New events make their debut in Sochi

The International Olympic Committee permitted 12 new events to make their debut at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.

Sports Illustrated reports that the new events at these Games will include the biathlon mixed relay, women’s ski jumping, a figure skating team event, and the luge team relay. The remaining eight events will come from both men’s and women’s competitions in the freestyle skiing half pipe, the freestyle skiing slope style, the snowboard parallel special slalom and the snowboard slope style.

Head of the United States Olympic Committee, Scott Blackmun claims that the new events have been added in efforts to appeal to a younger demographic. “We’ve done a better job on the winter side than on the summer side,” Blackmun says. “I think in deciding to bring snowboarding in at the beginning, it has had a great impact. I’ve got kids. They love to snowboard; they don’t like to ski. It’s exactly the right direction.”

According to The Washington Post, a majority of the new events in Sochi come from the X Games.

Since those Games target a more adolescent audience, these events are thought to benefit Olympic publicity.

Image: NBC