What sports are in the Winter Olympics?
The Winter Olympics include sports on snow and ice, such as alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, ski jumping, snowboarding, figure skating, speed skating, ice hockey, curling, bobsleigh, luge, skeleton and biathlon.
The Winter Olympic program is organized into sports and disciplines. Skiing includes alpine skiing, cross-country, ski jumping, Nordic combined, freestyle skiing and ski mountaineering, which made its debut at Milan Cortina 2026. Skating includes figure skating, speed skating and short-track speed skating.
Sliding sports, bobsleigh, luge and skeleton, involve racing down icy tracks at speeds over 130 kilometers per hour. Biathlon combines cross-country skiing with rifle shooting. Team sports include ice hockey and curling. Snowboarding has been in the Olympics since 1998.
Changing program
The number of events has grown greatly. The 1924 Games had 16 events, while Milan Cortina 2026 had 116. New events are often added to attract younger audiences, such as big air snowboarding and mixed-gender team events.
Did You Know?
Figure skating was the first winter sport in the Olympics, appearing at the 1908 Summer Games in London, before the Winter Olympics existed.