Staff Writer- Emily Anderson

Watching the 2026 Olympics in Milan and Cortina has been an absolute joy. The winter Olympics always remind me of underrated and underhyped sports. I mean, who doesn’t love watching people slide on ice or snow?

However, often I hear a voice in the back of my head. The same voice I frequently hear at the modern art museum. It shares the age-old thought, passed down from generation to generation: I COULD DO THAT!

I caution you, dear reader, with that notion. Those are the very same words that leave good, honest, kind people in the emergency room after a sorry attempt at a challenging feat. Here are some reasons why these unique sports are harder than they may seem.

Luge

This seems like a great place to start. The luge features a sled with two blades on the bottom, which is used to race down a track with sharp twists and turns. At first glance, this sport looks like a roller coaster, but if you were lying on your back. While seemingly simple, this sport is dependent on lots of small changes, such as pressure from the shoulders or calves. This high-speed sport also exposes the athlete to crazy g-forces. While it looks like nothing more than a relaxing, fast sled ride, this is a super-technical sport.

Skeleton

This sport, while looking like luge, bears many differences. One major difference is the running start at the beginning of the race. The athletes run alongside their sled before jumping on. Their sleds are heavier than their luge counterparts, and they are closer to the ice. This sport sends the athlete head-first down an icy course, which creates its own challenges. Steering with a skeleton sled is slightly different, with very precise changes making or breaking a race. While it is often slower than luge, due to the less aerodynamic position, this is surely a race you need your head in it to win it!

Bobsled

This sport features a huge sled, with teams ranging from 1, 2, or 4 people. If in a team of more than one person, there are specialized roles, being pilot (front-most person) and brake (back-most person). To take off, the team runs alongside the bobsled before jumping on, front person to back person. Once on the course, the pilot uses a steering mechanism to carefully steer the sled, ensuring the perfect path, with just enough speed. They get 4 runs, with the fastest run winning.

Curling

This sport featured two of our own Minnesotans (from Duluth) winning a silver in the mixed doubles. This is another sport tempting to assume its ease. To begin with, ice is a slippery surface. However, curling ice features some bumps (unlike the ice in hockey). The stones (weird round things that slide across the ice) are 40 pounds. The sweeping motion takes a lot of precision and can easily wear you out. Additionally, this game takes strategy, as you need to score points and play defensively to prevent the other team from making gains.

Ski mountaineering

Ski mountaineering, also known as skimo, is a new sport to the Milan Cortina Olympics. While being a sport for many years, it is making its Olympic debut. There are several components to this unique race, with both an ascent and a descent. To begin, athletes start with wearing skis with skins (thin strips that attach to the bottom of skis to help keep traction as climbing up the slope). As the slope gets steeper, they take their skis off to climb up the mountain. Once reaching the top, they put their skis back on, but take off the skins and ski down the slope, like alpine skiing. There are also both individual and mixed relay events, which adds some fun and variety to the competition. This race not only challenges both climbing and skiing abilities, but it is also very dependent on quick transitions between equipment.

To conclude, these sports, while maybe simple looking, should not be tried at home. Years of training, precision, and strength go into these sports. Regardless of athletic ability, my call to action is to enjoy the winter weather! Whether it is skiing at Mount Kato, taking a run or walking through the Arb, or traying down the Plex Hill, I hope you find a way to have fun this winter. Olympic athletes are seriously impressive, and I hope you enjoy watching these sports as much as I do.