A Look At The Preliminary Schedule For Beijing 2022

Longest Winter Games ever!

For the first time in the history of the Winter Olympic Games, competition will begin two days before the Opening Ceremony. The 2022 Winter Olympic Games would run a total of 19 days, making them the longest in history of the Winter Olympic Games.

The 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing will begin with Mixed Doubles event in Curling, two nights before the opening ceremony is scheduled. The first competition session is currently scheduled to take place at 20:05-22:00 (local time) on February 2nd. The Opening Ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games is scheduled to take place on February 4th, with the Closing Ceremony scheduled for February 20th. Both are scheduled to be held at the iconic Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing.

There are currently 109 medal events scheduled to be contested across seven sports and fifteen disciplines. The first medals will be handed out in the women's skiathlon in cross-country skiing on February 5th. Below, you can find a breakdown of the schedule by sport/discipline:

Alpine skiing

• The alpine skiing competition is scheduled to be held over eleven competition days. As is tradition, the men's downhill will be the first event held on February 6th, with the mixed team event closing the event roster on February 19th.

Biathlon 

• As with alpine skiing, the biathlon events are planned to be held across eleven days. The games will begin with the mixed relay competition on February 6th, and conclude with the women's mass start on February 19th. 

Bobsleigh

•  The bobsleigh competition introduces a new event, the women's monobob, which is scheduled to be the first bobsleigh event at Beijing 2022. The first two heats of the competition are scheduled for February 13, with the last two heats scheduled for February 14. Meanwhile, the men's four man competition will be the last bobsleigh event to conclude, with heats three and four scheduled for the final day of competition on February 20th. 

Cross-country skiing

• The Beijing 2022 cross-country skiing competition will be held over ten competition days, as in PyeongChang 2018. Just like four years ago, the women's skiathlon will start the competition on February 5th, with women also having the last event with the 30km mass start on the final day of competition, February 20th. 

Curling

• Curling has the distinction of being the only sport to be contested over all 19 competition days. Due to the expansion of the mixed doubles competition to ten teams, an additional competition day was necessary, hence day -2, which will have one session. The men's tournament will conclude the competition on the final day, February 20th. 

Figure skating

• Eleven competition days make up the figure skating competition. The first round of the team event is scheduled to be held on February 4th, with the men's and women's short program, along with the rhythm dance in the ice dancing. The pairs competition will conclude the games, marking a contrast to the last five editions, which had the ladies event conclude the figure skating competition. This could be due to China having the world's leading pairs figure skating combination in Sui Wenjing / Han Cong, which could allow the figure skating competition to end on a high note. The pairs free skating competition is scheduled for February 19th, with the Exhibition Gala scheduled for a day later. 

Freestyle skiing

• The freestyle skiing competition will see the addition of three new events: the men's and women's big air and the mixed team aerials. Due to the increase in events, the competition schedule for the discipline has been expanded by two days, to a total of fourteen. Just like four years ago, the moguls qualification for both genders will kick of the competition on February 3rd, with the men's halfpipe being the final event. As for the new events, the qualification for the big air will be on February 7th, with the women's finals on the 8th and the men's finals on the 9th. The next day will see the finals of the aerials mixed team event. 

Ice hockey

• The ice hockey competition is scheduled to be two days longer than it was in 2018. This means the first matches will be held before the opening ceremony, with the first four matches scheduled for February 3rd. The increase in competition days can be attributed to the increase in women's teams from eight to ten. As is tradition, the men's gold medal match will be last medal event on February 20th.

Luge

• The luge competition has the same competition order as in 2018, with the men going first, followed by the women, then the doubles and finally the mixed team relay. The competition will start on day one, February 5th and finish on day six, February 10th. 

Nordic Combined

• The Nordic Combined will have three competition days, with the first day being February 9th with the men's normal hill. The final event will be the men's team large hill on February 17th. 

Short track speed skating

• Short track speed skating will move to a six day competition (previously the events were held over five days). This is being done because of an additional event (the mixed relay) being added to the competition program. Short track competitions will begin on day 1 (February 5th), with the first medals being awarded in the aforementioned mixed relay. The competition will wrap up on February 16th with the women's 1500 meters and men's 5,000 meters relay. 

Skeleton

• Just like in PyeongChang, the skeleton competition will be held over three days. The men will start it off on February 10th, with the women's competition concluding on the 12th. 

Ski jumping

• Ski jumping is one of four disciplines with new events at Beijing 2022, with the addition of the mixed team event. The competition begins on February 5th with the men's normal qualification and the women's normal hill final. The men's team large hill concludes the competition on February 14th. The new mixed team event is scheduled for February 7th. 

Snowboarding

• The snowboarding competition also sees a new event added, with the mixed team snowboard cross the new event added. However, even with an additional medal event, the competition will only be held over ten days (versus the eleven in PyeongChang 2018). The snowboarding competition starts on February 5th with the women's slopestyle qualification and concludes with the men's and women's big air events on February 15th. The new mixed team snowboard cross is scheduled for February 12th. 

Speed skating

• Just like in 2018, the speed skating competition will be held over 11 days. The women's 3000 meters will be the first event on February 5th, and the mass starts will conclude the competition on February 19th. 

Note: The schedule is subject to change.