OlymPicks: A Guide to the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympics Events

In OlymPicks, we highlight news, gossip, and the results of Beijing's 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.

The Olympics may have ended on Feb 20, but it’s not all over, as the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympics are just around the corner.

Spanning Mar 4-13, the Winter Paralympic Games have less disciplines than its Summer Paralympics counterpart – six events for Winter compared to 22 for Summer – but it doesn’t make them any less epic to watch.

And there will be an opening ceremony and closing ceremony as well, both directed by Zhang Yimou. Rehearsals for the events kicked off last week – so you can expect more extravaganza this time around.

Here’s a rundown of the Paralympic events happening at Beijing 2022, which you can find a tentative schedule for here.

Alpine Skiing

Much like in the Olympics, there are multiple disciplines for alpine para skiing. These include downhill, which is straightforward, giant slalom and slalom – or skiing involving competitors having to zigzag through “gates;” super combined, which is a combination of downhill and slalom; and super-g, which is like a more advanced version of slalom.

Biathlon

Also called Nordic skiing, biathlon is essentially long-distance (aka cross-country) skiing combined with shooting. This event was introduced to the Paralympics in 1988. Categories are divided for athletes with physical and vision impairments.

Cross-Country Skiing

As with the biathlon, cross-country skiing is divided for athletes with physical and vision impairments. The difference is that this sport doesn’t have the shooting section. Also, it debuted earlier than the biathlon at the Örnsköldsvik, Sweden Paralympics in 1976.

Para Ice Hockey

Also known as “sled hockey,” the title largely describes the sport, as teams comprised of athletes with physical impairments to their lower bodies take to the ice and compete in specially built sleds. The sport debuted at the Lillehammer 1994 Games, and features separate men’s and women’s events.

Snowboarding

Much like alpine skiing, snowboarding is split into slalom – giant and the slightly different banked slalom – with the addition of snowboard cross – essentially like BMX but with snowboards, and slightly more complicated. Competitors first go through the course one at a time for timed heats, aka qualification rounds and placement in subsequent head-to-head heats, which pit two snowboarders against one another. Snowboard-cross saw its debut at the Sochi 2014 Paralympics. Snowboarding is divided into categories for lower-limb impaired riders and upper-limb impaired riders.

Wheelchair Curling

This discipline is for athletes with lower body impairments, including spinal-cord injuries, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, and double-leg amputation. Having debuted at the Torino 2006 Paralympics, wheelchair curling is mixed gender, with all teams required to have at least one female player. China is heavily favored this year, having won gold at PyongChang 2018 and another at the world championships in 2019.

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Images: Intl Paralympic Comittee/paralympic.org, europe.chinadaily.com