How to watch bobsleigh at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022
There will be four bobsleigh disciplines at the Winter Olympics in Beijing. Find out which athletes to follow, the key dates to watch, and some tips from experts.
Bobsleigh
A brand new track has been built at the Yanqing National Sliding Centre to host bobsleigh (and other sliding events) at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.
The most prominent feature to keep an eye on is the world's first 360-degree loop, which will test pilots like never before.
Also making its Olympic debut is the women's monobob event. The one-woman sled will provide perhaps the sport's most vigorous test of driving skill ever.
The bobsleigh events run from 13 February to 20 February, including the monobob, two-man, two-woman, and four-man events.
Read on to find out the schedule of events and the best way to watch the action.
ALSO: Olympic bobsleigh at Beijing 2022: Top five things to know
Bobsleigh events at Beijing 2022
Monobob - This is a women's only event, with only one athlete in the sled. The pilot will therefore also be the push starter and the brakewoman! The discipline featured at the Lausanne 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games. You can get a feel for the new competition through the Olympic Channel Original series "Sliding Madness" and this episode (also below) which was filmed at the event.
Two-man bobsleigh - Just the pilot and his brakeman. During the course of a season, the pilot usually works with several different brakemen.
Two-woman bobsleigh - Until Beijing 2022 and the introduction of monobob, this was the only women's bobsleigh event.
Four-man bobsleigh - Including the pilot, two push athletes in the middle, and a brakeman at the back. Only men compete in the four-man sled.
Bobsleigh stars to watch at Beijing 2022
Many eyes will be on Kaillie Humphries. The veteran pilot won two gold medals for Canada, and switched allegiances to the USA in 2019. She won the 2021 world championships alongside Lolo Jones, and after receiving her citizenship in December, is hotly tipped to win both the monobob and two-woman events.
Her main competition will come from compatriot and three-time Olympic medallist Elana Meyers Taylor, as well as 2016 Youth Olympic Games monobob gold medallist Laura Nolte from Germany.
On the men's side, it would take something special to beat favourite Francesco Friedrich. The German pilot claimed two Olympic golds at PyeongChang 2018, and won 15 out of 16 World Cup events across two and four-man bobsleigh in 2020/21.
Another German in Johannes Lochner has been the runner-up to Friedrich in most events over the past Olympic cycle, and poses the biggest threat to his compatriot on paper.
Elsewhere, keep an eye on Hawaiian-born Canadian Justin Kripps, who tied Friedrich for Olympic gold in the two-man event in PyeongChang.
Bobsleigh schedule at Beijing 2022
Venue: The Yanqing National Sliding Centre
(All times are in local time, UTC+8)
13 February
09:30 - Monobob heats 1 and 2
14 February
09:30 - Monobob heats 3 and 4
20:15 - Two-man heats 1 and 2
15 February
20:05 - Two-man heats 3 and 4
18 February
20:15 - Two-woman heats 1 and 2
19 February
9:30 - Four-man heats 1 and 2
20:00 - Two-woman heats 3 and 4
20 February
9:30 - Four-man heats 3 and 4
How to watch bobsleigh at Beijing 2022
There are several key components to a bobsleigh run.
Firstly, there is the explosive power that athletes need to give their sled the best start possible. There will be a timer on the screen showing how quickly each team has navigated the top part of the track - keep an eye on this as it is crucial to getting a good finish time.
In the two-man, two-woman, and four-man events, team chemistry is key. The brakeman or brake woman (who sits in the back) and pilot dictate the start.
“When bobsleigh is going right – and it sometimes goes wrong – it’s the closest thing I could imagine to being a superhero,” USA pilot Elana Meyers Taylor told Olympic Channel. “You feel like you’re flying. You can feel the speed, you can feel the wind. It’s the most euphoric thing I’ve ever done.”
Next, it's down to the technical driving skill of the pilot to pick the best line down the track. The aim is to hit the sides of the track as few times as possible, so you know something has gone wrong if that happens.
“I’m also always studying the curves of tracks," Meyers Taylor continued. "The winner isn’t the one who drives a perfect line, it’s who adapts best. You need to control the sled enough to not smash into walls, but also give it enough speed.
“I’m on the reckless side, and that puts me on my head a lot! Your face can be hitting the ice for half a mile at 75mph. It’s brutal.”
Finally, equipment is essential. Teams constantly upgrade their sleds in order to gain improvements of one thousandth of a second. “Technology is everything. We’re always changing things around and trying to adapt. Having the fastest sled possible is crucial.”
Keep an eye out too for the world's first 360-degree turn on the brand-new Yanqing track.
"It's a super cool track with some really interesting corners," Kaillie Humphries said. "This track, if you look at it from an aerial view looks like a dragon. It snakes back and forth quite a bit."