Winter Olympics: Daily and sport-by-sport guide to programme at Pyeongchang 2018

Pyeongchang is poised for the biggest Winter Olympics in history.

Here, Press Association Sport presents a guide to the daily highlights during the 18 days of action (all times GMT) before a guide to each sport.

February 8/9

Mixed doubles curling, ski jump qualifying and the figure skating team event are some of the competitions that will kick off prior to the big opening ceremony in the Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium on February 9 (1100).

February 10

Elise Christie gets her short-track schedule underway in the 500m qualifiers (1900), while Billy Morgan and Jamie Nicholls start their snowboard slopestyle campaigns (0100). North and South Korea could make history by fielding a mixed team in their opening women's ice hockey match against Switzerland (1210).

February 11

The Games' traditional blue riband event, the men's downhill, starts at 0200. Andrew Musgrave has an outside chance in the men's cross-country skiathlon (1515), while Morgan and/or Nicholls could feature in the men's snowboard slopestyle finals (0100), qualifying permitting.

February 12

Katie Ormerod, rated one of Britain's best medal chances, and Aimee Fuller could feature in the women's snowboard slopestyle finals (0100). American superstar Mikaela Shiffrin gets her Games underway in the women's giant-slalom (0115).

February 13

Hopes will be high for both Elise Christie and Charlotte Gilmartin in the women's 500m short-track final (1100), provided they came through qualifying. Snowboard great Shaun White makes his Pyeongchang debut in the men's half-pipe qualifiers (0400).

February 14

Great Britain's curling teams get started with the men facing games against both Switzerland (0005) and favourites Canada (1300), and the women up against Russia (0505). Shaun White should target a third Olympic gold in the men's snowboard half-pipe final (0130).

February 15

Curling continues with Eve Muirhead's Sochi bronze medallists facing both the United States (0005) and China (1105), while her brother Thomas features against Japan (0505). Dominic Parsons and Jerry Rice go in the first two runs of the men's skeleton (0100).

February 16

Lizzy Yarnold begins the defence of her women's skeleton title with the first two runs beginning at 1320, after the men's race reaches its conclusion (0130). Zoe Gillings features in fourth Olympics in the women's snowboard-cross (0100).

February 17

A potential 'Super Saturday' for Great Britain, with Elise Christie back on the ice in the women's 1500m, and Lizzy Yarnold hoping to seal a second consecutive skeleton gold (1120). Meanwhile both Izzy Atkin and Katie Summerhayes are medal contenders in the women's ski-slopestyle (0100).

February 18

James Woods is a serious contender in the men's ski-slopestyle (0100), while the curling continues with the women taking on Sweden (0505) and the men facing Italy (1105). The men's two-man bobsleigh competition also gets underway (1100).

February 19

Katie Ormerod is back in action in qualifiers for her favoured Big Air, alongside team-mate Aimee Fuller (0130). Rowan Cheshire, returning to the Games after suffering an horrendous injury in Sochi, starts in the women's ski-halfpipe (0100).

February 20

Elise Christie is back in the women's short-track 1000m qualifiers (1000). Nick Buckland and Penny Coomes will hope to be in medal contention as the ice dance programme concludes (0100), while crowd-funded bobsledder Mica McNeill starts in the women's event (1115).

February 21

The round-robin section of the curling concludes with Eve Muirhead's team facing favourites Canada (0105). The women's bobsleigh competition concludes (1140) while American star Lindsey Vonn will be one of the main attractions in the women's downhill (0200)

February 22

Elise Christie's final event will be the 1000m final (1100), provided she came through qualifiers unscathed. Unlikely alpine star Dave Ryding goes in the men's slalom (0115), while Great Britain could feature in one of the men's curling semi-finals.

February 23

Depending on the results of the round-robin, Britain's men's and women's curling teams could be involved in medal matches (0635, 1105). Qualifying permitting, Katie Ormerod will be a strong medal hope in the women's snowboard Big Air final (0130), while the figure skating concludes with the iconic women's free skate (0100).

February 24

More potential curling medal matches, with men's gold (0635) and women's bronze (1305). Billy Morgan and Jamie Nicholls could be in snowboard Big Air final action (0100), while the men's four-man bobsleigh begins with the first two runs (0030).

February 25

The last day of competition, with the men's four-man bobsleigh concluding (0030), the women's curling gold medal match (0005), and a potential headline act in the men's ice hockey final, which starts at 0410.

Sport-by-sport

SKELETON

Men's and women's events are each contested over four runs at the Olympics - double the amount used to determine the results of World Cup races. Each event takes place over two consecutive days.

LUGE

Separate men's and women's races are determined by the combined totals acrrued over four runs. There is also a doubles event - nominally for either sex, but almost always contested by men - and a team relay, comprising the combined times of male, female and doubles sliders in a separate competition.

BOBSLEIGH

There are three bobsleigh events: the four-man bobsleigh, the two-man bobsleigh, and the women's bobsleigh, which involves two competitors. Each discipline consists of four runs over two days, with the lowest cumulative times deciding the placings.

BIATHLON

Biathlon events can be broadly split into five categories: Sprint, Pursuit, Individual, Relay and Mass Start. The races range over distances from 10km and 7.5km in the men's and women's sprints respectively, to the 20km and 15km men's and women's individual.

ALPINE

There are 10 traditional alpine events: downhill, slalom, giant-slalom, Super-G and Super Combined - each with a men's and women's category. The slalom and giant-slalom take place over two runs on the same day. An alpine team event has been added for the first time.

SNOWBOARD

There are five Olympic snowboard disciplines, each separately contested between men and women: half-pipe, parallel giant-slalom, snowboard-cross (also known as boardercross), slopestyle and, for the first time, Big Air. While half-pipe and slopestyle riders traverse a course and are scored for tricks and speed, Big Air consists of a trick performed over a single, large jump.

FREESTYLE

The freestyle disciplines are contested exclusively on skis. They consist of five different events, split equally between men and women: half-pipe, slopestyle, moguls, ski-cross and aerials, the latter of which is effectively an equivalent of the snowboard Big Air, with athletes marked for a single trick off a big ramp.

CROSS-COUNTRY

A total of 12 cross-country events are staged in Pyeongchang - six each for men and women. They are split between classical and freestyle races: classical involves a gliding technique in which the skis run along two parallel grooves, while in freestyle a skating technique is generally adopted. The blue riband event is the men's 50km mass start.

SHORT-TRACK

Both men and women race over 500m, 1000m and 1500m individual distances. In addition men contest a 5000m relay and women a 3000m relay. Due to frequent crashes and infringements, there are many disqualifications, with post-race juries dictating which athletes are to be expelled.

SPEED-SKATING

There are 14 Olympic speed-skating disciplines, with both men and women competing over 500m, 1000m, 1500m, 5000m and 10000m distances. There are team pursuit races and for the first time, men's and women's mass start events. Races take place around a purpose-built, 400m oval rink.

NORDIC COMBINED

There are still no women's events in Nordic Combined, despite the 2014 addition of women's ski-jumping to the Olympic programme. A mixture of ski-jumping and a 10km cross-country race, there are men's events for both normal hill and large hill, and a 4x5km relay.

SKI JUMPING

Men contest the normal (105m) and large (140m) hill events, plus a team competition. Women contest an individual normal hill competition. Each competitor theoretically has two jumps, although only the top 30 after the first round get to jump again.

CURLING

Men's and women's programmes are joined by a mixed doubles competition for the first time. The tournament is contested in a round-robin format before the top four teams in the respective standings advance to the knockout medal stages.

FIGURE SKATING

The figure skating programme has five elements - men's, women's, pairs, ice dance and team. The singles events each comprise a short program and a free skate. The pairs also includes two elements, while ice dancing differs in that it does not allow throws or jumps.

ICE HOCKEY

Both men's and women's competitions begin with a group stage before culminating in knockout semi-finals and finals.