The Olympics are always a thrilling event, with comeback stories, athletes defying the odds, impressive performances and more. Athletes work their entire lives for even a shot to attend the Games, so when they excel at their sport it is not just thrilling for them, but for the viewers as well.
Some of the best moments out of every Olympic Games, summer or winter, is when an athlete breaks an Olympic record. Medaling is difficult enough, earning gold is rare, but to then have a world record on top of it is always a highlight. Just like in past Olympics, this year's athletes have etched their names in history with record performances.
From figure skating to downhill skiing, athletes have been putting on the performances of their lives.
Here is a look at the records broken at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics:
Nathan Chen, figure skating short program
United States figure skater Nathan Chen earned a score of 113.97 in his short program, a world record. The previous record holder was figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan.
Chen went on to take home the gold medal.
Claudia Pechstein, oldest woman to compete in the Winter Olympics
German speedskater Claudia Pechstein is the oldest woman to ever compete at the Winter Olympics at 49 years and 348 days old.
Johan Clarey, oldest Olympic alpine skiing medalist
France's Johan Clarey of France took home the silver medal in the men's downhill alpine skiing, and at 41 years and 30 days old, he is the oldest Olympic medalist in alpine skiing.
Ireen Wüst, first athlete to win gold at five different Olympics
Qualifying for one Olympics is a big feat, but to attend and take home gold in five well, it had never been done, until now. Speedskater Ireen Wüst of the Netherlands has won an individual gold medal at five different Olympics, the first athlete in history to do so.
The 35-year-old attended her first Olympics in 2006. Since then, she has 12 medals, six being gold.
Team China's Sui Wenjing and Han Cong, pairs skating
Team China's Sui Wenjing and Han Cong had a score of 82.83 in the short program, which marks a world record for pairs skating. They ended up taking silver after the free skate.
Irene Schouten, women's 3,000m speed skating
With a time of 3:56.93, Dutch speed skater Irene Schouten broke Germany's Claudia Pechstein previous record time of 3:57.7 set in 2002 .
Schouten, women's 5000m speed skating:
Once again, Dutch speed skater Irene Schouten broke an Olympic record at the 2022 Games. She finished the 5000m event in 6:43.51, beating the previous record of 6:46.91 from 2002 set by Claudia Pechstein of Germany.
Nils van der Poel, speed skating 10000m
Sweden's Nils van der Poel was already the record holder for the 10000m in Olympic speed skating, but showed that he can beat even his own record. He finished with a time of 12:30.74, besting the record he set last year of 12:32.95.
Wüst, oldest speedskater to win gold
Once again we are looking at Ireen Wüst of the Netherlands, who at 35 years old became the oldest speedskater to win gold at the Olympics.
Kaishu Hirano, highest snowboarding backside air trick
Japan snowboarder Kaishu Hirano hit a backside air trick that had a height of 24 feet and 4 inches out of the halfpipe, which is 22 feet deep.
