two medals on the same day at the Winter Games for the first time, as Tess Coady took bronze in women's snowboard slopestyle and Jakara Anthony struck gold in the freestyle skiing moguls.

Anthony said of her golden moment: "It was really incredible. I really feel like it was my best run on the course, and I'm so proud that I was able to let myself ski like that.

"It's a real mental game to let yourself do what you are capable of, and I really feel I was able to achieve that, which is something really special and something I've been working really hard to be able to do. Gold medal was the plan, so I'd say it went according to plan."

Anthony's gold means Australia now have an all-time haul of nine Olympic medals in freestyle skiing, with five of those won by women.

Snowboard glory for New Zealand

For the first time, New Zealand have a gold medallist at the Winter Olympics. Step forward Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, champion in the slopestyle, who triumphantly navigated an obstacle-packed course described by American silver medallist Julia Marino as "the hardest ever".

Sadowski-Synnott was embraced by Marino and Coady, and said: "That was a pretty special moment and probably I'll never forget it. It was just so amazing and special.

"To win New Zealand's first Winter Olympic gold means so much to me and I can't believe that I managed to do it. I'm just super proud to be Kiwi and I hope I made everyone at home proud."

Bolshunov storms to skiathlon title

Russian Olympic Committee's Alexander Bolshunov insisted there was nothing suspicious about his huge margin of victory in the men's skiathlon cross-country race. 

The 25-year-old finished one minute and 11 seconds clear of compatriot Denis Spitsov, with Finland's Iivo Niskanen taking bronze.

"It is something unbelievable. I am an Olympic champion and this is for life," said a thrilled Bolshunov.

Russian sport has been tainted by doping, but Bolshunov insisted he is a clean athlete and reacted unhappily to being asked about his credibility after landing gold.

He said: "You don't just become an Olympic champion all of a sudden. Over the past years, I proved that in every race and always show distinguished results and also always battle to the end.

"As for doping, when I hear those words, it honestly turns me inside out. I do not accept that and when I hear those words, I don't even want to hear them.

"I hate hearing this because for me it is something that is incompatible with sport. We have clean sportsmen. We have clean athletes here at the Olympics."

Ludwig lives up to billing

It was too windy for downhill skiing on Sunday, with action on those slopes postponed to Monday, but there was no holding back the luge competitors, as Germany's Johannes Ludwig carried off the men's singles gold medal.

The 35-year-old pre-Games favourite's combined time of three minutes 48.735 seconds edged him ahead of Austrian silver medallist Wolfgang Kindl and Italian Dominik Fischnaller, who took bronze.

"I said to myself before the last two runs, 'Let's take it like a game, yeah? It's called the Olympic Games, let’s take it like a game,'" said Ludwig. "I hoped that I could make a little bit [of a] show for the people here, then it's a fun race to watch. This was important for me and I just said to myself, 'Let it go'. What happens, happens."

Another long wait ended, as world champion Nils van der Poel became Sweden's first speed skating Olympic gold medallist since 1988, winning the 5,000 metres.

Three-time defending champion Sven Kramer could only finish ninth for Netherlands, saying afterwards it would be his last appearance over the distance.

The medals started to be dished out on Saturday, and there are more up for grabs as the Winter Olympics moves into day three in Beijing.

There are 11 different disciplines to take in on Sunday, with one of winter sport's biggest names in action.

Two-time reigning Olympic champion Jamie Anderson leads the field in the women's slopestyle.

Here, Stats Perform provides a rundown of the medal events taking place on Sunday.

Alpine Skiing

The men's downhill event will be the first time a medal is up for grabs in the alpine ski programme in Beijing.

With the 2018 Olympic champion, Aksel Lund Svindal, having retired, and his compatriot Kjetil Jansrud missing through injury, then Matthias Mayer - who claimed gold in 2014 in Sochi - is among the favourites.

Cross-Country Skiing 

Norway claimed the first gold medal of this year's Games when Therese Johaug stormed to victory in the women's 7.5km x 7.5km skiathlon on Saturday, and her compatriot Johannes Hoesflot will hope to match that feat in the men's equivalent.

Hoesflot is a reigning world champion in three disciplines, and he won three golds in 2018, albeit he finished a disappointing 10th in the 30km skiathlon four years ago.

Norway dominated the podium in the event in 2018, but neither Simen Hegstad Krueger or Martin Johnsrud Sundby will be competing this time. Hans Christer Holund will be looking to improve on his bronze.

Freestyle Skiing

The women's moguls gold is up for grabs on Sunday, with reigning world and Olympic champion Perrine Laffont of France in line to defend her title.

Laffont will face stern opposition from Canada's Justine Dufour-Lapointe, who took silver in Pyeongchang, though Yuliya Galysheva – who took bronze in 2018 and finished second behind Laffont in the world championships last year – needs to go through a second qualification round.

Luge

The men's singles final takes place on Sunday, with reigning champion David Gleirscher, 2018 silver medallist Chris Mazdzer and bronze medalist Johannes Ludwig all pushing for gold.

Ludwig is the favourite, leading the 2021-22 Luge World Cup heading to Beijing, while 2010 and 2014 Olympic champion Felix Loch is also in the mix.

Ski Jumping

The men's normal hill individual field is wide open, given that 2018 Olympic champion Andreas Wellinger failed to qualify this time, while silver medalist Johann Andre Forfang is not competing.

Robert Johansson took bronze last time and will be among the favourites, which will include reigning world champion Piotr Zyla (Poland) and current World Cup leader Karl Geiger (Germany).

Snowboarding

Anderson, a seven-time Winter X Games slopestyle gold medallist and a two-time world champion, is out for her OIympic three-peat. No snowboarder has ever won three golds in a row at the Games, with Shaun White the only snowboarder to have won three golds at all.

She will face competition from Canada's Laurie Blouin, another two-time world champion, while Tess Coady of Australia and New Zealand's Zoi Sadowski-Synnott must be considered as strong challengers.

Speed Skating

Sven Kramer holds the Olympic record, as well as the gold medal from Pyeongchang in the 5000 metres. He is aiming to defend his title and his record, going up against 2018 silver medalist Ted-Jan Bloemen and reigning world champion and world record holder Nils van der Poel.

Shaun White has confirmed the Winter Olympics halfpipe will be his last snowboarding event before retiring from the sport.

The American has a place in Games history under lock and key already, as the first and so far only snowboarder to win three gold medals.

"I really want to finish my career strongly on my own terms and put down some solid runs. If I could do that, I'll be very happy," White said on Saturday.

"I don't know how many kids really aspire to be a cowboy and get to be a cowboy. At a young age, snowboarding is what I wanted more than anything and to be walking in these shoes today is just incredible. It feels so amazing, I'm so proud."

White said he came close to missing a Games bus on Friday night because he was too occupied with trading USA team pins – an Olympics ritual that sees stars and participants swapping the colourful pin badges, amassing collections to take away as mementos.

"I'm having as much fun as I can," White said.

It is worth remembering what White has brought to the Winter Olympics and snow sport as a whole.

At the X Games – the Mardi Gras of extreme sports – White has totted up 23 medals, of which 15 have been gold. Thirteen of those gold medals have come in snowboarding, but two came in skateboarding, highlighting his prowess there.

Eight of his X Games golds came in the halfpipe event, with the other five achieved in slopestyle, the snowboarding variant that features obstacles.

He was the first snowboarder to score a perfect 100 in the halfpipe in the Winter X Games, achieving that 10 years ago in Aspen, Colorado.

White triumphed first at the Games as a 19-year-old in Turin in 2006, defending his title in 2010 in Vancouver, and recovering from the jolt of missing out on the Sochi podium four years later by landing gold again at Pyeongchang.

His score of 97.75 in his second run at Pyeongchang stands as an Olympic record.

His final bid for glory is coming up, with men's halfpipe qualifying taking place on Wednesday, before Zhangjiakou's Genting Snow Park stages the final runs on Friday.

"It will be my last competition, which is pretty special," said White, in a news conference on Saturday.

It was already known this would be his final Olympics.

Now 35, White has been snowboarding since the age of six. The red-haired Californian goes by the nickname of 'The Flying Tomato', and he says the experience of knowing this is his farewell Olympics is "pretty heavy, but I'm enjoying it".

"It's been a beautiful run. Let's see this through and see what's next," he said. "I definitely don't think I'll be leaving the sport anytime soon. All these people within an industry that ride backcountry and pipes. I'm just excited for the next chapter."

Friday sees the official beginning of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, as the best of the best in cold-weather sports converge on Beijing.

Around 90 National Olympic Committees will participate, with approximately 2,900 athletes taking part in the 109 events at 13 different venues.

Some of the world's finest athletes will take to the snow or ice, though you may not necessarily know who in particular to look out for if you aren't a regular follower of winter sports.

Stats Perform has you covered, profiling seven of the most notable figures to keep an eye out for in Beijing…

Eileen Gu – Freestyle skiing

Nicknamed the "Snow Princess" in China, Gu will be one of the most intriguing athletes competing in these Games. The freestyle skier won two gold medals at both the Winter X Games 2021 and the FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships.

Aside from being very good at her sport, Gu is also signed to a modelling agency and has appeared in local editions of Elle, Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue.

The 18-year-old is very much a medal hopeful, which is why it delighted China when the Californian decided to represent the country of her mother's birth instead of the United States.

Francesco Friedrich – Bobsleigh

Germans are good at bobsledding, winning gold in every bobsleigh event at PyeongChang 2018, and driver Friedrich might just be the best of the bunch.

The 31-year-old won a shared gold medal in the two-man bobsled in PyeongChang (with Canada), and an outright gold in the four-man event.

Friedrich also led the squad that comfortably won gold at the 2021 IBSF World Championships in a time almost a full second faster than runners-up Latvia, and recently won the World Cup title despite the German four-man bobsleigh suffering its first defeat of the Olympic season in the final race before Beijing 2022, coming second to Latvia.

Mikaela Shiffrin – Alpine skiing

A two-time Olympic gold medallist, Shiffrin also won four medals at the 2021 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships, including gold in the Alpine combined.

Other notable achievements include being the youngest slalom champion in Olympic Alpine skiing history, she has won the most world cup slalom races in history (45) and became the first Alpine skier to win the world championship in the same discipline (slalom) at four championships in a row.

Suzanne Schulting – Short track speed skating

The dominant Dutch athlete won gold in every event at the Speed Skating World Championships in March last year, becoming only the second female to do so.

Schulting won gold in 2018 in the 1000-metre race and will be hoping to win multiple short track events in Beijing.

In November, the 24-year-old gave an interview to the official Olympics website, saying: "I'm super motivated to train again and to do my best and become even better than last year. I want to go for gold at Beijing and of course to work for the upcoming World Cups."

Mikael Kingsbury – Freestyle skiing

Kingsbury might be the main one to watch early on in Beijing as he has already qualified for the freestyle skiing final, which takes place on Saturday.

The Canadian has won the most medals at the Freestyle World Championships of any male skier in history and is the reigning Olympic and world champion in the moguls.

Kingsbury started his Olympics on Thursday with a flawless run in qualifying to book an automatic spot in the final, finishing with a score of 81.15 at the Genting Snow Park.

Chloe Kim – Snowboarding

Snowboarding has become one of the most popular events at the Winter Olympics since it was first introduced in 1998.

One of the main snowboarders to keep an eye on in Beijing is Kim, who made history at PyeongChang 2018 when she won gold in the women's snowboard halfpipe at the age of just 17, becoming the youngest female competitor to win an Olympic snowboarding gold.

The American is also the current world, Olympic and X Games champion in the halfpipe and was the first to win all three titles.

Yuzuru Hanyu – Figure skating

The Japanese sensation has broken figure skating world records a staggering 19 times and has seven world championship medals and four Grand Prix titles to his name.

Hanyu is also a two-time Olympic champion and there is a tradition after each skate where his fans throw Winnie the Pooh cuddly toys onto the ice. But given the 2018 film was banned in China following social media comparisons between the cartoon bear and Chinese president Xi Jinping, it is perhaps for the best that only local spectators will be in attendance in Beijing.

The 27-year-old is aiming for a third consecutive title in the men's singles competition, which has not been achieved since 1928.

The 2022 Winter Olympics kick-off in Beijing on Friday, with 109 medal events to look forward to.

While several of these events are sports that many will only watch every four years when the Winter Games come around, some will be ones that quite a few will never have seen before, or at least not at the Olympics.

There will be seven new events at Beijing 2022, with some mixed team events – something that has been an increasing trend for the Olympics – and a new women's bobsled event among others.

Stats Perform is here to give you a brief guide to these debutants, so all you have to do is look forward to watching them.

Women's Monobob

This becomes the fourth bobsled event at the Olympics, along with the two-man, two-woman and four-man competitions.

You would have thought the obvious next step would be a four-woman event, but this iteration could be even more fascinating as the monobob – you may have guessed – is for just one athlete.

One other key feature in this discipline is that unlike the two and four-person events, all monobob competitors will race in sleds with identical specifications.

Two of the favourites for the Gold medal are American duo Elana Meyers Taylor and Kaillie Humphries, the two most decorated women in Olympic bobsled history with three medals each.

Freeski Big Air (men's and women's)

The snowboard big air event was introduced four years ago in PyeongChang, and such was its success that freeskiers now have their own version.

Like the snowboard event, the course has one big jump and competitors have three attempts at performing tricks to try and impress the judges, with their two best scores counting to their overall total.

Freeski Big Air has gained popularity at the Winter X Games among other competitions before now, but will finally be an Olympic event this year, with most eyes on the battle for gold on the women's side and one of the favourites Eileen Gu, who has decided to represent China instead of the US.

Mixed team snowboard cross

This event involves one male and one female competitor, with the men starting the race and the women finishing it, tagging over once the male competitor has crossed the finish line.

The two best teams from each of the four heats will advance to the semi-finals, with the two best from each semi-final going on to the final.

The American duo of Lindsey Jacobellis and Mick Dierdorff will be among the favourites after winning the 2019 world championships.

Mixed team ski jumping

While men's team ski jumping has been one of the more popular events since it debuted at the 1988 Games in Calgary, we now have a mixed version.

Four athletes for each team - two men and two women - perform a jump in the order of woman, man, woman, man. All individual scores will be added together to get the overall team score.

Slovenia were victorious in the first mixed team event of the Ski Jumping World Cup season in Willingen, Germany on Friday.

Mixed team aerials

This is another freestyle skiing event that consists of three athletes, including either two men and one woman or one man and two women, and as with the ski jump event, the teams overall score comes from adding up the individual efforts.

The event has been a part of the FIS Freestyle Skiing World Cup programme since the 2014-15 season and the FIS World Championships since 2019.

The Russian Olympic Committee are among the favourites for the event, having won the World Championship this year with their team of Pavel Krotov, Liubov Nikitina and Maxim Burov, who was the individual world champion in 2019 and 2021.

Mixed team short track relay

Two men and two women per country participate as a team of four in a speed skating relay situation.

The two women go first for two and a half laps each, followed by the two men for the same distance, then the women for two laps each, and again the men for the same for an overall distance of 2000 metres.

One interesting factor is that should an athlete fall, their team-mate of the same gender can tag in and finish the relay leg.

This is the third relay event at the Winter Games along with the men's 5000m and women's 3000m relays.

Hosts China will be the favourites heading in after obliterating the 2,000m mixed relay world record at the Short Track Speed Skating World Cup in October.