[Watch] Sahil Thakur, India's sole representative carries the tricolour at the opening ceremony of the Winter Youth Olympic Games 2024
As the Winter Youth Olympic Games 2024 kick off in Gangwon, the Republic of Korea, the spotlight for Indian sports enthusiasts will be firmly fixed on alpine skier Sahil Thakur. The 16-year-old, hailing from Himachal Pradesh, stands as the sole representative of India at the Winter Youth Olympics. He is scheduled to compete in the alpine skiing events from January 21 to January 26.
His participation in this edition of what is the epitome of world sports makes it only the third time an Indian athlete will be competing at the Winter Youth Olympics.
Aanchal Thakur made history by competing in slalom and giant slalom alpine skiing events during the inaugural edition of the games in Austria in 2012. Following in her footsteps, Saurabh participated in the super-G, giant slalom, and combined events at the 2016 Games in Norway. There was no Indian participation at the 2020 edition held in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Sahil Thakur is set to take part in the Men’s super-G, alpine combined super-G, alpine combined slalom, giant slalom, and slalom events.
At the opening ceremony of the Games, held on Friday, January 19, the 16-year-old Indian athlete was seen carrying the hopes of a billion Indians as he walked out with the Indian flag fluttering high. The official page of Team India posted a video of the young athlete walking with the Indian flag.
You can watch the video below:
What is Alpine skiing, and what is Sahil Thakur’s schedule at the Winter Youth Olympic Games 2024?
Alpine skiing traces its roots back to the 1936 Winter Olympic Games. The Winter Olympics currently feature five alpine skiing events: downhill, slalom, giant slalom, super-G, and combined. Introduced in 1948, downhill is the simplest form, with minimal turns, and the fastest skier to cross the finish line wins.
Slalom, considered the fastest event, has two courses, and skiers race down a slope with a vertical descent of 180m to 220m for men or 140m to 180m for women. They are also required to navigate gates.
Elimination takes place after the first course. The skiers with the lowest combined time across both courses are considered the winners. Giant slalom, introduced in 1952, is similar to slalom but has larger gates and a longer descent.
Super-G is a combination of downhill and slalom, with skiers not only skiing down a slope at high speeds but also navigating through the gates, while alpine skiing combined, as the name suggests, is when skiers make one downhill run and one slalom run, and the fastest combined time is declared the winner.
Sahil Thakur, India's representative, is set to compete in various events at the Youth Olympics. His schedule for the games is below: (All times are in IST).
January 21: Men’s super-G at 8:30 AM
January 22: Men’s alpine combined super-G at 6:45 AM
Men's alpine combined slalom at 10:45 AM
January 24: Men’s giant slalom at 6:30 AM
January 25: Men’s Slalom at 7:15 AM