What are winter sports? Biathlon. Bobsled. Skiing. Ski race. Jumping from the springboard. Luge sport. Skeleton. Snowboard. Figure skating

Winter sports could not exist without snow and ice. Most of them are very popular among lovers of an active lifestyle. It is noteworthy that almost all winter sports, the list of which is constantly expanding, are included in the competitive program of the Olympic Games. Let us consider some of them in more detail.

Unpredictable races

Mountain snowboarding (freeride) - a spectacle as impressive, so dangerous. The competition is held outside the served and prepared route. Professionals in this business note that it is untouched snow that is the best surface for revealing all the possibilities of such a sporting device as a mountain snowboard. It is better for beginners not to test fate, because an unfamiliar terrain contains many dangers.

International freeride competitions are held annually among amateurs and professionals. This sport is divided into the following categories:

• Lightweight freeride. This option is the easiest and safest. Participants of the competition are on the top of the mountain on a lift. Descent is not carried out on the steepest slopes.
• Backcountry. It differs from the previous one in that the athletes themselves go to the top. Currently enjoys the greatest popularity.
• Heliboarding. Participants on the mountain delivers a helicopter. Expensive form of entertainment. In some countries it is forbidden.
• Catskilling. At the top of the athletes delivers a special machine (ratrak). Is cheaper than heliboarding.
• Snowmobileboarding. The principle of water skiing is used, only snow instead of water, and a snowmobile instead of a boat.

If you want to try yourself in this sport, in addition to snowboarding, you will need an avalanche and a shovel, a beeper, a walkie-talkie, a protective helmet, and also rescue equipment in the event of an avalanche.

Sledge in an adult way

Skeleton is a game that runs at great speed. This sport is called the same as the main projectile. Skeleton - a kind of sleigh with a weighted frame and skids made of steel. The athlete lays down on them in the direction of movement. Control is carried out with the help of special studs on the shoes.

The first competitions took place in the distant 1890 in Innsbruck (Austria). In the winter sports, competitions for which are held at the Olympic Games, was later included and skeleton. It happened in 1928. The first Olympic champion in the skeleton was Jennison Heaton of the United States of America. It is noteworthy that the silver medal went to his younger brother.

Speed skeleton during acceleration - about forty kilometers per hour. The maximum is 130 km / h. If you compare with bobsleigh and luge, the skeleton is very dangerous. The slightest violation of the rules can lead to a tragedy with a fatal outcome.

The total weight of the projectile and the athlete should not exceed 115 kilograms for men and 92 for women. If necessary, you can weight the sled with special ballast.

Luge sport

Athletes compete in a speed descent along the prepared track. They are located in a one- or two-seated sleigh on the back, kicking forward. To control the projectile, the position of the body changes.

Laurels of the winner go to the one who will be at the finish as quickly as possible. If the athlete finishes separately from the sled, he is disqualified. When falling from a shell, stopping, placing in a sleigh and continuing descent are allowed.

The sled device and their weight are specified in the regulations. Certain restrictions are imposed on the equipment of athletes and their weight. During the preliminary competitions, the starting order is established.

Competitions can be held both on natural and artificial routes. The latter are specially designed for competitions. Sledding is very popular in the alpine countries. There are all natural, as well as most artificial routes.

Ski Track Calls

Cross-country skiing is held on a specially prepared track. In the competition involved persons of a certain category - sex, age, etc. For the first time competitions in this sport took place in 1767 in Norway. An example of the Norwegians was soon followed by the Finns and Swedes. Then the fascination with skiing races covered Central Europe. By the year 2000 there were slightly less than a hundred national federations of skiing.

Cross-country skiing can take place in both classical and free-style driving. Let's consider them in more detail:

• The classic variant involves moving the skier along a previously prepared track, which is two parallel lines. Standard ski runs are divided into alternate and simultaneous (the classification, as you might guess, is based on the method of pushing away with sticks). The number of steps in one cycle determines a four-step or two-stroke move without a step. The most common last option. This method of movement helps to achieve maximum speed in flat and gentle zones (slope - no more than two degrees or no more than five with excellent slip and lifts of average steepness).
• Free style assumes complete freedom of action of the skier. The athlete himself chooses the optimal variant of movement at a distance. This style is called the analog of the ridge move. Professionals prefer a simultaneous single- ridge approach or a simultaneous two-lane run.

We list and briefly describe the standard types of ski races:

• Competitions with separate start. Skiers start in a certain sequence and at the set interval. Typically, this is thirty seconds, less than 1 minute or 15 seconds. The sequence helps to determine the toss or the current position of the athletes in the ranking. The strongest start last. When calculating the final result from the finish time of each skier, the starting one is taken away.
• Mass start. All athletes begin to compete simultaneously. The most advantageous places are those skiers who have shown themselves best at the previous stages of the match.
• Pers. This kind of race is a combined competition, which includes several stages. The results of previous competitions determine the starting position of skiers. Usually the Persian takes place in two stages, on one of which participants run free style, and on the other - classical. Such races are held either in two days, or with a break of several hours.
• Relays assume competition of teams of four skiers. The competition is held in four stages. It all starts with a mass start. The way of passing the relay is to touch the partner with the palm, both of the athletes must be in the special zone (the place of transfer of the relay race).
• Individual sprint. Competitions begin with a separate start. He is qualified. After that, skiers compete in the sprint. Before the final races, as a rule, no more than thirty athletes. It is the turn of the quarterfinals, then the semi-finals, and after - the finals of B and A.
• A team sprint is a baton. Each team has two athletes. Running from three to six laps of the track, they alternately replace each other. If there are a lot of teams, semifinal competitions (two) are held.

In official competitions, the distance can range from eight hundred meters to fifty kilometers.

Leap into the unknown

Winter sports include skiing with pre-equipped ski jumps. Such competitions can be included in the Nordic combined or held separately.

This sport came to us from Norway. In this country for a long time compete in the slalom - skating from the mountains. It is included in the Winter Olympic Games. Kinds of sports in which compete for treasured medals, jumps from a seventy-meter springboard have replenished in 1924. Participants in this competition and then, and now can be athletes only male.

Currently jumping from a springboard can be held both in summer and in winter. The most significant are the starts, which are held in the winter season on ninety-meter (and higher) trampolines.

Let's talk about the technique of this sport. Basic elements - acceleration, departure from the separation table, flight phase, landing. An important role is played by the ability of an athlete to competently coordinate their movements.

In the phase of flight, the legs of the skier are on the same plane. At the stage of landing, the lower extremities should adopt a position called the telemark. To do this, one leg is set forward, the other is retracted, both are bent at the knees. The apart arms are wider than the shoulders. The skis at this moment should be as close as possible and parallel to each other. A successful landing provides an ideal balance and high motor coordination. At incorrect execution of a discrepancy the sportsman loses precious points. Judges scrupulously assess the landing of the skier. Touching the mountain surface with any part of the body, unnecessary movement, loss of balance, falling - all this is fraught with a decrease in points. It is noteworthy that if an athlete falls behind a special feature, this will not affect the overall result in any way.

The technique of the jump is assessed by five judges. The maximum possible score is twenty. To the received sum estimates for distance of a jump are added (are calculated under the special table).

Run faster, shoot more accurately

Are you interested in such kind of sport as biathlon? We will describe the basic rules for the conduct of competitions and individual stages of this fascinating action.

• Individual race. Biathlon originated with this type of competition. This is the oldest discipline. Skiers go to the start with a difference of 30-60 seconds. The length of the distance is twenty kilometers, the height difference is from 600 to 750 meters. Each athlete has twenty cartridges and a small caliber rifle weighing approximately three and a half kilograms. The task of skiers is to overcome four firing lines (each with five targets). Shooting is carried out sequentially, the permitted position - lying or standing. The lines are between the third and seventeenth and a half kilometers, the interval between them is, as a rule, three kilometers. A skier is free to choose a target on his own. The distance between the athlete and the target is fifty meters. If a hit occurs, the target is automatically closed by a white disc. A slip results in one penalty minute. The diameter of the target for the shooting in the prone position is forty-five millimeters, while in the standing position it is one hundred and fifteen millimeters.

• Sprint. The length of the distance is ten kilometers, the difference in altitude is three hundred or four hundred and fifty meters. The time interval between the start of the athletes is the same as in the individual race, thirty to sixty seconds. The first firing line is located three kilometers after the start (shoot is allowed only lying down), the second - after seven kilometers (athletes hit the target standing). Punishment for every miss is a penalty circle 150 meters long. In order to overcome it, the skier spends, as a rule, 20-25 seconds. The strongest athletes come to the finish line in twenty-four minutes (if the penalty circles do not work). The distance for women is seven and a half kilometers. The fire lines are two and a half and five kilometers after the start. Otherwise, there are no differences from the men's sprint.
• Relay race fans consider the most spectacular in biathlon. Teams are formed of four athletes. The match starts with a mass start. The distance that every biathlete must overcome is seven and a half kilometers. There are two fire lines. On the first shoot standing, on the second - lying down. Each target is given eight cartridges, five of which are already in the store, and the rest are charged manually, if necessary. One miss is one penalty circle for one hundred and fifty meters. Having overcome his distance, the skier passes the baton to the next member of his team. The most experienced biathletes show such a team result: thirty kilometers in eighty minutes.
• Persyut (the pursuit race). This kind of competitions for the first time entered the program of the championship and the World Cup in 1996. Starts sixty biathletes. Race, as a rule, takes no more than half an hour. This allows contests of this type to successfully fit into the grid of television broadcasts. The order and intervals of the participants determine the results of the sprint race. Competitions are unpredictable, because leaders often succeed each other because of inaccurate hits at the target. The distance for male athletes is twelve and a half kilometers. Women overcome the distance of ten kilometers. On the first two shooting ranges shoot lying, the last two - standing. So, skiers, confidently shooting in a horizontal position, have a chance to get ahead at the beginning of the match. Athletes who accurately hit the target standing, get the opportunity to take the lead at the finish. Accuracy at the same time is the key to a successful performance, which can not be said about sprints, where annoying blunders can be compensated by speed. Punishment for not falling at the target is standard - one hundred and fifty penalty meters. Since 2002, the Persians are included in winter sports, for which you can get a medal at the Olympic Games.
• Mass start involves the participation of twenty-seven athletes who are better than others showed themselves at the World Cup. The rules of the match are similar to an individual race. The exception is the length of the distance (it is shorter) and the position when shooting (lying, lying, standing, standing).

Speed sleighs

Descent from the mountains at high speed on beans on specially equipped tracks is an Olympic sport. Bobsleigh is from Switzerland. In 1888, Wilson Smith came up with the idea to connect two pairs of sleds for high-speed transportation from St. Moritz to Celerina, geographically located a little lower. Formation of the world's first bobsled club happened at the end of the nineteenth century. Then the basic rules were developed. It is noteworthy that the crew of the sled then was a team of five athletes - two women and three men.

All sleds for the bobsleigh are produced according to a single project - the body is all-metal, the shape is streamlined, two pairs of skate races (the front is mobile, it is controlled, the rear is stationary, responsible for braking).

Currently, the competition uses double and quadruple bobsled. The parameters of the "two" are: mass - no more than one hundred and sixty-five kilograms, length - not more than 2.7 meters. "Four" should not be longer than 3.8 meters and not heavier than two hundred and thirty kilograms.

What is a track for a bobsled? This is an ice chute located on a reinforced concrete base, designed with numerous bends and turns. The total length of the route can vary from one and a half to two kilometers. The difference in heights is from 130 to 150 meters. During the descent, the sleigh reaches a speed of 150 kilometers per hour.

Dancing on Ice

Figure skating is the movement of athletes on skates on the icy surface. In this case, additional elements are performed to the music. In official competitions it is customary to play four sets of medals. So, athletes compete in singles and in pairs (men and women separately), as well as in sports dances on ice.

The oldest skates, which are known at the present time, were made in the Bronze Age. They are found on one of the shores of the Southern Bug (near Odessa). For their production, the phalanges of the forelimbs of horses were used. The first iron skates appeared in Holland. This country is considered the birthplace of figure skating. But the basic figures were invented in the UK. The first international competition was held in Vienna in 1882.

Figure skating was distributed in Russia even under Peter the Great. The first skates were brought to the country by him. In addition, he came up with a unique at that time way to fasten the skates directly to the boots. The first public ice rink was opened in 1865 in the Yusupov garden (Sadovaya street).

How many winter sports in the subsequent did not appear in Russia, skates did not give up their positions. People from small to large got up on skates every weekend. Inability to stick to the ice was even considered a shameful fact.

The ski track is calling!

About the fact that such skiing, the first to learn the inhabitants of Norway. It was in this country at the end of the eighteenth century that they began to produce solid wooden shells for descent from mountain slopes. Kant of metal, which provided the maximum reliability of skis, was first established in Austria in the early thirties of the twentieth century. With the advent of plastic, the design of the projectile was further improved. When using the above-mentioned material (he covered the bottom of the projectile), athletes could develop a much higher speed. The turn of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries was marked by the so-called carving revolution, which meant the transition to new in form skiing. They were much shorter than the predecessors, the socks and heel became wider, and the radius of the lateral notch was smaller.

Athletes of winter sports, who prefer extreme sports, choose very wide skis for freeriding. These shells are designed for skating outside specially equipped tracks on solid snow. There are several more types of mountain skiing: for usual, giant and supergiant slalom, ski-cross, downhill, for amateur skating, aerial acrobatics, freestyle, ski-mountaineering and mogul.

By design, the skis are divided into the following types:

• "Sandwich". Shells form layers of certain materials. They are connected like a sandwich. The stiffness is affected by the top layer.
• "Cap". With this construction, the others are attached to the upper structural rigid layer from below.
• "The Box." The most modern variant. The middle of the ski is in a kind of wrapper made of synthetic materials or in braided metal. This product is more stable when turning and less sensitive to surface features.

Conclusion

We have partly considered what kind of winter sports there are, what is the history of their appearance and the main features. In addition to the above, you can also highlight Nordic combined, mogul, snowkiting, orienteering on skis, hockey (with ball and puck), naturban, curling. In addition, there are winter sailing sports. Among them are the following: winter windsurfing and kite-skiing, boating. More and more interest among lovers of a healthy lifestyle causes winter swimming. In this sport even competitions of world significance are held.