What is the most dangerous sport in the winter olympics

Olympic officials who maintain the ice jump out of the way as China’s Fan Kexin crashes into the barrier in the women’s 500 metres short track speed skating semi-finals during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. Photo: Reuters/David Gray

Studies have shown that the Winter Olympics are more dangerous than the Summer Olympics. Participants in the cold-weather games are going through events at faster speeds and spend more time in the air than those competing in warm-weather sports.

More than one in 10 athletes at the past two Winter Olympics—2014 Sochi and 2010 Vancouver—were injured at the Games, according to studies by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The studies are published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine after each Games, with researchers asking countries’ national medical teams and the clinics in the athletes’ village to report each injury.

With the 2018 Winter Olympics beginning Feb. 9 in Pyeongchang, South Korea, it’s time to take a look at the most dangerous Winter Games events, according to studies by the IOC.

Ski aerials

Not surprisingly, skiers speeding downhill, launching off a ramp, and spending seconds in air while completing jaw-dropping twists and flips is the most dangerous sport in the Winter Olympics. A whopping 49% of participants at the 2014 Sochi Olympics were injured during this event (up from 19% at 2010 Vancouver).

Snowboard cross

Also known as boardercross, this event involves multiple participants racing downhill through a narrow course equipped with various jumps, berms, and drops. Thirty-four percent of participants were injured during the 2014 Sochi Olympics in this discipline.

Slopestyle snowboard

More than one in every three participants (37%) in this event, which debuted at 2014 Sochi, were injured. Slopestyle snowboard (and skiing) involves competitors riding downhill while testing their mettle on a variety of slopes, rails, and jumps. Competitors are judged on the height of their jumps, degree of difficulty of their tricks, execution of said tricks, and the whole combined package.

Slopestyle skiing

Similar to slopestyle snowboard, except on skis, participants race downhill while performing tricks on the variety of terrain park features. Roughly one in three participants of this event (31%) were injured at 2014 Sochi.

Ski halfpipe

Looking for big air? Look no further than any of the halfpipe events. Participants ride up and down the curved feature, hanging in the air for what seems like forever while twisting, flipping, and turning. This event, similar to the snowboard halfpipe, made its debut at the 2014 Games in Sochi with 26% of participants getting injured.

Ski moguls

This bumpy race can take a toll on participants’ legs and lower bodies as they race downhill through a series of mini hills and bumps. Participants are judged on their turns, jumps, and speed. One in four participants (25%) of this event at 2014 Sochi got hurt, up from 2% at 2010 Vancouver.

Snowboard halfpipe

Less participants on a snowboard were injured in the halfpipe event than those on skis. Eighteen percent of snowboard halfpipe competitors were injured at the 2014 Games, a slight increase from 13% at 2010 Vancouver.

Bobsleigh

Individuals or teams of two or four pile into a sled and maneuver down an icy track at speeds of 80+ mph while trying to avoid grazing the sides of the track. Bobsleigh, surprisingly, is toward the bottom of dangerous Winter Olympic sports with 18% of competitors at 2014 Sochi having gotten injured, slightly down from 20% at 2010 Vancouver.

Other less-dangerous Winter Olympic sports: ski cross (14%), hockey (11%), short-track speed skating (9%).

Read Next

{{ articleCategory }}

{{ title }}

We and our partners use cookies to better understand your needs, improve performance and provide you with personalised content and advertisements. To allow us to provide a better and more tailored experience please click "OK"

Winter sports competitions always have brought athletes, high speeds and snow and ice together, occasionally with horrifying or even fatal results.

The continual addition of daredevil extreme sports to the Olympic program - including seven new events at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 - and the technological and physical advancements that push the limits of speed in more traditional winter pursuits, have made the Winter Olympics an increasingly high-flying circus of terrifying rides, uncontrolled speeds and, in some cases, pure danger.

Watch the video above to see the sport of curling explained

Watch the latest sport on Channel 7 or stream for free on 7plus >>

So, which sports have proven to be the most dangerous at the Winter Olympics?

The British Journal of Sports Medicine has been publishing data on injuries at the Winter Games since Vancouver 2010, then Sochi 2014 and finally PyeongChang 2018.

In 2018, medical teams from 92 countries reported 376 injuries over the 17-day period.

This means where were 12.6 injuries per 100 athletes at the 2018 Games, which is relatively similar to the 14 injuries per 100 athletes at Sochi in 2014 and 11.2 injuries in Vancouver in 2010.

The 2018 study excluded pre-existing, not fully rehabilitated conditions in participating athletes.

The top 10 most dangerous sports at the 2018 Winter Olympics

If you remember the chronicle of Australia’s famed and fabled Steven Bradbury, you’ll know what short track skating is.

Short track is form of speed skating contested around an international-sized hockey rink, 111 metres in length.

Athletes race simultaneously, jockeying for position for the duration of the multi-lap race.

Unlike Olympic speed skating (also known as “long track”) the clock is a secondary factor in short track. The order in which athletes in the heat cross the finish line is all that matters.

Short track originated in North America. It was introduced to the Winter Olympics as an exhibition sport in 1988, and then as a medal event in 1992.

Number of athletes: 113

Number of injuries: 17 (15 per cent)

Re-live Steven Bradbury’s famous gold medal win in the video player below

Ice hockey is a sport which probably needs no introduction. It’s two teams taking aim at the opponent’s net and, sometimes, each other.

A game is broken into three periods of 20 minutes, with a 15-minute intermission between each regular period, during which time the ice will be resurfaced. Overtime and a penalty shootout will be played, if required.

If you want to impress your friends, tell them a puck is made of vulcanised rubber and must weigh between 156-170 grams.

Number of athletes: 495

Number of injuries: 82 (16.6 per cent)

The slopestyle is one of 13 freestyle skiing events, alongside aerials, moguls, halfpipe, big air; and ski cross.

Athletes will perform tricks and jumps over multiple ramps and obstacles across the sloping course.

There are rails at the top of the course and three huge ramps on the bottom half of the course.

Number of athletes: 54

Number of injuries: 9 (16.7 per cent)

Bobsleigh is a sport which leaves athletes shaken and stirred.

It involves teams of two or four hurtling down an icy track in a bullet-shaped sled with the fastest aggregate time winning gold.

Athletes travel at speeds of around 130km/h and the G-force they experience is said to be higher than a space shuttle launch.

Number of athletes: 163

Number of injuries: 29 (17.8 per cent)

Alpine skiing is a test of speed and technical skill down vertiginous slopes.

Fearlessness is a prerequisite. After all, going down a mountain at speeds in excess of 140km/h is not for the faint-hearted.

Alpine skiing encompasses 12 different competitions, with speed events (downhill and super-G) and technical events (slalom and giant slalom) and a combined event.

Downhill is the most acclaimed event, the equivalent of the 100m in track and field. It’s the longest of all the courses with the fewest gates and, consequently, is the ultimate test of speed. The 1948 Winter Olympics was the first to feature the downhill.

Super-G, which made its Olympic debut in 1988, combines the speed of the downhill with the technicality of the giant slalom. The course has widely-set gates to allow for speed. Like downhill, there are no training runs, competitors get just one shot. It’s pure instinct.

Giant slalom is a technical event and the most complicated discipline. Skiers are required to race the course twice, as they must in slalom - an event where precision is key. Combined times from the two runs determine the finishing position.

Number of athletes: 322

Number of injuries: 58 (18 per cent)

Making its Olympic debut at the 1994 Lillehammer Games, aerials entails skiers launching off large jumps and performing precise maneuvers while in the air.

Each maneuver consists of flips – single or multiple – with or without horizontal twists included.

The competitors are judged based on their take-off, execution and landing.

Number of athletes: 50

Number of injuries: 10 (20 per cent)

Making its Olympic debut at the 2014 Sochi Games, slopestyle courses have a mix of jumps and rails that skiers must execute tricks on as they make their way downhill.

Courses typically have a total of six features — three jumps and three rail sections.

Number of athletes: 66

Number of injuries: 14 (21.2 per cent)

Ski cross, an Olympic event since 2010, is the only freestyle skiing event which is timed rather than judged.

It’s motorcross on skis, with the competitors negotiating jumps, banked turns, rollers and spines.

It features four skiers at a time racing on a downhill course, with the top two finishers each advancing to the next round.

Number of athletes: 57

Number of injuries: 14 (24.6 per cent)

Snowboarding at the Winter Olympics is like surfing on ice.

Making its Olympic debut at the 2006 Torino Games, snowboard cross is a popular mix of speed and dazzling tricks.

In a race to the finish line, it features up to six snowboarders at a time racing on a downhill course, with the top three finishers each advancing to the next round.

The course and its features are heavily inspired by motocross tracks and include obstacles such as jumps, banked turns and rollers.

Number of athletes: 70

Number of injuries: 18 (25.7 per cent)

Acrobatics on skis. These events are crowd-pleasers. They are difficult, dangerous and performed at speed.

Making its Olympic debut at the 2014 Sochi Games, halfpipe, also known as a superpipe, is a U-shaped course with nearly seven-metre walls.

Skiers traverse through the halfpipe, executing multiple tricks on both walls of the pipe before reaching the finish line.

Judges will score each run, basing their scoring on amplitude, difficulty, variety, execution and progression.

Number of athletes: 51

Number of injuries: 14 (27.5 per cent)

More than a dozen skiers, snowboarders and bobsledders have died after accidents on courses, including a French skier, Norwegian snowboarder and Latvian skeleton slider in 2001, and there have been previous deaths at the Olympic Games.

Australian alpine skier Ross Milne died after running into a tree in preparation for the 1964 Winter Games in Innsbruck, Austria.

British luger Kazimierz Kay-Skrzypecki also died in a training wreck there in 1964.

In 1988, Austrian Ski Team doctor Jorg Oberhammer died after colliding with a snow-smoothing machine. Swiss speed skier Nicholas Bochatay died similarly in 1992 during training ahead of the 1992 Winter Games in Albertville, France.

Most recently, Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili, aged 21 at the time, died before the Opening Ceremony in Vancouver, Canada back in 2010.

Kumaritashvili lost control of his sled at the Whistler Sliding Centre before flying over the side of the track and crashing headfirst into a metal pole.

His death sparked allegations that the Whistler track, touted as the world’s fastest, was too fast.

The deaths always have resulted in increased safety measures: more safety netting, restrictions on course design and equipment modifications.

Athletes say they are confident in the safety of the ski and sled courses on which they compete, and they try to focus on their goals rather than the associated risks.

“You wouldn’t choose a winter sport unless you had a sense of adventure,” said Ian Chesterman in 2010 while acting as the chef de mission for the Australian Olympic team during the Vancouver Games.

“Nearly every sport you can think of involves an element where serious injury could follow.”

Athletes not only accept the risks, many thrive on them.

“Fear is part of it, and risk is part of it,” said Australian gold medallist snowboarder Torah Bright said back in 2010.

“I wear a helmet because the head is one thing you should keep safe. Everything else, bones, can mend.”

Watch the video below to see Torah Bright win gold at the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games in 2010

Athletes say researching courses, seeking advice from coaches, staying in peak condition, taking weather conditions into consideration and, above all, competing without hesitation or doubt help ensure safe runs.

Even so, accidents remain commonplace.

As long as people take part in dangerous sports, injury and death will be considerations, but the key is finding a balance between a sport’s innovations and its athletes’ well-being.

- With CNN, NBC

Watch the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics live and free in Australia on Seven and 7plus, with coverage from 12pm AEDT on weekdays and 10am AEDT on weekends.

7plus is your Olympic Winter Games streaming destination, with up to 20 channels covering more sport live and on demand. Head to the 7plus website or download the app on your phone, tablet or Smart TV to get started.