When is the 2022 Winter Olympics and how can I watch it on TV in Northern Ireland?

The Winter Olympics are back in China this year and the 2022 schedule will run from February 2 to February 20.

here will be events held in 15 disciplines across seven sports over the course of the 16 days, where there will be 109 sets of medals awarded.

Technically, the games will commence on Wednesday, with the curling mixed doubles round robin before the official curtain-raiser at the Opening Ceremony two days later.

This year marks the 24th Winter Olympics after the first event was held in 1924 in Chamonix, France.

Beijing will also now be the first ever city to host both the Summer and Winter games.

Among those competing will be 50 Team GB athletes including 27 men and 23 women.

For viewers in Northern Ireland, there will be more than 300 hours of live coverage on BBC One and BBC Two, plus a second live stream on BBC iPlayer, Red Button and online.

BBC One and Eurosport 1 will show live coverage of the opening ceremony on Friday from 11.30am – 2.15pm, which will have the theme of “together for a shared future” – reflecting on Covid-19 and other global challenges such as global warming.

It will be hosted at the Bird’s Nest, Beijing’s national stadium, and directed by Chinese film director Zhang Yimou, just as the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics were.

Highlights will be shown again that evening at 7.00pm on BBC Two.

The majority of live coverage on BBC channels and streaming services will begin each night between midnight and 1.00am (GMT) as Beijing is eight hours ahead.

Event start times are subject to change and coverage can be subject to late schedule changes, so details may differ accordingly.

Every event can also be watched and streamed online live and on demand on the  discovery+ app.

A subscription for discovery+ is currently £29.99 for the first year for UK users, or £6.99 a month

The Winter Olympics will further be available on Eurosport 1 (Sky channel 410, BT 435, Virgin 521), Eurosport 2 (Sky 411, BT 436, Virgin 522), the Eurosport App, and Eurosport.co.uk.

The dates for the different events throughout the games are as follows:

• Alpine skiing (Feb 6-11; Feb 13; Feb 15-17; Feb 19)
• Bobsleigh (Feb 13-15; Feb 18-20)
• Biathlon (Feb 5; Feb 7-8; Feb 11-13; Feb 15-16; Feb 18-19)
• Cross-country skiing (Feb 5-6; Feb 8; Feb 10-13; Feb 16; Feb 19-20)
• Curling (Feb 2-20)
• Freestyle skiing (Feb 3; Feb 5-10; Feb 13-19)
• Figure skating (Feb 4; Feb 6-8; Feb 10; Feb 12; Feb 14-15; Feb 17-20)
• Ice hockey (Feb 3-20)
• Luge (Feb 5-9)
• Nordic combined (Feb 9; Feb 15; Feb 17)
• Snowboard (Feb 5-12; Feb 14-15)
• Ski jumping (Feb 5-7; Feb 11-12; Feb 14)
• Skeleton (Feb 10-12)
• Speed skating (Feb 5-8; Feb 10-13; Feb 15; Feb 17-19)
• Short track speed skating (Feb 5; Feb 7; Feb 9; Feb 11; Feb 13; Feb 16)