David Leggat, of The New Zealand Herald, looks at seven Winter Olympic events not to be missed.
1 Men's downhill: Feb 9, 8pm NZT
If you want to know what downhill is all about, go on YouTube and check out Innsbruck, 1976 and Austrian Franz ''The Kaiser'' Klammer's heart-stopping, death-defying run to Games gold (the 4min 11sec version). Once your heart is extracted from your mouth, settle in for the final, perfect timing for New Zealand audiences.
A tip? Try Aksel Lund Svindal, the Olympic Super G winner in 2010, winner of eight world cup downhills, including two last month, and twice world championship downhill winner. Italian Dominik Paris, Canadian Erik Guay, Swiss Patrick Kung and Austrian Hannes Reichelt, who pipped Svindal to gold at Kitzbuhel a few days ago, are others worth a thought.
2 Women's snowboard slopestyle: Feb 9, 7.30pm
A big interest in this for New Zealand, and great timing too. Christy Prior (world No 7) will be the best regarded of the four New Zealand contenders and is in prime form. There's also Rebecca Torr (No 16), Shelly Gotlieb (No 19) and Stefi Luxton (No 21). American Jamie Anderson, Sarka Pancochova, from the Czech Republic, and Dutch competitor Cheryl Maas are the top three ranked riders in the world.
3 Men's ski jump: Feb 16, 6.30am
Just what you need while digesting the bacon and eggs. This was Eddie the Eagle's event. Everyone thought it was hilarious. In fact, officials were livid as it made a joke of qualification criteria and he was hopeless at it. Still, you need a large dose of intestinal fortitude and ice in the veins for this.
Slovenian Peter Prevc leads world cup standings and has finished first or second in six of the past seven cup races; a 26-year-old Pole, Kamil Stoch, sits second. He leaped 128m at age 12 and has a personal best of 232.5m; and Austrian Gregor Schlierenzauer, rankedthird, has won three Olympic medals.
4 Men's skeleton: Feb 16, 3.45am
Fancy being three-time New Zealand Olympian Ben Sandford, lying face down on a sled hurtling through a twisting ice tunnel at somewhere north of 130kmh? This sport is decided by hundredths of a second.
Latvian Martins Dukurs, a 29-year-old from Riga, is king of the skeleton. He has won six of eight world cups this season and was second and third in the others. Dukurs was second in the Vancouver Games of 2010, won world championship gold in 2012 and 2013 and has won the past four world cup crowns. So no surprise he'll start warmest of favourites.
5 Men's freeski halfpipe: Feb 19, 2.45am qualifying, 6.30am final
Along with the women's snowboard slopestyle, this is the biggie for New Zealand. The Wells brothers, Jossi, Byron and Beau-James, along with Lyndon Sheehan, carry New Zealand's hopes into the pipe. New Zealand is a genuine medal chance here. Americans Aaron Blunck and David Wise seem sure to figure at the business end.
6 Women's freeskating final: Feb 21, 4am
Think Norwegian Sonja Henie - friend of Nazi Germany's leader Adolf Hitler, winner of three Olympic golds and 10 world championships - East German Katarina Witt, four-time world champion, twice Olympic gold medallist and Playboy centrefold, and Michelle Kwan, five-time world champ. Then think Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan. It's the glamour event on ice, the world of triple axel, choctaw and camel spin.
Who to watch? South Korean Kim Yuna, defending her 2010 gold, is a two-time world champion, as is Japan's Mao Asoda, runner-up in Vancouver, and Italian Caroline Kostner, world No1 two years ago.
7 Men's ice hockey final: Feb 24, 1am
No self-respecting American sports fan will forget the Miracle on Ice, at Lake Placid in 1980, when an American team of amateur and collegiate players beat the mighty Soviet Union's full-strength team in their medal-round game, and went on to win gold by beating Finland. In 1999, Sports Illustrated named the victory its top sports moment of the 20th century. Russia, Finland and the Czech Republic are the top three seeds for the Games' closing event. The United States is only seventh.
