Beijing 2022: Day 1 Preview

Courtesy of olympics.com.au

The Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games are officially underway, and Snow Australia athletes will feature in three sports today.

Snowboarding

On day 1 of the snowboarding program, Australia will be represented by Tess Coady in the women's snowboard slopestyle qualification.

After a training injury prevented her from competing in 2018, the 21-year-old will have her sights on a top 12 finish to qualify for the final, with two opportunities across qualifying runs 1 and 2.

It will not be an easy task for the Fitzroy local with a strong field of 30 competitors.

Watch the women's slopestyle qualifying runs from 1:45pm AEDT.

Read more about the unique Slopestyle course HERE

Cross-Country Skiing

Taking part in the grueling women's 7.5km + 7.5km Skiathlon in the cross-country skiing, Aussie Jess Yeaton will feature as the ultimate all-round winter athlete.

Taking place at the Zhangjiakou National Cross-Country Skiing Centre, the event is two laps of the course, testing the endurance of athletes as they race over long distances on skis, using different techniques to move forward. The classical technique requires athletes to move both their skis forward parallel while the freestyle technique, which is faster, needs skiers to move their feet in a side-to-side motion, much like speed skating or rollerblading.

Yeaton's race will commence at 6:45pm AEDT.

Freestyle Skiing - Moguls

A strong event for Australia, our four men's Moguls athletes will be back on the slope after their first qualification run on Thursday night, and they will all have their sights set on a finals spot later in the night.

2018 Olympic silver medallist Matt Graham did not finish his first run, so will have one chance to book his place in the final.

Brodie Summers (11th), Cooper Woods (14th) and James Matheson (20th) are well positioned after their first run.

The second round of Men's moguls qualification will begin at 9pm AEDT, followed by the final.

See more on Olympics.com.au