22 February 2010

 

Shortest Winter Olympic event?

I asked this on Facebook already, but I'm still wondering. Curling seems to be the Winter Olympic discipline with the longest event time (matches can last for hours), but which event is the shortest? Moguls, snowboard halfpipe, and freestyle aerials seem to be candidates (tens of seconds per run)—anyone know which takes the shortest-event crown?

Let's ignore sports outside the Winter Olympics: events like the 100-metre dash or diving in the Summer Games are obviously extremely quick, under ten seconds.

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Comments:

Bilodeau's gold was won in 23 seconds.
 
Does the average ski jump last longer than the average aerials jump? Probably.
 
Ski jumps certainly seem to take longer than aerials from my watching both today. The aerials appear even shorter than moguls, which makes sense, since there are no bumps to negotiate and just a single (insanely high and frightening) jump to perform. Time isn't calculated as part of the score, but it isn't in curling either.
 
Actually with curling each team has a limited amount of time to throw their stones. Kinda like competitive chess matches where the clock only goes down when it is your turn.

Also, I would suggest that a hockey game tends to run a comparative length when measured from event start time to leaving the arena time. Factor in an overtime period and extra time for shootouts and it has to at least be close.