Just 100 days now remain until the start of the Olympic Winter Games and with the clock firmly ticking, here's a handy guide to all things PyeongChang 2018.
The Games will be held from the 9th to the 25th February 2018 and are set to offer 17 days of high octane winter sport action.
Over 3,000 athletes from almost 100 nations will compete in South Korea next year as the 15 sporting disciplines play host to 102 events and the chance to become Olympic champion. The Games will be split between two clusters: mountain and coastal. The mountains will host the snow sports of alpine skiing, freestyle skiing, snowboarding, ski jumping, cross country, biathlon and the sliding events of luge, skeleton and bobsleigh. The coast will feature ice hockey, speed skating, curling and figure skating. PyeongChang will become the first South Korean city to host the Olympic Winter Games, however the summer version came to Seoul in 1988. The Games also begin a string of three being held in Asia with Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022 already in the Olympic diary.
Sitting around 80 miles east of Seoul, PyeongChang is a county in the Gangwon province of South Korea located in the Taebaek Mountains region.
There’s a nine hour time difference between the UK and South Korea so it’ll be an early start for Team GB fans next year with many of the events taking place over breakfast.
Four new events have been added to the sporting schedule for PyeongChang 2018 with curling mixed doubles, speed skating mass start, alpine skiing mixed team event and snowboard big air making their Olympic debuts next year. Team GB are like to qualify athletes in the majority of these events, with Billy Morgan and Katie Ormerod enjoying success in snowboard big air on the World Cup circuit and recent X Games.
Off the back of four medals and the joint most successful ever Olympic Winter Games at Sochi 2014, Team GB’s winter stars are in good form across a number of sports at the 100 days to go mark.
The men and women's curling rinks have already been officially selected with Team Smith (men) and Team Muirhead (women) getting the nod. Likewise figure skaters Nick Buckland and Penny Coomes also had their places confirmed last month after success at the Nebelhorn Trophy. Qualification and selection is still up for grabs across the other sports but athletes are well positioned, with British Ski and Snowboard enjoying its most successful season ever in 2016/2017. Dave Ryding’s World Cup slalom podium was the first for a British skier since 1981 while the freestyle ski and snowboarders continue to impress with World Cup and X Games medals for Billy Morgan, Katie Ormerod, Jamie Nichollls, James Woods and Izzy Atkin.
The short track season is underway with current overall World champion Elise Christie already taking a trip to the podium, while reigning Olympic champion Lizzy Yarnold will soon begin her World Cup campaign along with the rest of the skeleton and bobsleigh team. Andrew Young won Britain’s first ever cross-country sprint medal at the end of last year and Muirhead’s curling rink were European bronze medallists in 2016 as they chase a second Olympic medal.