Sports

Alpine skiing competition at the Arctic Winter Games consists of four events: slalom, giant slalom, parallel slalom, and ski-cross.

A combined total of 16 gold ulus will be awarded in four age/sex classes: Junior and Juvenile, Male and Female. A team consists of three athletes in each age/sex class and a total of 3 coaches.

Archery returns to the Arctic Winter Games with competition in Barebow and Compound classes, up to two athletes in each Junior Male and Female class.

Each class will compete in individual and mixed team competitions. Individual scoring rounds followed by head-to-head elimination provides increasing excitement in the multi-day events.

Arctic Sports is always a highlight of every Arctic Winter Games and consists of several unique feats of athletic strength and endurance displayed in front of a packed audience. Events include the One-Foot High Kick, Two-Foot High Kick, Alaskan High Kick, Kneel Jump, Triple Jump, Arm Pull, Airplane, One Hand Reach, Head Pull and Knuckle Hop.

There are four athletes in each Open age-class, five athletes in each Junior age-class, and a total of 4 coaches per participating contingent.

Badminton is a popular circumpolar sport requiring agility and tenacity. Competition categories at the Arctic Winter Games include singles, doubles and mixed doubles. Competition begins with round-robin play, followed by a medal round among the top-ranked players.

Age Categories include Junior and Juvenile for both male and female athletes. A team consists of up to 8 athletes and two coaches from each participating contingent.

Basketball is an intense team sport created by Canadian Dr. James Naismith almost 130 years ago. Play begins with a round-robin tournament followed by a medal round based upon the final rankings in round-robin play.

Competition in basketball is held in both Junior Boys’ and Junior Girls’ categories. Teams consist of 12 athletes and 2 coaches per age group from each participating contingent.

Ski Biathlon has a long and storied past across the Circumpolar world with the first recorded biathlon races taking place in the 1700s, in Scandinavia. Today ski biathlon competition at the Arctic Winter Games consists of four events: individual start, mass or pursuit start, relay and a sprint event for males and females in two age categories: Junior and Juvenile.

A team consists of up to eight athletes and 3 coaches from each participating contingent.

The word biathlon is Greek in origin, meaning “two contests” for competitors. The Snowshoe Biathlon races are the same as Ski Biathlon except that the distances are shorter and the penalty lap is shorter. Snowshoe biathlon became part of the Arctic Winter Games in 1978 because of the traditions of hunting and trapping as a valued part of northern lifestyle and the sport remains popular among northern people.

Snowshoe Biathlon competition at the Arctic Winter Games consists of four events: individual start, mass or pursuit start, relay and a sprint event for males and females in two age categories: Junior and Juvenile. A team consists of up to eight athletes and two coaches from each participating contingent.

Cross country ski competition at the Arctic Winter Games is one of the sporting events with the most participants as all eight contingents usually send full teams emphasizing the popularity across the Circumpolar world of this challenging sport. The competition consists of four events: interval start, mass start, relay and sprint for each athlete.  

There are up to 18 athletes and 4 coaches from each participating contingent.

This roaring sport originated in Scotland in the early 19th century and has always been a chivalrous game played across the Circumpolar world. Teams of four take turns sliding heavy, polished granite stones down the ice towards the target (called the house). The complex nature of stone placement and shot selection has led some to refer to curling as “chess on ice.”

Curling competition during the Arctic Winter Games includes two categories: Junior Male & Junior Female. A team consists of up to eight athletes and two coaches from each participating contingent.

Similar to Arctic Sports, the Dene Games are greatly intertwined with traditional and cultural values, which focus on demonstrating sportsmanship, a competitive desire to perform to the best of their capabilities, and to have fun with their teammates as well as their opponents. These games portray an amazing sense of camaraderie where everyone is helping everyone achieve their utmost potential.

The unique Dene Games events include: finger pull, snowsnake, stick pull, hand games and pole push, and an all-round event consisting of the scores for the three individual events.

Dene games competition is held in four age/sex classes: Open Male and Female, and Junior Male and Female. A team consists of up to sixteen athletes and 4 coaches from each participating contingent.

Figure Skating depends on the athlete’s ability to coordinate their body’s movements into a graceful display of art and technique. Athletes go for the gold Ulu by performing a combination of spirals, jumps, spins and rotations in the air all the while maintaining balance and control. Athletes involved in figure skating show similar physical and psychological attributes to those in gymnastics.

Competition categories in Figure Skating during the Arctic Winter Games will include: Level 1, Level 2, Level 3 & Level 4. A team consists of up to eight athletes and 2 coaches from each participating contingent.

Futsal is a fast-paced and exciting variation of indoor soccer played between two teams of five players each, one of whom is the goalkeeper. Unlimited substitutions are permitted. Unlike some other forms of indoor soccer, the game is played on a hard court surface delimited by lines on the court like outdoor soccer; there are no walls or boards in use. Futsal is also played with a smaller ball with less bounce than a regular football due to the surface of the field. 

The surface, ball and rules create an emphasis on improvisation, creativity and technique as well as ball control and passing in small spaces. The name Futsal is South American in origin and comes from a combination of Spanish fútbol sala or fútbol de salón and from Portuguese Futebol de Salão, which can be translated as “indoor football”.

Futsal competition at the Arctic Winter Games is held in two age categories: Juvenile Male and Female, Junior Male and Female, with each team having 9 athletes and two coaches.

Gymnastics is a combination of art and strength. Gymnastics is a demanding sport and requires a great deal of preparation and is highly technical as well as being a very artistic sport, which easily captivates the spirit of the viewer. Gymnastics consists of four events: vault, uneven bars, beam, and floor.

There is both a team competition (total team score on all four events); as well as an individual all around (total score on all four events) and event finals (individual score for each event). Competition categories in Gymnastics during the Arctic Winter Games include Junior Female.

A fast-paced, physical sport, hockey is very popular particularly in Canada, Alaska and Northern Europe. Hockey is the official national winter sport of Canada, where the game enjoys immense popularity. While the contemporary sport of hockey is commonly thought to have been developed in Southern Canada in 1870’s, many years earlier, in 1825, John Franklin wrote during one of his Arctic expeditions about “The game of hockey played on the ice was the morning sport”, near Deline in the Northwest Territories on Great Bear Lake.

Hockey competition is held in three age categories: Junior Female, Midget Male and Bantam Male. Each team is comprised of up to 17 players and 3 coaches per team from participating contingents. Teams participate in a round-robin tournament to determine seeding for medal-round pairings and then playoff to see which team will win the gold Ulu in their division.

Snowboarding competition at the Arctic Winter Games consists of four events: banked slalom, slopestyle, rail competition, and boardercross, with Ulus awarded for individual events as well as a combined individual ranking.

Competition categories include: Junior Male and Female, and Juvenile Male and Female. A team consists of up to 4 male and 4 female athletes and total of 3 coaches.

Snowshoeing has a long storied history as a traditional activity across the circumpolar North and was used for both transportation and recreation. Today hunters and trappers in the South Slave still use snowshoes made of local materials to assist them on the harvest on the trap line. Snowshoe competition at the Arctic Winter Games consists of four events: long distance, short/middle distance, relay and a combined event consisting of three shorter distances on a track.

Snowshoeing has two age categories: junior and juvenile for both male and female competitors. A team consists of up to eight athletes and 3 coaches.

Speed Skating is one of the fastest sports featured in the Arctic Winter Games, and has been a staple since 1984 when it made its first appearance at the Games in Yellowknife, NWT. Speed Skaters must train diligently in order to make their movements mechanically sound, because every unnecessary movement could be a potential second lost, leaving the athlete that much farther from the finish line.

Speed Skating has two age categories: Junior and Juvenile for both male and female competitors. A team consists of up to 16 athletes and 4 coaches.

Table Tennis is a sport in which players hit a lightweight ball back and forth across a hard table divided by a net using a small paddle. The play is fast and demands quick reactions. Spinning the ball alters its trajectory and limits an opponent’s options, giving the hitter a great advantage.

Table Tennis competition at the Arctic Winter Games includes singles, doubles, mixed doubles, and a mixed team event. Individual competition begins with round-robin play, followed by a medal round among the top-ranked players and the team event follows the same model.

Table Tennis has two age categories: Junior and Juvenile for both male and female competitors. A team consists of up to eight athletes and two coaches.

Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net suspended in the air. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team’s court under organized rules, which are quite extensive.

Volleyball competition at the Arctic Winter Games begins with a round-robin tournament followed by a medal round based upon the final rankings in round-robin play. Volleyball only has one age category: Junior for both male and female competitors. Each male and female team consists of up to 12 athletes and 2 coaches for each participating contingent.

Wrestling is one of the world’s oldest sports as the origins were discovered in cave drawings in France from more than 15,000 years ago. At the original Greek Olympics wrestling was one of the most popular sports and competition only ended when one of the contestants admitted defeat. The Circumpolar world also has a storied history of wrestling with the unique variation of Inuit Wrestling included in the Arctic Winter Games.

Wrestling events include a team competition consisting of a dual meet round-robin tournament, as well as individual competition and optional Inuit wrestling competition in each weight class. Wrestling has only one age category: Junior for both male and female. A team consists of up to 14 athletes in different weight categories and three coaches for each participating contingent.