Apolo Ohno, the USA’s most decorated winter Olympian of all time, is finding life after sport so thrilling, so complex, so challenging, so rewarding, that he is writing a book about it. Here, he looks back on his startling short track speed skating career and outlines how he is striving to make his time off the ice just as successful – both for him and for others.

Celebrated sports photographer Clive Mason is forever grateful that, as a junior member of Getty Images’ Olympic team, he was shunted out to the fourth-choice position for the short track speed skating 1,000m final at the Salt Lake City 2002 Games. From there, the young Mason had the perfect angle to shoot one of the most memorable Olympic moments. 

Canada’s Samuel Girard steered clear of a late incident on the track to steal gold in the speed skating men’s 1,000m short track at the Gangneung Ice Arena at PyeongChang 2018 on Saturday 17 February.

The first man to cross the line following a pile-up in the 1,000m short-track speed skating final at the Olympic Winter Games Salt Lake City 2002, Australia’s Steven Bradbury recorded a memorable victory that guaranteed him a place in Olympic history.

The Iceberg Skating Palace provided the setting for a scintillating short track programme, in which records came tumbling, as Victor An marked his return to the Olympic stage after an eight year gap in sensational fashion, winning three gold medals.

A whole host of records were broken at a memorable edition of the Games that saw 40-year-old Norwegian Ole Einar Bjørndalen become the most decorated Winter Olympian of all time. The USA’s Mikaela Schiffrin broke new ground as Alpine skiing’s youngest ever gold medallist, while Finland’s Teemu Selänne became the oldest male ice hockey player to win a medal at the Games. These were just a few of the landmarks and firsts to hit the headlines in Sochi. Join us as we run the rule over the record-breakers who helped increase the wow-factor of this year’s Winter Games.

In a night of high drama at the Iceberg Skating Palace, short track speed skater Victor An won two Olympic golds within the space of an hour, adding the 500m individual and 5,000m relay titles to the 1,000m he won in the first week at Sochi 2014. He now has six Olympic golds in total.

The day begins with the women’s super-G at Rosa Khutor and continues with the women’s 4x5km cross-country relay. Short track speed skating then takes over, with the women’s 1,500m and the men’s 1,000m at the Iceberg Skating Palace. Meanwhile, there’s a gold medal at stake in the men’s skeleton at the Sanki Sliding Centre and another in the men’s 1,500m speed skating final at the Adler Arena. The day comes to an exciting close with the men’s individual large hill competition at the RusSki Gorki Jumping Centre.

The women’s super combined figures large on Monday’s programme at Rosa Khutor, with the downhill, followed three hours later by the slalom. From there it’s on to the Iceberg Skating Palace in Sochi for short track speed skating and the men’s 1,500m, followed in the evening by the men’s 12.5km pursuit in biathlon, the starting order for which was determined by the result of Saturday’s sprint event. At the Adler Arena, meanwhile, all eyes will be on the women’s 500m, with the men’s moguls bringing the day to a spectacular close beneath the floodlights at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park.

Medal events: 8 Athletes: 120 Dates: 10–21 February