Cypress Mountain: Snowboard halfpipe competition

The snowboard halfpipe competition at Cypress Mountain features a snow-covered, sloped halfpipe on which riders perform skateboard-style aerial maneuvers.

Whistler Olympic Park: Cross-country ski course

The course, in Whistler Olympic Park, is divided into two sections, red and blue, of 5 kilometers each, and each event uses combinations of the sections. Five kilometers is equal to about 3.1 miles.

Freestyle Skiing; Mogul master

In moguls skiing, competitors perform two jumps off ramps called kickers as they race down the course, earning points for turns, jumps and speed. Here is a look at one jump:

Lindsey Jacobellis: Remembering her famous flub

In 2006, American Lindsey Jacobellis crashed during the Olympic snowboard cross competition while hot-dogging in front of the grandstands and was forced to settle for silver.

Snowboard Cross: Fastest to the bottom wins

Snowboard cross combines the skills of slalom and halfpipe, with competitors racing down a varied terrain of gates, moguls, jumps and banked turns. This pack-style speed race is conducted in heats with four racers vying to be the first down the hill. U.S. medal winners Seth Wescott and Lindsey Jacobellis explain their racing strategies.

Bobsled: All aboard the Night Train

 
The U.S. will contend for medals in several Olympics sledding events, including possible gold for the four-man bobsled team led by driver Steve Holcomb, the current world champion. His No. 1 team uses a high-tech black sled known as the Night Train.  In women’s two-man bobsled, 2006 silver medalist Shauna Rohbock heads a deep U.S. team.

Shaun White: Halfpipe trickster

California’s own Shaun White rakes in the superlatives: huge air, fresh tricks, stylish moves. White exels at inventing and perfecting new tricks. White developed half a dozen challenging new tricks at a private halfpipe built for him by sponsor Red Bull in Silverton, Colo. The must-do trick of the season: the double cork.

Apolo Ohno: Strength on the short track

In Vancouver, if short-track speedskater Apolo Anton Ohno adds two medals to the five he has, he will become the most decorated U.S. Winter Olympian in history. In a sport dominated by small, lighter-weight skaters, Ohno’s strength and power stand out.

Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto: Telling a story through dance

Ice dancers use lifts and ballroom dance-like spins rather than the jumps and throws done by pairs skaters. Ben Agosto and Tanith Belbin, silver medalists at the 2006 Olympics, intertwine balletic skating with complex lifts in their routines.

Kelly Clark: Defying gravity

Kelly Clark, gold medal winner in the women’s halfpipe at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, is known for consistently high air on her tricks all the way down the pipe. Other boarders may start with a lot of air on their first trick, but lose it during the rest of the run.