The conclusion of the NFL season means that Spring is nearly upon us and, on most occasions, so is the MLB season and March Madness. However, every four years the end of the football season also signals the beginning of the sporting event that unites the entire world: the Olympics. This year’s Winter Olympic Games will take place in PyeongChang, South Korea from February 8-25. This is the first time the games have been in South Korea since the 1988 Olympics.

For the next couple of weeks the sports world will revolve around South Korea, where some of the world’s greatest athletes will compete for a chance to have their names enshrined into their country’s history books. Some athletes have already taken the stage, with Charlotte Kalla of Sweden winning the Game’s first gold in the women’s 15km skiathlon. A few of the other events that have already kicked off are figure skating, ski jumping, and everyone’s favorite, curling.

However, these are only a portion of the countless number of events that will take place in the next two and a half weeks. The list of contests and athletes that will be competing is a massive one, but if you had to narrow it down to just a couple to look out for, which one’s would it be? In this week’s column, the top events to keep an eye on as well as some of the biggest names in these Olympics will be broken down.

Snowboarding

Arguably the most popular sport in the Winter Games, snowboarding consists of some of the most exciting events and athletes in the Olympics. First, there’s the slopestyle event, that challenges its’ athletes to snowboard down a hill with numerous obstacles, such as rails and jumps. Two of the women who will likely be battling for gold in the event are Anna Gasser of Austria and Jamie Anderson of the United States, who won gold in Sochi.

Making its’ fourth appearance in Winter Olympics history is snowboard cross. Snowboard cross has six athletes race on a course full of multiple different obstacles, with the top three athletes from each race advancing to the next round. It was last featured in the Games in 2006 where the American Seth Wescott won gold. The men’s events start on February 15, while the women’s heat begins a day later on Feb. 16. One of the athletes to look out for in red, white, and blue is Jonathan Cheever who is the only member of the four-man team to qualify through objective criteria.

The one that’ll draw most of the headlines will be the half-pipe event. This is the sixth consecutive Olympics that’ll include this event, with action opening up on Sundays with women’s qualifiers and men’s beginning the next day. The spotlight will be on the half-pipe for the next couple of days, mainly due to one of the biggest stars in the Olympics competing in it: Shaun White. In the Torino and Vancouver Games, White stole the show by winning both years, the first being as a 19 year old. He became one of the brightest young stars on Team USA which led to him having to face unparalleled pressure in Sochi.

This pressure proved to be too much for the two-time gold medalist, as White was shutout in the 2014 Games. Taking his place on top of the podium was Switzerland’s Iouri Podladtchikov, who will be unable to compete in PyeongChang due to injuries. The disappointment was shared all across the United States, as it was with the Olympian himself. Maybe the biggest storyline and question that’ll be asked in this year’s Games is whether or not Shaun White can rebound and get back to the top of the snowboarding world. This question will be answered in the coming days, and is a must-watch for any Olympic fan.

What Olympic event are you most excited for?

• Figure Skating
• Curling
• Skiing
• Snowboarding
• Hockey
• Other

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Alpine Skiing

Alpine skiing officially got underway today, with the men’s downhill kickstarting one of the Winter Olympics’ most popular sports. The downhill competition contains the fewest amount of turns among the alpine skiing events, with its’ skiers relying on speed more than anything. Looking to defend his gold medal from Sochi is Austria’s Matthias Mayer, while Tina Maze of Slovenia won the women’s gold. Mayer is the only one of the two who will be returning for this year’s Olympics.

The next key event to keep an eye on is slalom. While downhill requires its’ athletes to focus on speed, slalom is dependent on the skill of the athletes to make quick and sharp turns through incredibly small gates. Giant slalom is in a similar format as regular slalom, but features slightly larger gates and allows its’ athletes to make medium-sized turns on a larger course. Austria has dominated the event in recent years, as they took home both the gold and silver in the men’s slalom, silver and bronze in the women’s, and silver in the women’s giant slalom in 2014.

While there are many alpine skiers to keep an eye on, the United States’ Lindsey Vonn is the true star of the competition. Vonn became one of the most recognizable names on Team USA in Vancouver, where she won gold in the women’s downhill and bronze in the super giant slalom. Due to a knee injury, the star skier was unable to compete in the Sochi Games four years ago and will also not participate giant slalom this year as a result of the injury. Despite this, Vonn will still be competing in a total of three events: Women’s downhill, super-G, and combined events. Her first race of her final Olympics will be on Feb. 17 in the super-G.

Speed Skating

Snowboarding and alpine skiing will be taking place around 5,500 miles away from the third sport that you should hit the record button on your remotes for: speed skating. Speed skating debuted in the Winter Olympics back in 1924, with only men being allowed to compete in it. Since then, women have been allowed to participate and multiple events have been added to the sport. One of these is the 1000m race, which entered the Olympics in 1976.

In Sochi, it was the Netherlands who not just owned the 1000m but all of speed skating. In the men’s race, the Dutch took home both the gold and bronze with Stefan Groothuis and Michel Mulder. Overall, the Netherlands won a total of 23 medals in speed skating events back in 2014 with the next closest being Poland with…three. The sport belonged to those in orange four years ago, but one athlete who will be looking to slow the Dutch down this year is the USA’s Shani Davis.

Davis will be competing in his fifth Winter Olympics, and has enjoyed a prestigious career up to this point. The American skater won gold in the 1000m and silver in the 1500m in 2006 and 2010, but was held off of the podium in 2014. At 35, old age may be starting to get to Davis but with his experience in the event and on this stage, he still widely considered as one of the favorites to finish with a medal. In PyeongChang, Davis will begin his attempt at furthering his legacy on Feb. 13 in both the 1000m and 1500m events.