The IOC Announces They Have Added Four New Events To The 2018 Olympics

The IOC has just announced four new events which will be added to the 2018 Winter Olympics which will be held in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The events are Big Air (snowboarding), team skiing, mixed doubles in curling, and mass start in speedskating. All four events will have both men and women involved. The addition of Big Air is part of IOC’s effort to get a younger viewing audience. Big Air follows X-Games and Dew Tour favorites of the halfpipe and slopestyle as the most recent snowboarding additions into the Olympics. The snowboard parallel slalom event was dropped in order to make more room for Big Air. According to IOC rules, events can be added or dropped up until three years before the games.

The mass start in speedskating was added for more physical contact and excitement. In short track speedskating, the races are quite exciting despite physical contact not allowed, but this mass start would be in the disciplines in with the longer track. The only current event in the discipline of speed skating which involves multiple skaters is the team pursuit so adding this new high-paced event is going to provide a twist on the ice.

The team skiing involves teams of two men and two women competing in parallel slalom races. This event has been a part of the World Cup finals and the World Championships as well. The mixed curling event will be a twist from the curling event which has separate men’s and women’s teams composed of four players with teams throwing eight stones each. In the mixed doubles event, the team will be made of one man and one woman and each team will be throwing six stones each.

"The changes reflect the continued evolution of the Winter Olympic program and build on the success of recent editions of the games," the IOC said in a statement. "They also build on the reforms outlined in Olympic Agenda 2020 which aim to create more flexibility into the Olympic program of the Olympic Games."

"We believe that adding new events will make the 2018 Winter Games more innovative," Pyeongchang organizing committee leader Cho Yang-ho said.