Winter is the best time of the year as it opens the door for a wide range of exciting outdoor activities. One great thing about winter is that every four years the Winter Olympics are held and there are a wide variety of highly entertaining sports that you can watch. Below we are going to take a look at six great winter sports that you can watch at the Winter Games.
Curling
Obviously, we could not create a list of great winter sports and not put curling on it. For those who are new to curling, it is a sport that is very closely related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. There are two teams made up of four players and each team has to take a turn to slide polished and heavy granite stones along the ice towards a target. The aim of the game is to get your stone as close to the middle of the circular target as you can, knocking your opponent’s stones further away from the target if you can. Many people think that this is a simple game, but it actually requires a lot of teamwork and strategy – they do not call it chess on ice for the fun of it.
Skeleton
This is a sport filled with adrenaline as participants jump on a small sled and make their way down an ice track at speeds topping 130km/h. The sport is named after the bony appearance of the sled. This sport became part of the Winter Olympics in 2002, and it has gone on to become one of the most popular sports. When it comes to skeleton, you need to be extremely brave to give it a go.
Figure Skating
If you want to watch elegance on ice, then figure skating is the sport that you are looking for. This is one of the oldest sports at the Winter Olympics, having been introduced back in 1908. There is a wide variety of figure skating such as synchronized skating and four skatings. We feel that there really nothing more mesmerizing out there than watching elegant figure skaters do figures of eight and pirouettes on ice. What these athletes can do on the ice will leave you in awe.
Ski Jumping
In this sport, ski jumpers ski down a steep ramp and jump off at the bottom and try to propel themselves as far as they can. The ramp is called an inrun, and points are awarded according to the distance and the style of the jump. 1908 was when the first Winter Olympics was held and ski jumping joined the progam in 1924. The longest ski jump recorded, at the time of writing, is by Stefan Kraft, who managed to jump a huge 253.5m in 2017. In 2015, Dimitry Vassiliev managed 254m, but he fell on his landing, which means that his jump is the longest unofficial jump ever made.
Ice Hockey
There are two teams of seven and the aim is to get the hard rubber puck into your opponent’s goal more times than they get it into yours. In countries like Canada, Sweden, Latvia, and the United States, it is just known as hockey. However, in countries where the grass variety of hockey is popular, it is known as ice hockey. This is one of the fastest games on the planet, and you will be highly entertained while watching it. Not only will there be plenty of goals to see, but there are also plenty of fights that break out on the ice.
Alpine Snowboarding
This snowboard sport takes part on groomed pistes, and it was first introduced into the Winter Olympics in 1998. It has since gone on to become very popular among winter sport fans. Since it was introduced back in 1998, thirty-eight participants from eleven different countries have gone on to pick up medals, which helps to show how popular this sport is around the world. The gear that the participants wear is similar to that which skiers wear, not the traditional snowboarding equipment that you would expect. The boards used for this type of snowboarding are longer than usual, which helps when it comes to carving through the snow. The ability to carve through the snow better means that these athletes travel a lot faster than usual, which means that helmets have to worn for safety reasons.
What to Do When No Winter Sports Are On?
Winter sports obviously cannot take place all throughout the year, but this does not mean that you always have to wait until the following winter to get your fix. This is because if you sign up with an online casino you will find plenty of great winter sports-themed slots that have been developed by some of the best software developers in the world such as Microgaming, Genesis Gaming, and Pragmatic Play, which means that you can be certain that you will be able to enjoy some top-quality slots. Any respectable online casino will have a good variety of winter sports-themed slot games for their customers to play.
If you do decide to create an account with an online casino, then we politely remind you to gamble responsibly. Whenever you are gambling, set yourself a budget, and once you have spent that money, log off and do something else. Do not convince yourself that it is okay to spend £10 extra as that will quickly turn into a lot more.