Photo: Alexander Hassenstein / Getty Images
Coming Sunday ... The N.Y. Times Magazine Winter Olympics issue (articles live now), filled with essays and photographs focusing on some of the biggest events. A taste:
- Long track speed skating: Author Karl Ove Knausgaard writes about the nostalgic appeal of long track speed skating, weaving in his own memories.
- Alpine ski: Dina Litovsky photo essay of Alpine skinner Lindsey Vonn’s workout routine.
- Freestyle ski: Jaime Lowe interviews freestyle aerial skiers about just how they can prepare and execute those insane-looking jumps.
- Curling: Kim Tingley writes about curling, drawing on the history of a charming Tampa-anchored curling club, and how the sport draws its charm through its ability to allow anyone to imagine being good.
- Ski jumping: Jon Mooallem writes about ski jumping and how, thanks to a group of young women athletes, the sport once known for providing comic relief could be taken seriously.
- Figure skating: Patricia Lockwood writes about figure skater Jason Brown and how his graceful movement transcends expectations of male skating.
- Biathlon: Brooke Jarvis writes about biathlon and how the seemingly paradoxical combination of cross-country skiing and shooting defies human control — without intensive practice.
- Bobsled: Jaime Lowe writes about bobsled driver Seun Adigun, who parted with the U.S. to present her home country of Nigeria — the first African nation to ever compete in the event.
- Cross country: Sam Anderson writes about cross-country skiing, and why despite its mundane nature and more than two-hour length, the sport is beautiful in its own way for depicting the human condition of raw toil.
- Short track: Jay Caspian Kang writes about short track speed skating and tackles the awkward question of why Koreans are so good at that sport, and some other random ones, such as B-boying.