What is the new female-only Olympic monobob event that will feature at Beijing 2022?

Who said bobsleigh could only be a team sport? For the first time, the Olympic Winter Games will host the monobob competition - an individual event exclusive to female athletes - at Beijing 2022.

Named after the Greek work ‘mónos’ (single), monobob will increase female participation in Olympic bobsleigh, joining the two-woman competition. The men already have two events: four-man and two-man.

The competition was part of the programme of the Winter Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in Lillehammer 2016 and Lausanne 2020, with both genders participating.

Want to know what to expect from women’s monobob at Beijing 2022, who to watch out for and when the competition starts? Find out all you need to know below.

While the teammates of bobsleigh divide among themselves the roles of pushing, driving and breaking, the monobob athlete has to do it all on her own, in a sled weighing at least 162 kg.

“It does get lonely sometimes. The sled also weighs almost the same as the two-woman and you need someone to help you carry it,”, said Olympian Jazmine Fenlator-Victorian, from Jamaica.

The challenge is the same for all, though. “The way monobob is set up, you have standardised sleds. So it comes down to you as an athlete and a driver and it gives you a true test. Winning isn’t down to souped-up equipment. We all have the same runners. We can see who is the top of the top,” Canadian Cynthia Appiah told Olympics.com in 2020.

Is competing alone a burden? Not to Appiah. “A huge plus of mono is that you are your own person. If you mess up, it is completely on you," she said.

Fenlator-Victorian also believes that there is less pressure when you compete in monobob.

“If I crash, it’s just me. There’s not the concern that there is in two-woman, when