5 new events we want to see added for Beijing 2022
The IOC hasn't been shy about its desire to expand its winter program, adding four new events in PyeongChang to follow the 12 added in Sochi.
But there's still plenty of room. There are 102 events in 15 sports on the program in PyeongChang, less than half of the 324 events in 33 sports that will be contested at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
Here are five events we'd like to see added for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing:
Yukigassen (snowball fighting)
The Japanese sport sport of Yukigassen is like paintball, except with snowballs. Any player who gets hit is eliminated from the game and there's a capture-the-flag element. Each team has a limited stock of snowballs, so players have to be strategic about how they attack their opponents. Sometimes, players lob snowballs like grenades. It rules.
Crashed Ice (ice cross)
The IOC has unabashedly mined the X Games for Winter Olympics events recently, with ski cross, slopestyle, and big air snowboarding all added to the program within the last decade. The next extreme winter sport to be added should be downhill ice cross, best known by the branded name Red Bull Crashed Ice. It's fast, thrilling, and full of dangerous wipeouts. It's everything that's great about the Winter Olympics.
Ski orienteering
Best described as cross-country skiing without a set course, racers strap a map to their chests before heading out into the forest in search of checkpoints. The prospect of a skier getting lost in the woods, or at least making a wrong turn and needing to backtrack, would make for compelling television.
Synchronized skating
The IOC can't seem to get enough figure skating on television, adding a team event that merely replicates all the individual events to the program in 2014. Synchronized swimming is already an event in the Summer Olympics, so this one seems like a no-brainer. Synchronized skating is already contested around the world and, of all the events on this list, probably has the best chance to be added for 2022.
3-on-3 hockey
Do we really need more hockey in the Olympics? Maybe not, but watch this breathtaking three-on-three overtime session from the World Cup of Hockey and then imagine it occurring on an Olympic-sized ice surface. Try not to drool. Three-on-three basketball was added to the Summer Olympics for Tokyo 2020, so there's no good argument for not doing the same for hockey.