Crampons, crashes and creativity: Tom Jenkins’ best photos from the Winter Olympics

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I’ve been lucky enough to attend six summer Olympic Games, but I’d never before photographed a Winter Olympics. They’ve always been too far away and the UK has never been a major snowsport country, which has limited their news appeal. This time it was different. With Team GB anticipating a record medal haul and the Games staged in northern Italy, I headed off with nervous excitement, lured by the promise of fast action sports occurring amid beautiful snowy vistas. I covered ski jumping, big air, ice hockey, biathlon, curling and much more. A lot of it was alien to me but it was very enjoyable. There were new rules to learn, new challenges to face – I’ve certainly never had to wear sharp crampons at a football match.

Emils Indriksons of Latvia during his second run in the men’s skeleton in Cortina

Pyrotechnics around the Olympic rings during the opening ceremony at San Siro

The USA four-man bobsleigh team led by pilot Kristopher Horn at the Cortina Sliding Centre

Round robin matches in the women’s curling in Cortina

The Canada team celebrate their victory during the men’s curling gold-medal match against Great Britain

Lora Hristova of Bulgaria on her way to bronze in the women’s 15km individual biathlon in Anterselva

Kacper Tomasiak of Poland jumps during the men’s normal hill ski jumping in Predazzo on day three

The slope for the men’s alpine skiing slalom course that descends into Bormio town

Finnish fans in fancy dress celebrating their first goal during the Canada v Finland men’s ice hockey semi-final at the Milano Santaguilia Ice Hockey Arena

France’s Jade Barbirati (centre) slams into Italy’s Manuela Heidenberger (left) and is sent to the sin-bin for roughing during their sides’ round-robin match of the women’s ice hockey tournament at the Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena

Richardson Viano of Haiti completes the course on his second run during the men’s alpine skiing slalom event at the Stelvio Ski Centre

Exhausted finishers in the women’s 15km individual biathlon in Anterselva

The Games were full of contrasts. From a sporting perspective, the gentle gracefulness that I observed at the figure skating was offset by the full-on brutality of ice hockey brawls, while the delicate precision of curling was juxtaposed by the frantic chaos of short-track speed skating. From a geographical and cultural perspective, Livigno, which is perched high up in the Alps close to Switzerland, seemed like a giant playground for modern snow sports – geared towards those who like to twist and twirl high in the sky – while Cortina, in the Dolomites, was far more old-fashioned and populated by the traditional skiing establishment. Milan, meanwhile, featured a cluster of modernist, edge-of-town arenas, with international fans happily catching the metro to and from the events. But, in my experience, transportation wasn’t always so convenient. The huge amount of travelling between venues – I went to all but one – was exhausting and getting a late night bus over the mountains between Livigno and Bormio in a blizzard felt a bit hairy.

Yulianna Tunytska of Ukraine on her second run in the luge women’s singles event at the Cortina Sliding Centre

The Latvian four-man bobsleigh team led by pilot Jekabs Kalenda at the Cortina Sliding Centre

Jonas Müller and Thomas Steu of Austria on their way to winning silver in the luge team relay

The Unipol Forum in Assago on the southern outskirts of Milan, which hosted the short-track speed skating and figure skating

Michelle Velzeboer of the Netherlands crashes in front of Choi Min-jeong of South Korea in the final of the short-track speed skating women’s 3,000m relay

USA’s Jordan Stolz on his way to silver in the men’s 1500m speed skating at the Milano Ice Park

Team GB’s Charlotte Bankes (right) takes the final jump ahead of Italy (left) and France (centre) to win gold with her teammate Huw Nightingale in the mixed team snowboard cross final in Livigno

Tormod Frostad of Norway on his way to victory in the men’s freestyle skiing big air final at the Livigno Snow Park.

A spectator sits in a deckchair with German and Swiss flags as heavy snow falls during the men’s freestyle skiing big air final

Many winter sports are extremely fast – the lugers fly past you at up to 93mph and you often can’t see the skiers coming over the slopes – so you sometimes only have milliseconds to react. There’s also lots of jeopardy in winter sports and the favourites don’t necessarily finish – as was the case with the American Lindsey Vonn, who crashed out of the slalom while I was waiting at the bottom of the slope hoping for a moment of triumph. But I was in the right place at the right time for Matt Weston as he won his first gold medal for Britain in the skeleton. I’d seen him finish his previous runs and I knew how far down the track he’d slide before getting up and celebrating. I also knew where his parents and fiance were standing, and I imagined he’d react towards them. I got myself in exactly the right position and he celebrated just as I hoped he would.

Matt Weston of Great Britain celebrates gold in the men’s skeleton

American fans in shock at the finish line as they watch images of Lindsey Vonn crashing out of the women’s slalom

Ryoyu Kobayashi of Japan jumps during the men’s normal hill ski jumping at the Predazzo Ski Jumping Stadium

A light show illuminates the ice before the men’s 1500m speed skating

A multiple exposure of the South Korean team as they sweep a stone towards the house during their round robin victory over Team GB in the women’s curling

Dutch fans cheer as Kjeld Nuis of the Netherlands is introduced to the crowd before he went on to win the bronze in the men’s 1500m speed skating

Omar Visintin of Italy puts the brakes on after finishing his leg in the mixed snowboard cross quarter-final in Livigno

Canada’s Sam Bennett (left) collides with Finland’s Niko Mikkola (centre) and they knock the goal off its moorings during their men’s ice hockey semi-final at the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena

Kellie Delka of Puerto Rico competes on her second run in the women’s skeleton

Great Britain’s men’s curling team (left to right) Kyle Waddell, Hammy McMillan, Bobby Lammie, Grant Hardie and Bruce Mouat look disappointed after receiving their silver medals

Yuliia Dzhima of Ukraine in the women’s 15km individual biathlon

USA’s Breezy Johnson holds up an American flag after winning the gold medal in the women’s alpine downhill skiing at the Tofane Skiing Centre near Cortina

A multiple exposure of Sofia Samodelkina of Kazakhstan spinning in the free skating section of the women’s figure skating

Matilde Schwencke of Chile takes the jump near the end of the course and eventually finishes 27th in the women’s alpine downhill skiing

Vladyslav Heraskevych of Ukraine with his helmet showing Ukrainian athletes who were killed in the war. His refusal to change his headwear led to him being disqualified by the IOC

When I was shooting the ski jumping, I wanted to create something a bit more artistic. As the athletes flew through the dark sky past the floodlights, I noticed they looked otherworldly and thought that if I over-exposed them in camera it could perhaps make them look like astronauts. I tried it and it worked: their bodies were almost entirely silhouetted. A silhouette is normally a dark subject against a lighter background, but I just thought: “Why can’t you have it the other way around?” Looking back, that’s one of my favourite images from the Games.