Dashing over the ice at over 130 kilometers per hour, indeed, these are the unique sliding events in the Olympic Winter Games: Bobsleigh, Luge and Skeleton. On Feb. 5th, the sliding events of the Beijing Winter Olympics will be held in the Yanqing National Sliding Center. 

Bobsleigh: two Chinese female players are expected to make history

Bobsleigh, also known as "sleigh with rudder", originated in Switzerland and has been a Winter Olympic event ever since 1924, the year when the first Olympic Winter Games took place. The Bobsleigh events of Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games are divided into 4 events, including Women's Monobob, 2-Woman Bobsleigh, 2-Man Bobsleigh and 4-man Bobsleigh, with the first one being newly-added. 

In respect of the past few Olympic Winter Games and World Championships, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, the United States, Russia and Canada are among the top teams. In Men’s Bobsleigh, the German "King of Bobsleigh", Francesco Friedrich, who made a clean sweep of both 2-Man and 4-Man Bobsleigh in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, aspires to defend his own championship. With regard to women's side, Mariama Jamanka, the champion of 2-Woman Bobsleigh in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, is steadily recovering recently, and Laura Nolte is staying in peak condition. This time in Beijing, the German players will not easily let go of the medals of the newly-added Women's Monobob.

As announced by the Chinese Delegation earlier, the Chinese Bobsleigh Team, which consists of 5 female and 9 male players, are ready to take part in all of the events. Although there are still gaps between China and Western countries in various events, Chinese players have achieved significant progress through several competitions in the 2021-2022 World Cup session. It is worth noticing that two Chinese female players, Ying Qing and Huai Mingming, are in excellent condition in recent years, and both of them have the capability to enter the top 5 in the 2-Woman Bobsleigh. Are they going to keep on creating history this time? Let's wait and see. 

Luge: making Olympic debut and aspiring for breakthroughs

Luge, which originated in Switzerland and Northern Europe, is one of the fastest events in the Winter Olympics, and an extremely risky and professional event. It has been an official Olympic Sport since the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck. Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games has 4 Luge events, including Luge Men's Singles, Luge Women's Singles, Luge Doubles and Luge Team Relay. 

Judging from the results in previous international competitions, several players from Germany, the US, Italy, Latvia and Russia have the capacity to win the gold medals. Among them, the German team is the most competitive, as they ranked the top in all the four events in the last World Cup. They sent a competitive team to Beijing this time, including Natalie Geisenberger, who obtained 4 golds and 1 silver in the past three Winter Olympics, and Felix Roark, the 3-time Winter Olympics gold medalist and 6-time winner of World Championships. 

China began building its national team for luge only after Beijing won the 2022 Olympic bid in 2015. China's national luge team has succeeded in qualifying for all the four luge events at Beijing 2022. The Chinese team, comprising Fan Duoyao (men's singles), Wang Peixuan (women's singles), and doubles pair Huang Yebo/Peng Junyue, will be making its Olympic debut. They will also participate in the team relay. Fan Duoyao entered the main event of the 2021-2022 International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation (IBSF) World Cup last November, becoming China’s first male athlete to qualify for the main event of the IBSF World Cup. Later in Sochi, Wang Peixuan also successfully went all the way to the final, achieving a breakthrough in Chinese Luge Women's Singles history. Now, with passion and commitment, Chinese athletes will attempt to step it up another notch on the biggest stage of the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics.

Skeleton: after four years' buildup, China's national skeleton team is ready to sail again

With its roots in the traditional sport of bobsleigh, skeleton is one of the sliding events at the Winter Games. Skeleton was first introduced in the Olympic events in the 1928 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz. However, due to restrictions of the sites, it was absent in the two subsequent Winter Olympics. It was not until the 5th St. Moritz Winter Olympics in 1948 that skeleton returned to the Olympic Games. But due to its high risks, skeleton was excluded from the Winter Olympics for a long time until 2002, when it was reintroduced at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics. There are two skeleton events at Beijing 2022 - the men's and the women's.

Skeleton will see some legendary names compete on a new track at the Winter Olympics. Russia and Germany have earned full places for skeleton events and will send three male and three female athletes. However, one of the favorites for the men's skeleton final is the Latvian Martins Dukurs, who possesses the most glittering record in skeleton: eleven-time IBSF World Cup winner, two-time Olympic silver medalist. Now, Dukurs has set out for his fifth Winter Olympics and will begin his quest for the Olympic gold medal again. In the women's event, the Netherlands, Russia, Germany, Austria, as well as Italy are all going for gold.

For China's national skeleton team, Beijing 2022 is its second Winter Olympics. Four skeleton athletes have qualified for Beijing 2022. Compared to the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, the young team's solid progress in the Beijing period is there for all to see. Geng Wenqiang has attained rapid progress from his first World Cup podium finish to his first World Cup gold medal in just two years, and reached the world's top ten. Yet due to his less-than-satisfactory performance in the Beijing Olympic trials, Yan Wengang and Yin Zheng will compete for China in the men's skeleton event. As Geng writes on his social media account, “The development of China's national skeleton team needs joint efforts of every team member. I sincerely hope that our team can achieve good results in this Winter Olympics. Please follow and support us. China skeleton team, Come on!”