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Highlights You’ve Missed from the Winter Olympics

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The 2022 Winter Olympics were held in the Chinese city of Beijing from February 4 through to February 20 this year. With more than 2,800 athletes taking part in over 100 events, it's likely that there have been some exciting moments that you missed. 

The New Events 

The reason why there were so many events in the 2022 Winter Olympics was that seven new medal events were added to the competition this time around. 

  • Women's monobob 

  • Men's big air freestyle 

  • Women's big air freestyle 

  • Mixed relay in short track speed skating 

  • Mixed team freestyle skiing aerials 

  • Mixed team ski jumping 

  • Mixed team snowboard cross 

These changes have resulted in a greater level of participation for female athletes. Indeed, Nordic combined is now the only sport where only men take part. 

The addition of the women’s monobob took the total of bobsleigh events up to four. This new Olympic sport ended with Kaillie Humphries of the US taking gold, followed by her compatriot Elana Meyers Taylor and with the bronze medal going to Canada’s Christine de Bruin. 

Erin Jackson’s Historic Triumph 

Few stories from these games are as inspiring as that of American speed skater Erin Jackson. After competing in the 2018 Winter Olympics, her chances of going to Beijing seemed to have disappeared when she slipped during the US trials. However, her friend Brittany Bowe, who won the race, opted to pass her qualifying spot to Jackson.   

Jackson eventually won her own spot in the team and took part in the Women's 500m speed skating event, where she came home in first place to become the first black woman in history to collect a gold medal at the Winter Olympics for an individual sport. It was also the first-speed skating gold for an American woman since 2002. 

Nil van der Poel’s Two Golds and a World Record 

Norway once again topped the medals table, with a record-breaking 16 golds. However, Sweden’s Nils van der Poel helped his country to fifth place on the table with a couple of golds. His first came in the 5,000m speed skating event, setting a new Olympic record in the process. 

Things went even more smoothly for him in the 10,000m race, where he won the gold and also broke his own world record he’d set a year earlier, with a winning time of 12:30.74. The skater then announced his intention of retiring at the end of this season and published his training advice online for others to follow. 

Sarah Nurse’s Performances 

Canada had a relatively disappointing competition, with only four of their 26 medals being gold. While this meant finishing outside the top ten in the medal table for the first time since 1988, Canadian hockey player Sarah Nurse helped to provide one of the highlights of the competition. 

Nurse was part of the women’s ice hockey team that won gold by beating the US 3-2 in the final game. While doing this, she set a new record with five goals and 13 assists, as well as becoming the first black woman to win an ice hockey gold medal.     

All of the factors we’ve looked at helped to make this a memorable sporting event that has already got fans looking forward to the Milano Cortina 2026 event in Italy. 

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