Following Beijing’s sterile and soulless fortnight in 2022, the Milan-Cortina Games represent a return to what has passed for normal in a time of geopolitical upheaval and climate change.

Kim, who will be 25 come the Milan Cortina Games, can become the first snowboarder to win the same Olympic event three times, if she isn’t beaten to it by Austrian Anna Gasser (big air) and Czech Ester Ledecka (parallel giant slalom).

China will welcome a mix of world-class athletes and relative novices from desert and tropical nations when the Asian Winter Games open in the city of Harbin on Friday. It is the ninth edition of the event,