The 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea are right around the corner! That means it's time to watch sports you might not have seen in four years. To help you feel at least a little more informed—either to impress your friends or fake your way through a conversation with an actual expert—SI will be providing rookie's guides to each of the 15 sports. These will be published daily, Monday through Friday, from December 4-22. Speed skating is one of the easiest Winter Olympic sports to understand because of its parallels to track and field, with competitors making their way around a track as fast as possible. Here's everything you need to know (and more) about following speed skating at the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.?There are 14 speed speed skating events. Both men and women compete in the 500m, 1000m, 1500m, 5000m, mass start and team pursuit. The women also compete over 3000m and the men race 10,000m. During most races, skaters race counterclockwise, in pairs, against the clock, on a 400-meter oval (just like an outdoor track!). Skaters trade lanes every lap in order to equalize their respective distances covered. After they race against the clock, their time is converted into a point system, which takes into account their performance over a given distance. The skating order is determined by a draw and skaters are placed into four groups based on their individual rankings and results from World Cup races. A random draw designates the lanes, inner or outer, and the starting order for each group. During team pursuit races, two teams of three skaters race to get all three skaters across the finish line.One of the more interesting aspects of speed skating at the upcoming Olympics is the addition of the 16-lap mass start. A maximum field of 24 skaters takes off at the same time and the winner is determined by “sprint points.” The scoring system awards those who cross the first, second and third skaters during three intermediate sprints. After the last sprint, the first, second and third skaters to cross the finish line will gain enough points to allow for the first three across the line to be the medalists in the event. The rest of the field are ranked by the sprint points accumulated during the race and then their order of finish. The Olympics have only featured a mass start race one other time, back in 1932.How is it different from short track speed skating?As you can gather from the name, the main difference is the track length. A short track is typically 111.12 meters. Because of the size, there are some tweaks in the blades, equipment, strategy and technique used by skaters to manage the corners. Long track speed skating events typically have one round per distance. The only exception is the men’s and women’s 500 meters, which will take the combined times of two races. Who are the favorites? Official favorites won't be known until the each country's qualifiers and rosters are decided in the coming weeks. You can count on the Netherlands to put on a show. The country holds the record for the most Olympic medals won in history with 105. Thirty-five of those are gold, which is also a record. They won 23 medals in speed skating at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. The Dutch have finished atop the medal table or tied for the most medals at the last five Winter Games. The United States is looking to rebound after leaving Sochi with no medals. How did the sport come to be? The sport has its roots as a method of transportation across frozen lakes and rivers in Scandinavia and the Netherlands in the 17th century. The Dutch eventually adopted speed skating as their national sport and that partly explains why it remains a powerhouse on the global championship level. The first world championship was held in 1989 and featured the the Netherlands (hosting), Russia, England and the United States. Speed skating debuted in the 1924 Olympics in Chamonix. Women’s competition was added in 1932 as a demonstration sport and then included in the Olympics for the 1960 Games. How do you qualify? The U.S. Olympic team will be determined after the Olympic Trials in Milwaukee, Wisconsin from January 2-7. Up to three athletes in each event can go to PyeongChang. A Pittsburgh native speed skater is heading to the 2018 Olympics in South Korea. Twenty-two-year-old John-Henry Krueger, originally from Peters Township, qualified during Friday night’s Olympic team trials. He is the first member of the men’s Olympic U.S. Speedskating short track team. Krueger posted a photo on Instagram on Friday night, saying, “Tonight I accomplished one of my two most important goals as an athlete. Tonight I became an Olympian.”Tonight I accomplished one of my two most important goals as an athlete. Tonight I became an Olympian. There are so many people to thank since I have encountered so many in my skating career. But the ones who deserve the most recognition is my family. I have not seen any other family support and fight through so many adversities for so long. I can with complete confidence say that accomplishing this dream of mine would not be possible without them.Speed skater Lee Sang-hwa, who will compete at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, has been given a special collection from sports marketing company WAGTI.Presented at an art gallery in Seoul, the collection features 24 white porcelain moon jars representing disciplines in the Winter Olympics.

This is copyrighted material owned by Digital Chosun Inc. No part of it may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission.Crews at the Pettit National Ice Center are preparing the venue to host its first speed skating Olympic trials in 20 years. The Pettit Center has undergone a number of updates and renovations over the past year to be able to host the event. New lighting, the heating system, refrigeration system, but it reads a fevered pitch here starting today with moving boards and pads and those things but we’ve got a lot of help,” said Pettit National Ice Center Executive Director Randy Dean. With just five days until the trials, workers are busy making sure everything is in order to host more than 1200 fans a night. The last time the Pettit Center hosted the event was in 1998. Long-track Olympic speed skating trials are normally held in Utah, but the conditions in the Milwaukee area made it a perfect fit to replicate what skaters will find at the 2018 Winter Olympics. “We are at sea level and that’s where Pyeongchang, the venue there for the games is going to be at sea level,” said Dean. Starting on Tuesday, Jan. 2, fans will enter the facility from an outdoor tent leading them to the indoor bleachers where they will get their first look at around 20 soon-to-be Olympians. “About ten on each side, men and women will qualify for the games so we’re excited about that so hopefully we can launch them onto the podium,” said Dean. Tickets for Friday and Saturday night sessions are already sold out, but Dean said there’s still plenty of tickets for the other four nights. General admission is $15. The 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang are only 50 days away, and Korea has high hopes of achieving its best result ever. The host country aims to finish fourth by winning eight gold, four silver, and eight bronze medals. Its best performance at a Winter Olympics to date was in Vancouver in 2010, finishing fifth with six gold, six silver and two bronze medals. Korea finished 13th overall in the 2014 Olympics in Sochi with three gold, three silver and two bronze medals. Korea's strongest discipline is short track speed skating, which accounts for 42 of its 53 cumulative winter Olympic medals. Choi Min-jeong on the women's team is a leading hopeful with a high chance of winning multiple medals. What sets her apart from other Korean short trackers is that she ranks with the world's top rivals in the 500-m sprint as well as in mid- and long-distance races. Shim Suk-hee, who won one gold, one silver and one bronze at Sochi, will likely compete with Choi for most medals. The men's short-track team, which went medalless at Sochi, is desperately waiting for a chance to redeem themselves at home. This is copyrighted material owned by Digital Chosun Inc. No part of it may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission.In speed skating, Korea has high hopes for Lee Seung-hoon, who won a gold in the men's 10,000 m and silver in the 5,000 m at Vancouver and a silver in team pursuit at Sochi. He now aims to win gold in mass start, which makes its Olympic debut at Pyeongchang. Kim Bo-reum is considered to be a medal contender in women's mass start. Lee Sang-hwa, two-time Olympic champion in women's 500-m speed skating, will have a tough time competing with Nao Kodaira of Japan, who has been absolutely dominating the discipline in recent seasons.Outside the skating arena, Yun Sung-bin is currently world No. 1 in men's skeleton. Alpine snowboarder Lee Sang-ho is looking for Korea's first ever medal on snow in parallel giant slalom, and the women's curling team and two-man bobsleigh team also have a chance at an Olympic medal. This is copyrighted material owned by Digital Chosun Inc. No part of it may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission. A virtually unknown region 31 miles south of the demilitarized zone that separates North and South Korea is preparing to take its turn at the Olympic merry-go-round.The 2018 Winter Games are scheduled to kick off Feb. 9 in Pyeongchang, South Korea, in the backdrop of drug-cheating scandals, a lack of interest at home, and the existential threat of a bellicose neighbor to the north.Organizers have addressed these subjects gingerly, but they also have worked tirelessly in the background to ensure that the first of three consecutive Olympics in Asia is a success.They have been on the ground in Sochi and Rio de Janeiro, the previous two Olympic Games that left behind decaying facilities that cost millions to build — the kind of bad optics that has led to skepticism about playing host to the Olympics.They promise it will not happen in Gangwon Province long after the tent stakes are pulled.“The venues have been designed as much around what happens after the games as during” them, Pyeongchang Olympic Organizing Committee president Lee Hee-beom told this news organization. South Koreans might have a strong legacy plan, but alas, Sochi and Rio organizers made similar promises ahead of their Olympics in 2014 and 2016, respectively. Still, Lee, a former minister of trade, industry and energy, is determined to transform this mountainous area east of Seoul into an Asian winter sports hub. Korean organizers say their budget is $12.6 billion, a modest sum compared with Sochi’s spending spree of $51 billion. The Koreans will have 17 days in February to spread the magic dust in Asia, where the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo and 2022 Winter Games in Beijing are next on the docket.But before they can get to the opening ceremony in Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium there is much to consider. Like how to pronounce the name of the host city of the XXIII Winter Games. According to one Korean YouTube video, it’s “PEE-ong-tan.” Another goes with “Pyung-CHUNG” whereas NBC plans to pronounce it “Pyeong-chang.”As long as they do not get it confused with the North Korean capital of Pyongyang (pyeon-yung), everything should be OK. But organizers have plenty of other obstacles to keep them occupied anyway. How to sell winter sports to your people?“One of the biggest challenges has been to raise the excitement levels and educate people on winter sports — many of which are new to most in Korea,” Lee said of a citizenry that follows primarily soccer, baseball and golf. Figure skating, speedskating and short track speedskating and the ice hockey finals have attracted strong interest. But ticket sales for the usually popular sliding sports of bobsled, luge and skeleton are off as well as those for the more obscure disciplines such as biathlon and nordic skiing.

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Then again, biathlon, curling and cross-country skiing have been an acquired taste for almost everyone outside of the Great Frozen North of Canada, Scandinavia and Russia. It is one reason why IOC officials started loading up the flagging Winter Olympics with X Games events two decades ago.But Lee remains forever the optimist, saying Koreans are “last-minute buyers.”How to attract visitors to a potential war zone?We would call it the elephant in the room, but North Korean leader Kim Jong Un might fail to grasp the meaning and consider it a personal affront. Some Olympic fans have been scared of committing to travel to these games because of the rhetoric flying between Kim and President Donald Trump. Not to mention all those missiles the North Koreans have launched in the past year.“South Koreans have been living under such tense conditions for more than 60 years and our daily life continues without disruption,” Lee said. “While we understand the concerns that people have, the IOC, national Olympic committees, international federations and athletes have been giving their full support.”Well, not exactly. Earlier this year tensions between Pyongyang and Washington increased to the point that Austrian and French sports officials publicly worried about sending delegations to Korea.Such frank talk did not encourage tourists to plan vacations around the Olympics located in a province that is split between South and North Korea.In an effort to allay fears, South Korean President Moon Jae-in has championed the idea of North Korean athletes competing in Pyeongchang. Moon wants the Winter Olympics to be the engine to create better cooperation between the neighbors.But North Korea already missed an October deadline to officially enter Ryom Tae-ok and Kim Ju-sik, who qualified in pairs figure skating. North Koreans also have the potential to qualify athletes in short track speedskating and nordic combined.Lee sidestepped a question addressing evacuation plans in the face of North Korean aggression during the Olympics.“The country has very strong national safety and security measures in place to ensure that Korea is as safe as it can be during the games,” he said.How to deal with the Russia ban?The Russian situation could cast a shadow over the Winter Games through the opening ceremony as Olympic drug testers determine which individual athletes are eligible and then whether those cleared decide to compete under a neutral flag.Although President Vladimir Putin has rejected the idea of a Russian boycott, the specter of losing some of the world’s best athletes will not help ticket sales. Two-time world champion Evgenia Medvedeva told reporters it was too early for her to decide whether to compete in figure skating, in which she is the gold-medal favorite. But Medvedeva also told an International Olympic Committee panel that she could not accept an option of performing as a neutral athlete.The decision to ban the Russian delegation struck a nerve with Lee, who told South Korean radio he did not expect IOC officials to go to such an extreme to punish a country for government-sponsored drug cheating that included manipulating specimens at the Sochi Games.Before disqualification over drug violations, Russia led the world with 33 medals at the Sochi Games, including 14 gold.And now Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has insisted that the country will never apologize for a government-sponsored drug program, saying the allegations are false.How to sell a minor league hockey tournament?Korean organizers already were at a disadvantage when NHL officials decided to bypass the Olympics for the first time since 1994. Now the Russian-based Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) might boycott the games.Europe’s best league was expected to take two weeks off at midseason to allow its players to go to Pyeongchang, where the Russian team was a heavy favorite before the IOC ban. Some Russian NHL players stayed home this season so they could compete in Korea.If they do not make it to the Olympics then the hockey tournament will be depleted even further.As a contingency, Canada is considering adding junior players — amateurs under the age of 21 — if the KHL decides to boycott.Before the IOC ban, Lee said organizers were disappointed for the athletes affected by the NHL’s decision.However, ice hockey is still a popular event,” he added. “The Korean hockey team will be participating in the Olympic Games for the first time and I am sure many people are looking forward to that. So regardless of the NHL players’ absence, ice hockey will be one of the most exciting sports to watch at the games with a world-class lineup of athletes taking part.”Now even that bit of optimism has faded.The 12-team tournament will have the big countries: Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Sweden, the United States and “athletes from Russia.”But it appears it will not have the big names.How to overcome distrust over building bonanzas?Organizers have created an arrangement similar to previous Winter Games with mountain and coastal sports villages. The alpine town of Pyeongchang (pop. 43,000) will handle skiing, snowboarding and sliding sports, whereas much larger Gangneung (pop. 230,000) along the Sea of Japan will host figure skating, ice hockey and speedskating.Ten of the 12 competition sites already have owners: The ski jump landing area will be converted into a soccer stadium for Gangwon FC, while the cross-country and biathlon races will take place on snow-covered golf courses.But whether Pyeongchang ever becomes a world-class winter resort seems questionable. We had a dream. Two failed bids; tears shed twice. We continued, urged on by our single passion.” So says South Korea’s Gangwon province, in the country’s northeast, of its third-time-lucky bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics.Depth of passion will continue to be needed to cope with one of the worst of recent international crises, and most Koreans’ relatively mild interest level in winter sports (skating excepted), not unlike Australians’.The Olympics will cost about 14 trillion won ($16.8 billion) for South Korea, including the 11 trillion won ($13.2bn) spent to construct or upgrade roads, the fast train and the venues for the Games. The Winter Olympics run February 9-25 and the Paralympics March 9-18.The effort and passion appear a struggle from a distance, because the Kim regime to the north would be able to undermine the Games’ future with a mere announcement it would not guarantee their safety.

Despite some warnings of war clouds in the North’s nuclear-missile dispute with the US, preparations were nearing completion on the ground when The Australian visited Gangwon’s mountainous PyeongChang county and Gangneung city — both are places where Games events will be held — in early December.Organisers hope for as many as 200,000 foreign visitors to the Games. Snow has come early and so have subzero temperatures (and the snow-making machines are in readiness).Some South Korean sports officials continue to predict North Korea will still accept an invitation to compete at PyeongChang, which will remain open right until the opening.The national Olympic committees of the more than 90 jurisdictions are reportedly planning to attend. The International Olympic Committee has decided that East Asia will be an Olympics triangle for the next four years. First, PyeongChang, then the Tokyo Summer Games in 2020, and the Beijing Winter Games in 2022.There has been no clear signal from North Korea, only about 80 kilometres away.But that was largely out of discussion recently when the Korea Tourism Organisation chief executive Jung Chang-soo and the secretary-general of the PyeongChang Organising Committee for the 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (POCOG), Yeo Hyung-koo, hosted about 180 foreign and local officials, media and travel agents at Hanwha Resort in PyeongChang. Instead, “passion” was often cited.A record turnout of nearly 3000 athletes is still predicted for the Games, and as many again in officials, although Australia will probably field only 50-60 competitors.Apart from construction, the communications preparations have been extensive, with about 20,000 volunteer guides from many countries for the Olympics and Paralympics, plus already-downloadable mobile apps and 5G speeds, foreign-language robots, and even a virtual-reality theatre with an athlete’s eye view for those who won’t want to venture into the cold.At a news conference and pageant dramatising the economic and cultural impact of the Games themselves and their legacy, Mr Jung said: “Ticket sales have been improving to a large extent which demonstrates increasing interest and participation in the Games. Korea, China and Japan will form a joint tourism operation [to promote the Olympic triangle.“The provocations of North Korea are not a new event and the tensions are between the military forces of the two Koreas,’’ Mr Jung said.“All Olympics are subject to terrorism risks. Now we have a situation where there is provocation from North Korea. But this is not a new event. Since 1953 there might have been tension but this has been tension between militaries. There has not been any terrorist acts against civilians. We are doing our best to have a peaceful Olympic Games.”But the country happened to have 600,000 troops, and military forces would be on standby outside the Olympic area and an evacuation system was ready.Such was the confidence expressed in preparations and attendance — not a single national Olympic committee had queried security, according to Mr Yeo — that the Games’ economic and soft-power legacy, said to be worth $US60 billion ($78bn) to South Korea in the following decade, was the focus. After the business and political gains that followed the 1988 Olympics, South Korea’s leaders are hoping for a repeat.More than half the minimum target of 1 million tickets have been sold but whether it can be said PyeongChang will attract the hoped-for 200,000 foreign visitors bearing at least 310,000 event tickets and spending $US2bn will have to wait until February.At the moment the focus is on stimulating lagging domestic interest with heavy advertising.Pocog’s Mr Yeo said that after holding the 1988 Olympic, and the 2011 World Championships in Athletics, South Korea would have a “grand slam” with the Winter Games, becoming one of only seven countries holding all three international events.It has impact and huge meaning in other Asian countries in holding these kind of winter events. Korea holding the Winter Olympic Games, for our people and other Asian countries, has very much impact,’’ Mr Yeo said.Preparations were “going smoothly as planned”, he said. Construction at all 12 venues, the Olympic village and the broadcast centre had been completed. “We’re now looking at the operating side [so it] will proceed as planned.“[There is also a] focus is on promotion and ticket sales and preparing the environment for the athletes and for the peaceful staging of the Games.“We’re going to aim for full stadiums.”PyeongChang will be used as a training facility for the Beijing [Winter] Games. South Korea has a bit of a lack of base in winter sports. We hope to expand the horizon of winter sports in Korea so we want more interest from the public.”

There had been no security concerns at that point raised by the NOCs, which had all signed necessary accommodation contracts, Mr Yeo said.“The IOC and NOCs and stakeholders are travelling across the sites to focus on preparations. There have been no messages of reluctance. About 104 countries may participate and 94 have registered interest, more than 84 for Sochi at this time of year.”Beijing banned its travel agencies from selling group tours to South Korea to its citizens in protest at the deployment of US anti-ballistic missiles in South Korea in 2017. But after a recent summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, South Korea seemed to be getting back on track with its Chinese arrivals.Mr Moon says his country’s hosting of the Olympic Games will help promote peace on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia region, according to South Korea’s Yonghap news agency.“First of all, the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games being held safely itself will contribute greatly to peace on the Korean Peninsula,” he said, noting the Winter Olympic Games will be followed by the Tokyo and Beijing games.“The three consecutive Olympic Games will be a great chance to promote peace and co-prosperity not only in the Korean Peninsula but the entire northeast Asian region,” he said.The spicy sauces and soups for which modern Korean cuisine is famous should be popular during the Games, and good for spectators to bring along. The forecast subzero cold is likely to be either daunting or exciting, depending on one’s frame of mind.A drive into the mountains now twists through isolated former mining towns and past frozen fields, frozen rivers, frozen forests and granite peaks that look in places like they’re sliding into the valleys. The sun sparkles on brittle ice covering the landscape; wind roars through the pine trees.The open-air PyeongChang Olympic Stadium, which despite its 118.4 billion-won cost is meant to be only temporary, will seat 35,000 chilled spectators on orange and pink seats during the opening and closing ceremonies of both the Olympics and Paralympics. It rises isolated on a plain, with mountains cascading down behind it.The Associated Press reports spectators will have to sit exposed for as long as five hours in the elements during the night-time ceremonies. Organisers plan to provide each spectator at the Olympics ceremonies with a raincoat, a small blanket and heating pads — one to sit on, one for the hands and a pair for the feet.They also plan to install polycarbonate walls above the highest seats across the two northwest sides of the stadium to block the strongest winds. About 40 portable gas heaters will be placed in aisles between the rows of plastic seats, and lots of hot coffee and tea, fish sticks and heated buns will be on sale.By the time the opening ceremony starts about 8pm (10pm AEDT) on February 9, the wind chill at the stadium could be much colder than at the ceremonies for the Vancouver and Sochi Games.A few weeks ago, when journalists visited PyeongChang county, one morning it was reported to be minus 13 in the area.“The only thing foreigners can do is the same thing locals do: bundle up,” Nam Sun-woo, 60, a fishmonger in PyeongChang, says. “Not many outsiders understand how cold it gets here. It’s not like where they’re from. This kind of cold is completely different.”The east-coast area of Gangneung, where skating and hockey will be held, are warmer than PyeongChang. But it’s still cold. Tourists can be seen in thick quilted coats standing on piers and posing for pictures as huge, frigid blue-green waves crash behind them.“It’s cold, and it’s going to get colder. But what can we do?” says Ahn Young Ju, 36, a restaurant owner in the remote town of Nammyeon in Jeongseon county, which will host the downhill skiing events. “We were born here, so we try not to think too much about it.”The international tensions appear to have had an impact on visits by Australians, which were down about 12 per cent to 12,299 for last October (compared with 14,021 in October 2016), the latest month available from KTO. But for the 10 months ended October, Australia was up 0.8 per cent to 125,222.All overseas visits were down 27 per cent to 1.17 million in October but the biggest downturn was an almost 50 per cent fall in Chinese visits, to about 345,000, under the impact of Beijing’s ban on group tours.Australians usually make up only about 1 per cent of South Korea’s annual visitor intake — last year more than 17 million — and the Chinese usually make up nearly half.But Australian visits to South Korea have grown by a multiple of 15 from about 10,000 in 1987, the year before the Seoul Olympics, to about 150,000 now, and this is about triple the percentage rise in all Australian overseas visits in those three decades. Now South Korea is projecting more than 20m foreign visits in 2018, including that hoped-for 200,000 for the Games and Paralympics.Kim Tai Hwan, the director of KTO’s Sydney office, says “it’s business as usual in Korea. No problems. I hope to see more expressions of interest in Korea, taking advantage of this opportunity.”But one long-time KTO staffer did concede the negative effects of North Korea’s tests and threats: “This has been the most difficult thing to deal with in all the years I’ve worked at KTO but we’ve endured and I’m sure that Korea next year, with the Olympic Games, as with the [2002] FIFA World Cup and the 1988 Olympic Games, will shine in front of the world.”DFAT’s Smart Traveller advice is: “Australians in the Republic of Korea should monitor developments closely due to the risk that tensions on the Korean Peninsula could escalate with little warning. The level of this advice has not changed.The impact on travel insurance has been small, if any. For the period February 4 to March 3, 2018, Allianz this month quoted basic rates for a 40-year-old (including unlimited emergency assistance) of $118 for South Korea, $165 for the US, $113 for the UK and $106 for Bali.For visitors to the Games, there are dedicated mobile apps and a 24-hour hotline (dial 1330, option 2 for English).

The word “Russia” will appear on the Olympic uniforms worn by the athletes granted an exemption, despite the doping-related ban, for the PyeongChang Games. As many as 200 athletes are set to compete in South Korea as an “Olympic Athlete from Russia” if they can prove they are not tainted by doping. “Olympic Athletes from Russia” is the status imposed by the International Olympic Committee as part of Russia’s punishment across all sports for doping at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi.Organisers expect North Korea to hold off for as long as possible on deciding whether to participate in the Games. “We are very hopeful and expect them [North Korean athletes] to be able to participate in the Games. At the same time, we do know that this may be a very last-minute decision by North Korea,” South Korean Sports Minister Do Jong-hwan said at an Olympics preview event in New York in November.Seoul’s Incheon International Airport has gained a second terminal to take the expected overflow of passengers and allow for future expansion of traffic. A new international cruise terminal was completed at the eastern port of Sokcho in August and it is planned a ship will be used as a floating hotel during the Games.The world’s latest high-speed trains in late December began regular passenger service to PyeongChang and Gangneung eastwards from Seoul, travelling at up to about 250 kilometres an hour, following the testing of a new, 120-km stretch that reaches the east coast after transiting more than 80 new tunnels and bridges.The new Korea train express (KTX) service is the most expensive element in infrastructure, costing about one third of the budget. At various speeds, it links Incheon International Airport, Seoul and other cities on the way through Gangwon province’s PyeongChang county to the Olympic co-host city of Gangneung on the coast. The KTX can transport as many as 20,000 passengers each day from Incheon and Seoul to PyeongChang and Gangneung, where they can transfer to shuttle buses.The longest journey time, between Incheon International Airport and Gangneung, will just under two hours, and there will be 51 trains scheduled to run each day during the Games. Those travelling direct the capital city, Seoul, will be able to reach PyeongChang in as little as 67 minutes.South Korea has for several years been running a KTX service successfully between the capital in the northeast and the country’s second city, Busan, on the southeast coast.The economic gain of a successful games is projected by the Korean Government at $US60bn in the 10 years beginning from 2018. Kicking this off, if all goes well, will be $US2bn in spending by about 200,000 foreign visitors in the country for the Olympics, followed by $US16bn from the investment in stadiums, roads, the rail and other infrastructure, including several new hotels.Organisers see several distinguishing points for these Games: South Korea’s internet and communications leadership, its use of the so-called internet of things to aid visitors, a focus on opening and closing Russia’s short track speed skater Sofia Prosvirnova announced on Friday that she decided to accept an invitation from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and to go to the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang to "stand up to Russia’s honor.Prosvirnova, 20, received the IOC’s 2018 Olympics invitation on Tuesday. Other athletes from Russia’s short track speed skating team with the extended invitations from the IOC are Yekaterina Yefremenkova, Yekaterina Konstantinova, Emina Malagich, Semen Elistratov, Pavel Sitnikov and Alexander Shulginov."I am travelling to the Olympics under a neutral flag and I will be defending the honor and dignity of our great country," Prosvirnova wrote on her Instagram account on Friday.Prosvirnova is the 2014 World Championship’s bronze medalist in short track relay. She is also boasting a set of four gold, five silver and three bronze medals of the European championships. Prosvirnova also took part in the 2014 Winter Olympics, but did not clinch any medal at that event.Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) Vice President Stanislav Pozdnyakov announced on Tuesday that the ROC received a preliminary list from the IOC Invitation Review Panel and it did not contain many athletes, including the team’s leaders in various sports.Among them were 2014 Olympic Champion in biathlon Anton Shipulin, two-time World Champion in cross-country skiing Sergey Ustyugov, six-time Olympic Champion in short track speed skating Viktor Ahn, many-time world champions in speed skating Pavel Kulizhnikov and Denis Yuskov, and Olympic champion in figure skating’s pairs Ksenia Stolbova.On December 5, the IOC Executive Board announced its decision to suspend the whole Russian national team from taking part in the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in South Korea’s PyeongChang over multiple doping abuse allegations.The IOC, however, stated that doping-free athletes from Russia might go to the 2018 Olympic Games under the classification of neutral athletes, or the OAR status, which stands for ‘Olympic Athlete from Russia.’ The IOC reserved the right to the final word in regard to Russian athletes, who will go to PyeongChang under the neutral status.The upcoming Olympics, which are the 23rd Winter Games, will take place in South Korea’s PyeongChang on February 9-25, 2018.Great Britain will send their largest ever team to a Winter Olympics with 59 athletes heading to Pyeongchang.It beats the 56 athletes who competed in Sochi four years ago and who returned with a record-equalling four medals, a gold, silver and two bronzes.UK Sport has set a target of five medals in South Korea and believes up to 10 could be won.Team GB's strongest chances come in skiing, snowboarding, short track speed skating, skeleton, bobsleigh and curling.The final 25 athletes, which were skiers and snowboarders, were announced on Thursday.Eleven of the squad will compete in freestyle skiing, with James Woods, Izzy Atkin and Katie Summerhayes leading the medal hunt.

Snowboarder Katie Ormerod, 20, is a contender in slopestyle and the new Olympic discipline of big air.Isle of Man's Zoe Gillings-Brier, who has won seven World Cup medals, will be competing in her fourth Games.Slalom skier Dave Ryding and cross-country duo Andrew Musgrave and Andrew Young are going to a third Olympics and both have chances to reach the podium.However, more than half of the squad will be competing at their first Games.We are going to be competing in more disciplines in Pyeongchang than we have before," said ski and snowboard team leader Dan Hunt.We have never had more athletes heading to an Olympics with genuine expectations about how well their performances will stack up against the best in the world.Team GB chef de mission Mike Hay said: "Not only is this the largest team we've ever taken to a Winter Olympics but I feel it is also the most talented.Given results over the last two years at elite level, there is potential for success across a broader range of sports than ever before and I'm confident that with this group of athletes we can make history once again.A Michigan-based snow-making company and the Dow Chemical Co. are making their mark on the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang, South Korea.Midland-based SMI Snow Makers is the exclusive snowmaking provider for the Jeongseon Alpine Centre Olympic venue.SMI is proud to have been selected as the exclusive snowmaking company of the Jeongseon Alpine Olympic venue, marking our seventh Olympic partnership to date," according to SMI's website. The Jeongseon Alpine Center in the Gangwon Province in the Republic of South Korea will be the host of the 2018 men's and women's alpine speed events of Downhill, Super-G and Downhill Combined Olympic Events.The entire snowmaking system is controlled by SMI's SmartSnow Automation software. The company's local partner R&R Trading assisted with the project. Stay tuned for future news and updates as we get closer to 2018."The Yeongdong Expressway, which athletes and fans will travel, has been marked with a highly reflective, durable waterborne traffic paint powered by Dow's FASTRACK Technology, according to a company news release. And heat transfer fluids from Dow Chemical are used in three of the Gangneung Coastal Cluster ice venues, as well as in the practice arena, to help maintain temperature precision of the ice and encourage peak performance during hockey and speed skating competitions, a second news release states. Winter sports require different ice temperatures so that the athletes can compete to the best of their abilities," Phillip Oh, Asia-Pacific commercial director for Dow Olympic & Sports Solutions, said in a statement. "Our heat transfer fluids offer reliable, economical and sustainable solutions for long-term performance protection and ice rink efficiency.Dow is the "official chemistry company of the Olympic Games.It lacks the unpredictability of short track, but the longer discipline is the ultimate test of speed and technique, with skaters typically racing in separate lanes against the clock - not each other - on a 400m oval track. Event distances range from 500m to 10,000m. The ice gets busier and rules differ for the head-to-head mass start event and the team pursuit.Anything new since Sochi 2014?The mass start is a new discipline which lasts 16 laps and is the only individual event in which long-track speed skaters compete directly against each other. The 500m is now a single race (in 2014 it comprised two runs, with times added together). In the team pursuit, the four fastest quarter-finalists (rather than the four quarter-final winners ) now progress to the semi-finals.British prospects.Sven Kramer has back-to-back 5,000m gold medals but is targeting an elusive 10,000m title. Dutch compatriot Ireen Wust won five Sochi medals and is an all-rounder who shines in multiple distances - this is her final Olympics. Japan's Nao Kodaira (women's 500m) should interrupt Dutch dominance, as may Japan's women's pursuit team.The Netherlands won eight of 12 speed skating golds in Sochi, recorded four one-two-threes and collected 23 of 36 medals. Only three other countries had a greater medal total than the Dutch speed skating team (once updated following Russia's various disqualifications for doping offences).Thankfully, the increase in GABA is not permanent, and the researchers believe it can be normalized with proper therapy.This isn't to say that smartphones are the cause of all society's ills. But, like everything in life, moderation is key.Beginning February 9, athletes from around the world will flock to Pyeongchang—a rugged, mountainous region in the Gangwon Province of South Korea—for the 2018 Winter Olympics.To prepare for the games, South Korea has built six new venues and refurbished six others in three different areas in the province: Pyeongchang, an area known for winter sports and home to the Olympic Stadium; Jeongseon, a former mining area home to the downhill skiing courses; and Gangneung, a resort town and bustling port city home to the ice skating, speed skating, and hockey arenas.Like any Olympics, Pyeongchang has made a few thorny headlines in the lead-up to the Games. Escalating military tension might be scaring away tourists, organizers have banned Russia from competing, and some worry that Pyeongchang’s frigid temperatures could pose problems for both athletes and spectators.The good news? Officials report that all 13 venues and the Olympic Village are ready to go, an impressive feat considering that organizers of the recent Sochi and Rio Games were scrambling to finish hotels and venues on time.

In addition to the new venues, many Olympic athletes and visitors will arrive in Gangwon Province on a new $3.7 billion express train that just opened between Seoul and Pyeongchang. Instead of a taxing three-hour drive, the Korail train journey will take just under 1.5 hours.

To get pumped for all the excitement to come, we’ve rounded up the details and best photos of the major Olympic venues. From a giant stadium to snow-covered ski runs, here’s where all the Olympic magic will happen. Built to hold 35,000 people, the pentagonal Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium will host the opening and closing ceremonies at the Olympics. Located about one mile northeast of Alpensia Ski Resort, the stadium is a temporary structure that will be dismantled after the Olympics are over.In recent months, the stadium has come under criticism because it was built without a roof or heat to save time and money. In November, seven people reportedly suffered hypothermia while attending a concert at the stadium. In order to alleviate the freezing temperatures and cold winds forecasted during the Olympics, officials will provide each spectator at the opening and closing ceremonies with a small blanket, a rain coat, and a heating pad. Athletes competing in Pyeongchang will stay in the Olympic Village located near the main stadium. The village will officially open on February 1, eight days before the opening ceremony. The compound includes eight apartment buildings—each 15 stories tall—with about 600 units total.A residential area is supplemented by an athletes’ plaza, and the village also includes important day-to-day services like banks, post offices, convenience stories, fitness centers, and multifaith churches. A similar Olympic Village in Gangneung has nine apartment buildings with a total of 922 units.A nexus of many different sports for the Olympics in the Pyeongchang Mountain Cluster, the Alpensia Sports Complex at Alpensia Ski Resort is home to the biathlon, cross-country skiing, and ski jumping centers. In total, South Korea has spent more than $1.5 billion on Alpensia and structures like the ski jumping center, which was completed in 2008 and features two different sloping ramps. Also located in the Pyeongchang Mountain Cluster, the 44-acre Olympic Sliding Center has several snaking chutes for bobsled, skeleton, and luge events. Constructed at a cost of $114.5 million, it was one of the last venues to complete, wrapping up in late 2017. All of the freestyle skiing and snowboard competitions will take place at the Phoenix Snow Park in the township of Bongpyeong-myeon. The facility sits at the foot of Mt. Taegi and includes mogul courses, big air jumps, and a half pipe. With seating for 6,500 and room for another 2,900 standing spectators, the Jeongseon Alpine Center is home base for both men’s and women’s downhill, super-G, and Alpine combined ski events. It sits in the Gariwang mountains—one of the most remote areas in South Korea—and already hosted World Cup skiing events in 2016 and 2017. Still in the Pyeongchang Mountain Cluster but located at Yongpyong Resort instead of Alpensia Ski Resort, the Yongpyong Alpine Center will host all of the slalom events. The top of the mountain stands 4,783 feet above sea level and has a vertical drop of 2,530 feet. One of two homes for Olympic hockey at this winter’s games, the Kwandong Hockey Center sits on a Catholic university campus and offers an intimate venue for 6,000 Olympic spectators. The Kwandong Hockey Center is part of five indoor arenas located in the coastal region of Gangneung.Instead of building a completely new venue for the curling events, Olympic officials decided to renovate an existing building in 2015 and 2016. Inside, four ice curling sheets painted with bullseyes will host the world’s best curlers. A new structure built specifically for the Olympics, the Gangneung Hockey Center was completed in 2017. The octagonal stadium fits 10,000 people and will host the men’s and women’s team hockey tournaments. The Gangneung Ice Arena is center stage for the exciting short-track speed skating races as well as the ever-popular figure skating competitions. At night, the building’s exterior lights up to reveal changing colors. This oval building seats 8,000 spectators and boasts a 400-meter double track. It’s the place to be if you’re watching any of the long-track speed skating events. With less than one month until the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 Opening Ceremony, Visa's (NYSE: V) roster of Team Visa athletes took the lead in launching the brand's full-length 60-second global advertising campaign, "Resetting Finish Lines", across their personal social media accounts. Over the past week, all 54 members of the Team Visa roster, including Olympic and Paralympic athletes, hopefuls, and legends representing twenty-one (21) countries and fifteen (15) sports, premiered the full-length spot ahead of its traditional debut on global digital and broadcast channels to highlight their appreciation for the support they've received during their training for PyeongChang 2018.Creating a film and inviting Team Visa athletes to be the stars and represent the Visa brand is our way of celebrating their inspiring stories and cheering them on throughout their journey, "said Lynne Biggar chief marketing and communications office at Visa. "When it came time to launch the film, we couldn't have asked for a better medium than the athlete's own social media channels."The film plays an integral role in Visa's overall Olympic and Paralympic Games sponsorship, which includes onsite activations and new payment wearables. The creative thematic behind the campaign is "resetting finish lines," rooted in the understanding that these athletes are continuously pushing their personal and athletic boundaries in pursuit of achieving their Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games dreams.Filming the campaign was our first opportunity to meet other members of our Team Visa family," said Seun Adigun, driver of the Nigerian Women's Bobsled Team. "It was a true highlight to spend time with our extended Olympics family and try out the wearable technology that Visa will make available at the Games.The global film is a compilation of vignettes that highlight the inspirational and historic stories of eight Team Visa athletes en route to the Games. Along the way, athletes leverage payment innovations, such as Visa Checkout, contactless cards and the recently announced wearable payment devices, including payment-enabled gloves, commemorative stickers and Olympic Winter Games pins that are now commercially available in Korea. This marketing campaign will feature Visa's suite of sensory branding, developed to support an expanded universe of connected, payment-enabled devices. Visa's unique sound, animation and haptic (vibration) cues signify completed, secure transactions in digital and physical retail environments when consumers pay using Visa.

Shot by prominent sports marketing director, Stacy Wall, the film encompasses one global storyline that will be shown in more than a dozen versions across the world. The film was shot in New Zealand and South Korea, and each of the 13 versions highlight local Team Visa Olympic and Paralympic athletes using a variety of payment technologies. Localised versions include: Canada, China, Japan, Italy, South Korea, Poland, United Kingdom and the United States.An administrative oversight has cost a South Korean speed skater a spot in next month's PyeongChang Winter Olympics.The Korea Skating Union said Tuesday that Noh Seon-yeong, initially picked to represent the host country in the women's team pursuit event, will be ineligible for the competition.At the national Olympic trials last October, Noh was selected, along with Kim Bo-reum and Park Ji-woo, for the team pursuit. As the host country, South Korea received an automatic spot in the team pursuit.

But under the Olympic qualification rules by the International Skating Union, all skaters competing in team pursuit must also have qualified for at least one individual race. While Kim and Park also earned Olympic berths in the mass start based on their performances during the ISU World Cup season, Noh only made the reserve list in the women's 1,500 meters.

An official at the KSU claimed there was a mix-up in communication with the ISU, saying the South Korean federation was only belatedly informed that all skaters in the team pursuit must also have qualified for an individual event.The official said the KSU sent an email to the ISU to complain about the confusion. Noh received the news of her ineligibility on Saturday.South Korea will now have to scramble to fill Noh's absence in the 2,400-meter race.Three skaters who have individual Olympic spots are Lee Sang-hwa, Park Seung-hi and Kim Hyun-yung. They're all short-distance specialists, and they won't have nearly enough time to develop chemistry with Kim Bo-reum and Park Ji-woo anyway. Lee Sang-hwa isn't really an option because she will be contending for her third straight gold medal in the 500m.This is a pretty bad situation, but we'll try to prepare for the Olympics the best we can," said national speed skating head coach Baek Chul-gi. "We'll pick either Park Seung-hi or Kim Hyun-yung to compete in the team pursuit.Noh is an older sister of former short track star Noh Jin-kyu, who died of bone cancer in 2016. When she was selected for the national team, Noh Seon-yeong spoke of her desire to dedicate her Olympic performance to her late brother.A team of 45 athletes has been selected for Australia for next month’s Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, including five-times Olympian Lydia Lassila and current world champions Britt Cox and Scotty James.It is a smaller team than the 60–strong group that went to Sochi four years ago but team chief Ian Chesterman has hailed it as the “best performed team’’ that Austraila has sent to a Winter Olympics.The big name missing from the list is dual Olympic snowboard medallist Torah Bright, who failed to qualify after making a late bid for a fourth Games.The team features 17 athletes who have won a World Cup or world championships medal in the last 18 months (59 medals in total) and Chesterman said they would be there to contend.Hopes are high that the PyeongChang team will challenge Australia’s record winter medal tally of two gold and one silver medal, set in Vancouver in 2010.This is the best performed team that we’ve taken to an Olympic Games with a large number of athletes who have established that they are amongst the very best in their sports globally,’’ Chesterman said.This team shows that winter sports in Australia are in really good shape, with real depth developing in a number of sports. We will field maximum team sizes in women’s aerials and moguls and men’s snowboard cross, which is a great position to be in.The women’s aerials team remains the Australian flagship group with four athletes who are all capable of winning medals at world level, led by 2010 Olympic champion Lassila, and including former world champion Laura Peel, World Cup winner Danielle Scott and World Cup medallist Samantha Wells.I never dreamed of going to five Olympics or having a career this long,” Lassila said.I’ve learned so much about myself, endured set backs and celebrated the victories.I love my sport, I love my country and that’s what has kept me coming back.Australia’s sole male aerialist David Morris won the silver medal in Sochi four years ago but has had a significant personal setback in the last month, as his mother was diagnosed with lung cancer, despite being a non-smoker.He considered abandoning his third Olympic campaign but was encouraged to continue by his family.

In moguls Cox and Australia’s top male competitor Matt Graham have been regular podium winners for the past two seasons, while the men’s snowboard cross team includes three men who have won medals this season – dual world champion Alex “Chumpy’’ Pullin, Jarryd Hughes and Adam Lambert.Representing your country at the Olympic Games is a very special feeling, so I’m really excited to be named on the Aussie Team,” Cox said.Australia has such a rich Olympic history both in summer and winter sports, so to be part of that legacy is a huge honour. I’m really inspired by the culture that exists within this Aussie team, we all push, encourage and inspire one another and that fuels me within my own personal sporting goals.Cox and James will be attending their third Games at just 23 years of age, both having made their Olympic debuts in Sochi, aged 15.Slopestyle snowboarder Tess Coady, 17, will be the youngest member of the PyeongChang team. Sh is a dual world junior champion who won her first senior medal in the event two weeks ago.“Having taken a really young Team to Sochi there are a number of returning Olympians that will benefit from that experience while there are also a number of Olympic debutants that are the future of their sports, which is also great to see,’’ Chesterman said.James, who competes in red “Boxing Kangaroo’’ gloves, said he was excited to compete with a team of such promise.We have many athletes doing really amazing things, who are competitive on the world stage almost every week of the season and the standard of their preparation just gets better,’’ he said.The Australian team could still grow to 48 by the end of the next week as the International Ski Federation reallocates quota places. There are possibilities that Australia will receive an extra quota place in men’s moguls, men’s ski cross and women’s cross country skiing.Snowboard cross specialist Bell Brockhoff and freestyle skier Russ Henshaw have been selected subject to fitness.City governments that host the Olympics often face a dilemma—after spending hundreds of millions of dollars to build arenas and event spaces, what do you do with them once the games are over?For South Korean officials mulling the future of the Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium, the answer is straightforward—just tear it down.The stadium, costing 116 billion won ($109 million), will be used only four times in the course of the games—twice in February, for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics, and then twice in March, for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Paralympics. After that, it will be demolished.According to the Associated Press, local officials are stumped as to what to do with some of these other facilities once the games are over. Failed proposals include converting the speed skating arena into a gambling venue for betting (on skating) and turning one of the hockey centers into a home for a corporate hockey team.

During inspections of the facilities in August, officials from the International Olympic Committee warned the organizers that the facilities risked becoming “white elephants” after the games.It’s not uncommon for Olympics venues to fall into disarray once the games are over. In a best-case scenario, they become sporting facilities that get used frequently: The Centennial Olympic Stadium, built for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, was converted into a home for the Atlanta Braves baseball team, where they resided for about 20 years.Still, it’s unusual for the main Olympics stadium to be built and then knocked down as soon as the games are over. Among the long list of countries that have hosted games, France leads the way when it comes to bringing the wrecking ball. The Olympic Stadium for the 1968 Winter Games in Grenoble was torn down immediately after the competition, as was the Théâtre des Cérémonies that hosted the opening and closing spectacles of the 1992 Winter Games in Albertville.Given Pyeongchang’s size—the county has a population of 45,000, just 10,000 more than seats in the Olympic Stadium—tearing the venue down might make more economic sense than paying to keep it up.Think Winter X Games coming to the Olympics.Athletes slide down a 49-meter tall ramp, reaching a 40-degree slope and launching up into the air to perform tricks.Big air skiing might get approved as an event in time for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, but for now, just the snowboarders will be having the fun.U.S athletes to watch here include Ryan Stassel, the current world No. 2 for men, and Hailey Langland for the women.The events stacks a skiier against another from an opposing country in a head-to-head race that lasts about 25 seconds.Each team comprises two men and two women. Teams score one point for a race win. If both skiers ski off trail or fall, the skier who has progressed further down the course is declared the winner. Time is used as a tiebreaker, if needed.France is considered a favorite for gold.Mass start speed skating returns to the Olympics after brielfy being part of the Games back in 1932 in Lake Placid, N.Y.This year, there will be 24 athletes who line up for the gold after three semifinal heats determine the top eight finishers. The athletes are staggered in rows of six, based on ranking.An intermediate sprint comes at halfway point of the 16 laps. Points are awarded to the winners, which can be decisive in a close finish.This is essentially the curling you've all come to know and love but with teams comprised of one male and one female.It's part of a push to place both male and female athletes on equal footing in the Olympics. Australia has revealed its team for the Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games that will compete in South Korea.

More than 40 Australians will compete in a total of 16 events at the games, which will begin on February 9. These events include bobsleigh, alpine skiing, speed skating and luge.Ian Chesterman, Chef de Mission of the Australian team, said it was the most accomplished Winter Olympics team in Australia's history with the athletes having won 54 World Cup medals between them.The team also boasts two current world champions; Britt Cox in mogul skiing and Scotty James in the half pipe snowboard.Pyeongchang is ready, our athletes are excited and the focus is on the final days of preparation before the Team starts to arrive in South Korea next week," Chesterman said in an Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) media release on Thursday.Chesterman says that the team is "a great cross-section of sports on the winter program", something the AOC values quite highly."Having taken a really young team to Sochi there are a number of returning Olympians that will benefit from that experience, while there are also a number of Olympic debutants that are the future of their sports, which is also great to see," Chesterman said.Chesterman also said that the team shows that winter sport in Australia "is in really good shape.For Lydia Lassila, a two-time Olympic medalist in aerial freestyle skiing, the games in Pyeongchang will be her fifth Winter Olympics.I never dreamed of going to five Olympics or having a career this long," the 36-year-old mother-of-two said.I've learned so much about myself, endured setbacks and celebrated the victories. I love my sport, I love my country and that's what has kept me coming back." The speed skating suit has always been the technical marvel of the Winter Olympics. With high-tech fabrics and unusual construction, it’s designed to eke out every bit of athletic optimization. In a sport where a thousandth of a second can determine who gets a medal and who doesn’t, athletes rely on technology to give them an edge. "We’re trying to get the body to be more aerodynamic than it is in its natural state," says Clay Dean, chief innovation officer at Under Armour, the company behind the suit the US speed skating team will wear in PyeongChang this February.Speed skaters wage a battle with physics every time they race. As their muscular bodies cut through the air at more than 30 mph, they leave a trail of drag in their wake. The key to winning (against physics and humans alike) is to reduce the amount of air resistance a body produces. Part of it is stance—to minimize their body’s effect, skaters fold themselves over, keeping their backs flat like a table top—and part of it is suit.Under Armour’s new suit is an overhaul to the Mach 39, the controversial uniform that many blamed for the US team's poor performance in Sochi. In 2014, not a single US speed skater medaled, despite the high prospects going into the Olympics. Under Armour was a natural scapegoat.

In the lead up to the game, the company heralded the Mach 39 as the fastest suit ever designed. The bodysuits were made from a dimpled polyurethane material designed to divert air drag; designers placed a large, latticed vent in the back of the suit to let the athletes bodies breathe. Athletes claimed that the vent allowed too much air to enter the suit, creating a vacuum behind them that slowed their speed. Under Armour and US Speedskating say the technology wasn't to blame, citing an internal report conducted after the Sochi Olympics.1This year's suit has no vent. Instead, it’s stitched together from three fabrics like a couture gown. One of those fabrics, a white nylon spandex mix called H1, runs down the suit’s arms and legs in patches. The fabric’s jacquard weave creates an almost imperceptible roughness in the surface. "I would describe it as a very fine grit sandpaper," says Chris Yu, director of integrated technologies at Specialized, the company responsible for the hundreds of hours of wind tunnel testing the suit underwent.The texture creates pockets in the surface that make the suit more breathable. It also makes the suit more aerodynamic. Yu explains that anything punching a hole in the air will leave a wake or vacuum behind it. Speed skaters need to make that hole as small as possible. Cylindrical objects like arms and legs are particularly troublesome since wind tends to wrap around them, creating vacuum that can slow skaters’ speed. Anywhere you see the H1 fabric is a trouble spot for wind resistance. Under Armour and Specialized claim the small dimples on the surface of the suit disrupt the airflow ever so slightly, causing the air to re-energize and reattach to the limbs so the vacuum is reduced. "Call it the golf ball dimple effect, if you will," Yu says.Golf balls have dimples across the entirety of their surface because there’s no way to account for how the ball will fly through the air. Skaters, on the other hand, move in controlled and predictable ways, making only left turns as they sprint around the track. This predictability allowed the designers to position the H1 material in precise locations on the suit. "You can’t add roughness willy nilly," Yu says. "If you add too much you’ll introduce more drag; add too little and you’re not re-energizing the air quite enough."The rest of the suit is made from a stretchy polyurethane fabric that's designed to lay flush against the skaters skin, even when they’re folded over. Dean says Under Armour decided to sew the suit with an asymmetrical seam that runs from the lower left leg to the right shoulder, which reduces bunching and allows the skaters more freedom of movement during their left turns. It’s a small but significant detail that the design team decided to incorporate after analyzing the particular movements skaters make on the ice—the low stance, swinging arms, and right leg that constantly crosses over the left. They then spent more than two years testing the aerodynamics of the suit inside Specialized’s wind tunnel, ensuring that the suit met performance standards in every position skaters adopt during a race.In the lead-up to Sochi, Under Armour kept the Mach 39 so tightly under wraps that the athletes didn’t get to test the new design in competition. This time, the athletes have been wearing the suits in practice and competition since last winter, while seamstress nip and tuck the material to tailor-fit it to each skater. It’s a long-term design process, but Dean says it’s worth it to make a suit he eagerly claims is faster, better, and more advanced than what they made for Sochi. "We believe they do give us an advantage," he says. "It’s a faster skating suit than what we had before.It’s an enthusiasm that Dean tempers when he recalls the backlash from the 2014 Olympics. If Under Armour has learned anything in the last few years, it’s that a bit of managing expectations can go a long way. And that a suit, even the fastest in the world, is only a small piece of why athletes find themselves on the podium. "There's no guarantees in competition," Dean adds. "All we can do is prove through science, through construction, and through material that we’ve given them the best possible tools to do their job."New Zealand has named an impressive speed skating trio for next month's Winter Olympics in South Korea.Peter Michael, Reyon Kay and Shane Dobbin will compete in the team pursuit, as well as individual events.The trio have all transitioned from inline skating, where they were all former world champions.

For Dobbin, PyeongChang will be his third Games, while Reyon Kay and Peter Michael will make their Winter Olympic debuts.The 38-year-old Dobbin retired following the 2014 Olympics in Sochi and recently come out of retirement, after a bit of peer pressure.I had no intention to start competing again," he told Newshub. "I pretty much went two years without doing any exercise, so it was a pretty big decision for me to come.

Personally, I wouldn't change it for the world.he team is coached Kalon Dobbin, Shane's older brother.NZOC CEO Kereyn Smith extended her congratulations to the athletes on their selection.This is an amazing example of athletes displaying determination and grit to chase the Olympic dream," she said."Shane already has a proud Olympic history, and we look forward to Peter and Reyon adding to the team's legacy at PyeongChang.The trio will train in Calgary, Canada, in the lead-up to the Games, which start on February 10.Shane Dobbin's decision to come out of retirement has paid off following his selection in a three-strong Kiwi speed skating contingent to compete at the Winter Olympics.Dobbin, 38, will contest his third Games at PyeongChang next month, while Reyon Kay and Peter Michael will make their Winter Olympic debuts.The trio will combine in the team pursuit - a first for New Zealand - while each will also contest individual events.All former world champions in inline skating, they have combined to excellent effect in the team pursuit on the World Cup circuit, amassing four podium finishes in the past 18 months.

A second placing at the 2017 world championships at the Gangneung Oval, the Games venue in South Korea, helped boost their world ranking to second.The New Zealand flagbearer for the 2014 Games in Sochi, Dobbin announced his retirement following a meritorious seventh placing in the 10,000m individual race.He made a decision two years ago to return and chase selection at a third Games, seduced by the allure of the team pursuit.What we've achieved in the short amount of time that we've been skating together is great," he said.We want a medal at PyeongChang and we're heading in the right direction to achieve that goal. You'd struggle to find a group of guys who are more driven than us right now.Kay, 31, attributes the trio's success to what he calls an unorthodox training style led by coach Kalon Dobbin, Shane's older brother.Rather than two 20-lap training sessions like most skaters, they churn out 150-lap stints at a slow space.It looks funny in the skating world but we think that there's some serious gains to be had from this approach," Kay said.Individually, the athletes have also posted strong results.Michael won World Cup gold in the 5000m and 1500m in 2016 and world championship bronze in the 5000m in 2017.Kay won World Cup silver in the mass start in 2017.The trio will train in Calgary in the lead-up to the Games starting on February 9.Russia's Viktor Ahn, the most decorated Olympic short track speed skater, has been barred from competing at next month's Pyeongchang Winter Games in his native South Korea, the TASS news agency has reported.Born Ahn Hyun-soo in Seoul, the skater won three gold medals and a bronze at the 2006 Turin Games for South Korea but was passed over for Vancouver four years later due to a knee injury and after falling out with Korea's skating union.Ahn then gave up his South Korean passport and switched allegiance to Russia in 2011 and returned to Olympic ice with a vengeance in Sochi in 2014, winning three more golds and a bronze.Ahn has been barred from participation in the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang," TASS quoted a source familiar with the matter as saying late on Monday. "His team mates Denis Airapetyan and Vladimir Grigoryev have also been barred.The report did not provide any reason for Ahn's exclusion from the Games.The participation of Russian athletes at the 2018 Games has been under a cloud after widespread doping at the Sochi Winter Games was exposed by an independent report for the World Anti-Doping Agency.The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has banned Russia from the Feb 9-25 Pyeongchang Games as a result of its "unprecedented systematic manipulation" of the anti-doping system.It left the door open for Russian athletes with a clean doping history to be invited to compete as neutrals under an Olympic flag, however.On Friday, the IOC said it had reduced the pool of Russian athletes eligible to compete at next month's Pyeongchang winter Olympics to 389 from 500.Russian short track speed skater Viktor Ahn, biathlete Anton Shipulin and cross-country skier Sergei Ustyugov are not on the list of athletes eligible for next month’s Pyeongchang Winter Games, the Russian Olympic Committee said on Tuesday. The committee’s vice president, Stanislav Pozdnyakov, said in a statement the three had not been included in the pool from which Russian competitors will be invited to compete in Pyeongchang by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).The IOC last month banned Russia from Pyeongchang over “systematic manipulation” of the anti-doping system at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, but left the door open to athletes with no history of doping to compete as “Olympic Athletes from Russia.Athletes like Viktor Ahn, Anton Shipulin and Sergei Ustyugov were not involved in the Oswald commission proceedings,” Pozdnyakov said in the statement, referring to an IOC commission investigating alleged doping violations by Russian athletes at the 2014 Sochi Games.They were never involved in doping stories and the many tests they passed over their careers have showed that they are clean athletes. Nevertheless their names are absent from the list of potential Olympic participants.The statement added that the Russian Olympic Committee would request explanations from the IOC regarding the exclusion of “national team leaders in a number of sports”.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow regretted that the three athletes were not considered eligible for Pyeongchang.We have heard this saddening news in the media. If this decision has indeed been made, we regret to hear it. We hope for clarity in this situation,” Peskov told reporters on a conference call.Ahn, who was born in South Korea, won three gold medals and a bronze at the 2006 Turin Games for his native country but was passed over for Vancouver four years later due to a knee injury and after falling out with his country’s skating union.The 32-year-old switched allegiance to Russia in 2011 and went on to win three gold medals and a bronze at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.Shipulin, 30, won bronze in the biathlon relay at Vancouver in 2014 and gold in the relay at Sochi in 2014.He could not immediately be reached for comment.Ustyugov, 25, won gold in the 30 km skiathlon and the team sprint at the 2017 world championships.The IOC last week reduced the pool of Russian athletes eligible to compete at Pyeongchang to 389 from 500. The Pacific Northwest will be well represented when the U.S. Olympic Committee officially announces the members of the 2018 Olympic Team Friday morning. Ten athletes from Oregon and Washington state have qualified for the Winter Olympics in South Korea, including downhill skiers, cross country skiers, short track speed skaters, a snowboarder and one bobsledder.The Northwest contingent is a mix of Olympic veterans and rookies. The four women and six men range in age between 21 and 30 years old.The PyeongChang Games will be the second Olympics for alpine speed skier Laurenne Ross of Bend, Oregon. She said she relishes being part of “a bigger team, Team USA.Which is something we don’t really do very often as athletes in an individual sport,” Ross said. “So that’s something that was special in 2014 in Sochi. I really look forward to that again.The U.S. cross-country ski team has a brother-sister duo who grew up along the ski trails of north central Washington's Methow Valley—Erik and Sadie Bjornsen. Sadie represents a legitimate threat to medal.Another decent bet to stand on the Olympic podium next month is short track speed skater J.R. Celski of Federal Way, Washington.The PyeongChang Winter Games last from February 8-25.South Korea is preparing to host its first Winter Olympics when the 2018 edition gets underway in Pyeongchang in February.The Games will be made up of 15 sports: alpine skiing, biathlon, bobsleigh, cross-country skiing, curling, figure skating, freestyle skiing, ice hockey, luge, Nordic combined, short-track speed skating, skeleton, ski jumping, snowboarding, and speed skating. Curling and ski jumping get going before the opening ceremony in Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium on 9 February. The Games wrap up on 25 February with the women's curling gold medal match and the men's ice hockey gold medal match.North Korea will send 22 athletes to next month's Winter Games in the South, the International Olympic Committee said Saturday, approving a landmark deal between two nations still officially at war. South Korea had hoped that the Games which begin in Pyeongchang on Feb. 9 could help ease the crisis on the peninsula plagued by months of rising tensions over the North's nuclear and missile and program.In a surprise New Year's announcement, the leader of Stalinist North Korea Kim Jong-un said he was open to sending a delegation to Pyeongchang. Before this week's meeting at IOC headquarters in Lausanne, the two Koreas had already agreed on a set of momentous compromises, including delegations from both countries marching together at the opening ceremony and the formation of a unified women's hockey team. But the two Koreas still needed approval from the IOC, as the pact required the suspension of some basic Olympic rules. IOC president Thomas Bach gave that approval Saturday, announcing that 22 athletes had been cleared to compete in three sports and a total of five disciplines. Those include figure skating, short-track speed skating, cross-country skiing and Alpine skiing, as well as hockey, with the IOC having approved the entry of the joint team, despite concerns voiced by some hockey federations over fairness.   At the opening ceremony, the joint delegation "will be led into the Olympic stadium by the Korean unification flag" carried together by athlete from each country, the IOC said. A special unity uniform will be created for the event.No North Korean athlete had technically qualified for Pyeongchang, so Saturday's announcement required extending qualification deadlines in the sports concerned.Today marks a milestone on a long journey," Bach said after the closed-door meeting with the leaders of the Olympic committees from both Koreas as well Pyeongchang 2018 organisers, and senior government officials from the two countries.The Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang are hopefully opening the door to a brighter future on the Korean peninsula, and inviting the world to join in a celebration of hope," Bach said. North Korea has taken part in seven of the last 12 Winter Olympics, most recently in Vancouver 2010.But its presence in Pyeongchang -- just 80 kilometres south of the demilitarized zone that divides the Koreas -- is a significant diplomatic coup.  North and South Korea remain technically at war since the Korean war ended with armistice, not a peace treaty, in 1953. North Korea will also send 24 officials and 21 media representatives to Pyeongchang, Bach said.  Seoul and the IOC will have to ensure that while accommodating the North and ensuring that the so-called "peace Olympics" pass off smoothly, they do not violate United Nations sanctions. Security Council measures currently prohibit cash transfers to the North, while the UN has also drawn up a blacklist of officials tied to the Stalinist Pyongyang regime, individuals whose presence at the Games will create potential stumbling blocks.The 2018 Winter Olympics, which take place in Pyeongchang, South Korea from Feb. 9 through Feb. 25, will be missing a key competitor.While the North Korean team may be invited to participate and people speculate on whether ticket sales will fall flat amid security concerns, one thing is certain: The Russian team will not be allowed to compete.The International Olympic Committee (IOC) banned 43 Russian athletes for doping during the 2014 Olympics in Sochi.The most recent rulings from the IOC came at the end of December and banned 11 more athletes: Luge competitors Tatiana Ivanova and Albert Demchenko; speed skaters Ivan Skobrev and Artem Kuznetcov; cross-country skiers Nikita Kryukov, Alexander Bessmertnykh, and Natalia Matveeva; bobsledders Liudmila Udobkina and Maxim Belugin; and ice hockey players Tatiana Burina and Anna Shchukina.All 43 are expected to appeal their lifetime bans in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The CAS is an independent ruling body, but its jurisdiction is recognized by all Olympic and non-Olympic federations.Although the team is banned, some Russian athletes will still compete under a neutral flag. They won’t be allowed to wear their country’s colors on their uniforms.The IOC has been re-testing all Russian athletes’ samples from the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi for performance-enhancing drugs after Grigory Rodchenkov, the former head of Moscow’s discredited anti-doping laboratory, revealed a state-run doping scheme in 2016.The whistleblower fled to the United States and now says he fears for his life.There are 46 cases the IOC is investigating as part of the doping apparatus that they say benefitted Russian athletes from between 2011 and 2015. The latest 11 rulings at the end of December resulted in all athletes being banned. And since then, three athletes have been cleared.The IOC retroactively disqualified all of Russia’s athletes in the Sochi games and stripped the country of the 13 medals it won there. The Russian Olympic Committee was also ordered to pay the IOC $15 million to cover the costs of the investigation and to help establish an Independent Testing Authority.Beyond the Winter Olympics.Some Russian competitors banned from the Olympics will still be able to participate in other international games.Seven Russian bobsled and skeleton athletes banned by the IOC were cleared to compete in World Cup events, the CAS confirmed Thursday.The chairman of Russia’s local World Cup organizing committee stepped down amid allegations that he supervised and funded the state-run doping operation. Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko is fighting a lifetime ban from the Olympics and FIFA officials thanked him for stepping aside “in the interests of the 2018 World Cup in Russia,” state-run media reported.Mutko denies the existence of any state-sponsored doping program.“I am not resigning and my mandate will be still valid,” he said, according to RT. “I will definitely return after the six months, perhaps earlier.It's finally that time of the year when the Winter Olympics disrupts the patterns of our everyday lives, consuming copious amounts of our attention for a two-week period. I mean, how could it not? There are all kinds of exhilarating competitions: hockey, ice skating, alpine skiing and countless others that, honestly, make it hard to keep up with. If you were already wondering how many Olympic sports there are  — here's what you should know (so you can plan what you want to watch accordingly, of course).There are 15 different Olympic sports that will be in the 2018 Winter Olympics, set to begin in Pyeongchang, South Korea on Friday, Feb. 9 and end on Sunday, Feb. 25. The sports include alpine skating, biathlon, bobsleigh, cross-country skiing, curling, figure skating, freestyle skiing, ice hockey, long-track speed skating, luge, Nordic combined, short-track speed skating, skeleton, ski jumping, and snowboarding. The event will be the first in history to host more than 100 medal events, according to CNN.Whew! What a mouthful. Anyways, here are some of the most popular sports to keep your eyes on.There are generally a lot more sports at the Summer Olympics in comparison to the winter event. At the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, there will be more than 40 sports, including archery, badminton, basketball, boxing, canoeing, cycling, equestrian, fencing, football (soccer), golf, gymnastics, handball, hockey, judo, modern Pentathlon, rowing, sailing, shooting, trampoline, and more — which probably is the reason the event gets more love. But if you ask me, the real challenge is playing a sport in the cold!If you're planning ahead for what you need to record on your DVR or perhaps what sport you're gonna have a watch-party for, you honestly can't go wrong with anything on this list. Get your popcorn ready and prepare to see these athletes to snag your full attention.

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