As the Winter Olympic Games kick off, sports fans around the world will be glued to the action in Italy.
If you find yourself swept up in all the excitement, you may be thinking about hitting the slopes yourself.
But with sports ranging from classics like snowboarding to lesser-known disciplines like speed skating, it’s hard to know where you should start.
Luckily, if you’re itching to get out on the ice, the Daily Mail has asked the experts to help find the perfect sport for every body shape and mindset.
The Winter Olympics aren’t a one–size–fits–all affair, and there is room for all sorts of body shapes, sizes, and attitudes.
If you happen to be big, tall, and heavy – and aren’t scared of travelling at 80 miles per hour – alpine skiing events like Super G will be your sport of choice.
Or, if you’re lucky enough to be tall and thin, then this year’s new Olympic sport, ski mountaineering, could be perfect for you.
Meanwhile, if you’re a budding comedian, scientists say you could have a future career in ice hockey.
As the Winter Olympic Games kick off, sports fans around the world will be glued to the action in Italy. Pictured: Monaco’s Arnaud Alessandria speeds down the course during alpine ski
Alpine skiing
When you think about the Winter Olympics, alpine skiing is probably the first sport that springs to mind.
Courses range from the highly technical twists and turns of slalom and giant slalom events to the high–speed descents of super–G and downhill.
However, the body type which typically excels in this highly demanding discipline is almost always the same.
The ideal build for alpine skiing is someone who is tall, strong, but not necessarily that lean.
This is because alpine skiers have to withstand enormous amounts of force as they execute tight, high–speed turns.
Dr Ilona Schwarz, a physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist at Rutgers University, told the Daily Mail: ‘These athletes train to withhold a lot of forces given the speeds they reach, so they tend to be more muscular, and they really have no incentive to be skinny, flexible, or lean because their only goal is speed.’
That means alpine skiers actually want to pile on a few pounds ahead of a big competition.
Alpine Skiing: The ideal body type is tall, big, strong, but not necessarily that lean. The main requirement is being strong enough to withstand the forces of turning at speed. Pictured: US downhill skiier Lindsey Vonn
American downhill skier Lindsey Vonn, for example, told ESPN that she was ‘thrilled’ to have gained 5.4 kg (12 lbs) of muscle ahead of the Winter Olympics.
In fact, a 2022 study from researchers at Sheffield Hallam University suggested that height and mass should be considered ‘essential selection criteria for talent identification among youth alpine skiers’.
Freestyle skiing
While alpine skiing is all about bombing down massive hills, freestyle skiing is focused on soaring through the air and executing complex tricks.
That makes the ideal freestyle skier someone who is short, skinny, and extremely flexible.
The various events of freestyle skiing are far more like gymnastics or trampolining than a traditional downhill race.
The defining factor of success is the ability to quickly turn around in the air, remain in control, and land under extreme pressure.
Dr Schwarz says: ‘Considering the events that are more air trick–based, these athletes tend to be lean and have smaller builds.
Freestyle Skiing: The ideal athlete is light, flexible and short with a low centre of gravity. The main requirement is the ability to turn and manoeuvre in the air. Pictured: Chinese freestyle skier Ruyi Yang
‘Since they have to propel themselves in the air and manoeuvre themselves upside–down or sideways with heavy equipment, there is some advantage to being on the smaller side.’
Looking at this year’s US Olympic team, a preference for short, slight builds is very clear.
Alex Ferreira, a two–time Olympic medalist in the super pipe event, is reportedly 5’9″ and just 63kg (141 lbs), putting his BMI in the lower middle portion of normal.
Cross–country skiing and ski mountaineering
Rather than relying entirely on gravity, cross–country skiers and ski mountaineers must propel themselves along under their own power.
For these sports, the ideal athlete is tall and slender, with a natural mental ability for determination.
Warren Smith, founder of the Warren Smith Ski Academy, told the Daily Mail: ‘Endurance is a really important part of these events, and you would look at that in the same way you would for a runner.
‘The physique of a 100–metre sprinter is very different from a 1,500–metre runner.’
Cross–country skiing and ski mountaineering: The ideal person for these sports is tall and skinny, with great endurance and natural determination. Pictured: Swiss ski mountaineer Loic Dubois
Due to the longer distances involved, having less weight to carry up steep slopes is a major advantage.
A study published last year found that one of the key characteristics of a top athlete was having a small front cross–section, with a narrower chest and shoulders.
This reduced the drag from air resistance and allowed elite athletes to move more efficiently.
However, these gruelling sports also have a very important mental component.
Dr Luke Hodson, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Warwick, told the Daily Mail: ‘We know that traits such as grit are shown to be higher in athletes who are performing at a higher level.
‘Those individuals who have a higher predisposition to be able to persevere and work through these extremely challenging circumstances would succeed at an Olympic level in endurance sports like cross–country skiing.’
Ski jump
For a ski jumper, where the only objective is to glide as far as physically possible, physique is extremely important.
Ski jump: The perfect build for this sport is tall and very slender. Having a larger surface area to weight ratio allows athletes to glide further in the air. Pictured: Austrian ski jumper Claudia Purker
For this daring sport, the ideal build is tall and very slender.
Mr Smith says: ‘They are quite slight so that they fly better. The lighter the person is, the further they are going to fly’.
Being larger gives the jumper a larger surface area in flight, allowing them to catch the air and soar for longer.
There is also an advantage to being tall, built into the official rules, since an athlete’s skis can be up to 145 per cent of their height.
American ski jumper Peter Frenette, for example, is 6ft tall and weighs just 65 kg (145 lbs).
Snowboarding
Although it might share some similarities with skiing, snowboarding requires a slightly different build.
Someone short and strong, with powerful legs and a great sense of balance, will find themselves excelling at snowboarding.
Snowboarding: The perfect person for snowboarding is strong and short, with a compact, powerful build. The main requirement is the ability to absorb the impact from uneven terrain without losing balance. Pictured: Swiss snowboarder Aline Albrecht
Dr Gianluca Vernillo, an expert on high–performance athletes from the University of Milan, told the Daily Mail: ‘Generally speaking, it is the mesomorph somatotype, so somebody who’s naturally athletic, strong, and with a “compact” body type and a low percentage of body fat.’
While snowboarders need to be strong, most of that strength needs to be located in their legs.
‘Greater leg strength is highly advantageous for snowboarding, as it directly improves performance, stability, and control while reducing injury risk, says Dr Vernillo.
‘In other words, strong quads, hamstrings, and glutes are crucial for maintaining a flexed stance, absorbing impact from uneven terrain, and sustaining loads during long–lasting training and racing sessions.’
Additionally, without the benefit of poles or independent legs to help stabilise themselves, a strong core and good sense of balance are even more important for snowboarders than skiers.
Curling
Curling might not look like the most adrenaline–pumping sport in the Winter Olympics, but this game of strategy and precision actually requires a very particular build.
The ideal curler is someone with strong arms, a powerful back, and incredible muscular and mental endurance.
Curling: The ideal person for curling has very strong arms and back, and has excellent natural endurance. Athletes might sweep over a mile of ice per game, so success requires the ability to keep working over long periods. Pictured: US curler Korey Dropkin
A typical curling game lasts over two and a half hours, meaning teams might need to play for up to 35 hours before making it to the podium.
While it may look sedate, sweeping ahead of the stone is an extremely intense burst of energy, with the average athlete’s heart rate jumping to over 170 beats per minute.
In a single game, a player might have to sweep the equivalent of one mile (1.7 km) of ice.
Speed skating
During the speed skating event, athletes glide on specialised skates, pushing themselves around a 400–metre track and cornering at speeds of up to 30 miles per hour (50 km/h).
To make it as a top speed skater, you need to be short, powerful, and explosive.
Speed skaters rely on extreme efficiency and aerodynamic posture to maintain top speeds throughout the course.
This means that a smaller frame and a lighter upper body can give an athlete the edge.
Speed skating: The perfect person for speed skating is fairly short, explosive, and has massive legs. The key to success is extreme lower–body strength to power constant high–speed movement. Pictured: British speed skater Elina Smeding
A survey of speed skaters found that the top athletes were significantly shorter than the average person.
However, the key factor for becoming a speed skater is the size and strength of your legs.
One study found that the average Olympian had up to three times more muscle in their legs than the average person, with explosive power being the key factor that separated top performers.
Ice hockey
While most of the Olympic Sports are a test of your individual strength and fitness, ice hockey requires a unique level of teamwork.
This means, in addition to physical prowess, ice hockey is especially well–suited to someone with great teamwork skills.
Although it might seem odd, one of the best signs you could do well in ice hockey is whether you can make someone laugh.
Dr Hodson says: ‘One thing that we know is effective in any team, from sports to the office, is humour.
Ice hockey: In addition to being tough and fit, ice hockey players must work well with teams. This makes a great sense of humour one of the biggest advantages. Pictured: Czechia’s Katerina Mrazova (left) challenges United States’ Hannah Bilka (right)
‘Having a shared sense of humour can help to facilitate greater connections in teams, improve communication, and improve our ability to manage any conflicts that may arise.’
Figure skating
Figure skating is a unique event that combines the physical demands of middle–distance track running with the flexibility requirements of Olympic gymnastics.
Unlike other events, contestants are not only judged on their athletic performance but on their style, creativity, and presentation.
The ideal build to compete in such a demanding discipline is small and light, with short, powerful limbs.
Since figure skaters need to jump and leap through the air, they need to be much smaller than a speed skater or ice hockey player.
On average, the typical American female figure skater is just 5’3″, while Canadian Olympian Madeline Schizas is only 4’11”.
The other important requirement is core strength to control the tight turns and spins.
Figure skating: The ideal build for figure skating is small and light, with short, strong limbs to power jumps and control spins. Pictured: British figure skaters Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson
Athletes can rotate with three to six revolutions per second, creating 90 to 130 kg (200–300 lbs) of centrifugal force.
Immense core strength and shorter limbs can help control these intense forces and maintain the graceful turns that score highest with the judges.
Skeleton
In one of the most exhilarating and dangerous Winter Olympic sports, skeleton sees athletes hurtle face–first down the track at speeds up to 86 miles per hour (140 km/h).
The ideal person for skeleton is heavy, powerful, broad–shouldered, and utterly fearless.
To start the race, athletes only have 30 metres to build up as much speed as possible before throwing themselves onto the sled.
Shaving off a few milliseconds on the starting line can have huge gains further down the track, making this the single most important part of the race.
These sleds look small, but weigh up to 35kg for female athletes and 43kg for men.
Skeleton: For this death–defying sport, athletes need to be heavy, powerful, broad–shouldered, and utterly fearless. The most important aspect is the explosive power to accelerate your sled at the start. Pictured: British skeleton athlete Tabitha Stoecker
This means that strength and explosive power are the most important factors, with Team GB saying it specifically looks for long backs, broad shoulders, and a large upper body in potential racers.
However, with no brakes and the ice only five centimetres from the athletes’ faces, skeleton also takes a special type of mental disposition.
Dr Hodson says: ‘We have evidence to demonstrate the importance of self–talk, which is the internal dialogue we have with ourselves to motivate ourselves.
‘It may be that athletes performing in these more intense or extreme sports, such as skeleton, are better able to utilise positive self–talk.’
Luge
Luge is very similar to skeleton, with the main difference being that athletes descend the track feet–first.
Importantly, instead of taking a running start, racers start seated and catapult themselves off the line by pulling on handles and paddling on the ice with spiked gloves.
These differences mean that the perfect luge athlete is someone who is tall, heavy, and has very long, strong arms.
Luge: The perfect build for luge is tall and heavy, with long, strong arms. The key to success is the upper body strength to launch off the start. Pictured: German luge athlete Felix Loch
The United States Luge Association says that the sport requires special emphasis on ‘pulling muscle groups, as the start is a pulling motion itself.’
Taller racers have more reach to pull themselves into the start, while their weight gives them more acceleration.
For example, German luge athlete Felix Loch, who has won 12 World Championship golds and three Olympic gold medals, is a massive 6’2″ and weighs 92 kg (202 lbs).
Bobsled
Much like skeleton and the other ‘sliding’ sports, bobsled is all about the start.
While the sleds are engineered to be fast and efficient, the rules require that they weigh at least 170kg for a two–person sled, 390kg for a two–man sled, and 340kg for a four–woman sled.
Accelerating this to a maximum speed as fast as possible is the difference between going home with gold and not reaching the podium.
This means the ideal bobsled athlete is built more like an American football player than your typical winter sports athlete.
Bobsled: The ideal bobsled athlete is closer in build to an American Football player than a traditional winter sports athlete. Racers must be extremely strong to push their heavy sled off the starting line. Pictured: Brad Hall, Taylor Lawrence, Nick Gleeson and Greg Cackett of Great Britain
Bobsled athletes are tall, strong, naturally muscular, and as heavy as possible without carrying too much body fat.
Once the athletes have transitioned into the sled, most of their job is simply to remain tucked and shift their weight into the turns.
That makes bobsled the perfect discipline for an athlete who is on the larger side and prefers a sprint to a marathon.
For example, American two–time Olympic silver medalist Steven Langton stands at an imposing 6’2″ and weighed 106 kg (233 lbs) at his prime.
