CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT; ERICK W. RASCO; THOMAS LOVELOCK; L ARS BARON/
GETTY IMAGES; JOOSEP MARTINSON/INTERNATIONAL SKATING UNION/GETTY IMAGESDo you know the difference
between ice dancing, in whichLittle free advice for all you kids
out there: Do the sports that go
downhill. Cross-country skiiers
don’t have the same help from
gravity their alpine pals get. ThatTwelve-oxygen an athlete can utilize). So
cross-country skiers just might be
the fittest athletes in the world.How physically difficult
is cross-country sking?
teenagers: Chloe Kim, who won
gold in the halfpipe, and Red
Gerard, who topped the podium
in slopestyle (after infamously
oversleeping in his hotel room
and losing his jacket). Kim and
Gerard will be back and they’ll be
joined by Hailey Langland, who
was also a teen at PyeongChang,
but didn’t reach the podium. She
won gold at the 2017 X Games
in big air, but missed the 2021
event due to injury. All those
dissapointments have set her up
for a redemption story in Beijing.USA star?
skiing disciplines of cross-
country and ski jumping.
(Racing on a hill is known
as Alpine skiing.) Nordic
combined is the only Olympic
event that men compete in but
women don’t. Ski jumping has
only been contested by women
since the 2014 Games, and
with more women competing
in that sport, Nordic combined
is growing in popularity. It was
included in the ’21 worlds and
could be added to the slate at
the ’26 Olympics.
4 6 / SPORTS ILLUSTRATED KIDS
What’s the difference
between pairs skating
and ice dancing?
Figure Skating
Nordic Combined Snowboarding Cross Country