I used to write these things for an old internet forum I was on. I wasn’t going to do one this year, but, well, I was asked, and here’s the abbreviated version.
ALPINE SKIING
When: 2/11-2/24
Where: Yongpyong and Jeongseon Alpine Centre
Live?: Mostly, and in US primetime.
Events: New this year is the mixed team event. It’s a knockout format, with two men and two women on each team. In each round, two countries have four slalom runs – women against women, men against men. Whichever country wins more of their head-to-head matchups wins the round and advances. If it’s a tie, then it’s the combined time of the best man and the best woman that settles who goes forward. Other than that, it’s the same skiing events we’ve seen for years, from the speedy downhill to the technical slalom and everything in between.
U-S-A?: U-S-A! In 2014, the USA had a pretty solid men’s showing from Ted Ligety, Andrew Weibricht and Bode Miller. Forget about them this year, though; the men have a very weak team. The women, however, are an entirely different story. Mikaela Shiffrin is the superstar; she won gold in the Slalom in Sochi and is the three-time defending world champion in the event. This year, though, she’s going for something very rare – she’s also the defending silver medalist in the Giant Slalom, won her first Super Combined event last year and is competing in the Super-G, as well. Could we see four medals from her? It’s only happened one time ever, but she has a chance (she’ll probably come up short, but hey.). Lindsey Vonn is back as well; she won the gold in the downhill in Vancouver, but was too hurt to compete in Sochi.
O, Canada?: No, Canada. They qualified 13 athletes, but aren’t expected to make much noise. Dustin Cook or Manuel Osborne-Paradis in the Super-G might be their best shot.
Germany?: Ja… Germany’s not much for the alpine skiing, but Viktoria Rebensburg won a shock Gold in Vancouver and Bronze in Sochi in the Giant Slalom. She could find her way to a podium again.
Other Countries: Picking Austria to do the best is boring, but safe, because Austria nearly always does the best. Sliding down mountains is kind of their thing. Marcel Hirscher is a world champion in both the slalom and giant slalom – and has been for years — and Max Franz is a name to watch in the speed events. They’re deep enough that they’ll probably win the team event, too; they’re the favorite to win the most medals. Norway lacks superstars this year but has really good depth on the men’s side with Kjetil Jansrud and Henrik Kristofferson leading a dominant men’s side. If you’re looking for an upset in the team event, look towards Switzerland, which has a very balanced team over all.
BIATHLON
When: 2/10-2/23
Where: Alpensia Biathlon Centre
Live?: Rarely, and only if you’re willing to get up at 5AM ish. Otherwise, it’s replays in the afternoon.
Events: Cross-Country skiing and rifle shooting at the same time seems pretty dangerous, doesn’t it? At the very least, watching the athletes aim in the shooting stages is great drama; something I’ve actually watched outside of Olympics years. Nothing new on the docket this year; you’ve got staggered time-trial events in the sprint and pursuit categories, and the (more interesting, IMHO) mass start events, where everyone starts at, uh, the same time.
U-S-A?: U-S-No. Biathlon is the one winter sport where the US has never medaled, and that’s not expected to change in 2018. I mean, we’re sending 10 athletes, and Lowell Bailey won a race at the World Championships, but no.
O, Canada?: No, Canada. They are also sending 10 athletes, but they won no medals in this last year’s World Cup. Best chance might be Nathan Smith, who used to be pretty darn good but is aging out.
Germany?: Ja. I wouldn’t want to stumble on Laura Dahlmeier in a dark alley while on skiis; she won five gold medals at Worlds and is a multi-medal threat, especially anchoring the relays (which they could sweep). Arnd Peiffer is their best man in the “short” distances (which is 10k, because the Olympics are crazy).
Other Countries: Pick between Norway and France for your top country here. Every men’s event could be won by either Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Bo or France’s Martin Fourcade and no one would blink an eye; Fourcade is basically the LeBron James of Biathlon at the moment. Slight edge might go to Norway; they’re deep enough that legend Ole Einar Bjoerndalen was left off the team. Finland will be Germany’s biggest competitor for medals on the women’s side; Kaisa Makarainen (add some umlauts all over the place there) is second or third in the world in the sprint, pursuit and individual categories at the moment.
BOBSLED
When: 2/18-2/25
Where: Alpensia Sliding Centre
Live?: Mostly no, though the four-man’s will be shown live. Either way, it’ll all be in primetime.
Events: Wheeee (ow oof ow eef). We have three events here: men’s and women’s two-person bobsled, and four-person bobsled. Technically, the four-person one is gender neutral (and has been since Sochi), though for fairly obvious strength reasons, it tends to be all men. Either way, you get jet-fighter G forces at 90 miles an hour. Wheee.
U-S-A?: U-S-A. The US won their first gold since 1948 in Vancouver and followed it up with four medals in Sochi. The US’ best chance comes from Elena Meyers in the two-woman bob; she’s the two-time defending world’s champion and has done so with multiple different pushers. She was the first American bobsledder to win outside of North America in 56 years.
O, Canada?: Woah, Canada! Canada’s two-women team, driven by Kaillie Humphries, took Gold in Vancouver and Sochi, and the Olympics are a different animal to the World Cup; she and Meyers will be battling this out. Justin Kripps drives their two-man bobsled; he’s from Hawaii which is, like, the least Canadian part of the USA; he’s got a couple world silvers to his name.
Germany?: Wunderbar! Germany was embarrassed with no medals in Sochi. No one in the world has won more gold medals at the Olympics than Germany, and they’re back with a vengeance. They could sweep the four-person bob; Francesco Friedrich and Johannes Lochner are going for double golds and Nico Walther is right up there as well; they’re 1-2-3 in the world Four Man rankings at the moment and all in the top six in Two Man. They’re a little weaker on the women’s side, by which I mean Stephanie Schneider is only a mild favorite to win it all.
Other Countries: Bold prediction: The US, Canada and Germany take home all nine bobsled medals. Don’t get me wrong, Latvia has Oskars Kibermanis and Switzerland has Rico Peter, but this is a three-country race. Nigeria qualified their first ever Winter Olympians in the women’s bobsled, so that’s a good story.
BOBSLED
When: 2/18-2/25
Where: Alpensia Sliding Centre
Live?: Mostly no, though the four-man’s will be shown live. Either way, it’ll all be in primetime.
Events: Wheeee (ow oof ow eef). We have three events here: men’s and women’s two-person bobsled, and four-person bobsled. Technically, the four-person one is gender neutral (and has been since Sochi), though for fairly obvious strength reasons, it tends to be all men. Either way, you get jet-fighter G forces at 90 miles an hour. Wheee.
U-S-A?: U-S-A. The US won their first gold since 1948 in Vancouver and followed it up with four medals in Sochi. The US’ best chance comes from Elena Meyers in the two-woman bob; she’s the two-time defending world’s champion and has done so with multiple different pushers. She was the first American bobsledder to win outside of North America in 56 years.
O, Canada?: Woah, Canada! Canada’s two-women team, driven by Kaillie Humphries, took Gold in Vancouver and Sochi, and the Olympics are a different animal to the World Cup; she and Meyers will be battling this out. Justin Kripps drives their two-man bobsled; he’s from Hawaii which is, like, the least Canadian part of the USA; he’s got a couple world silvers to his name.
Germany?: Wunderbar! Germany was embarrassed with no medals in Sochi. No one in the world has won more gold medals at the Olympics than Germany, and they’re back with a vengeance. They could sweep the four-person bob; Francesco Friedrich and Johannes Lochner are going for double golds and Nico Walther is right up there as well; they’re 1-2-3 in the world Four Man rankings at the moment and all in the top six in Two Man. They’re a little weaker on the women’s side, by which I mean Stephanie Schneider is only a mild favorite to win it all.
Other Countries: Bold prediction: The US, Canada and Germany take home all nine bobsled medals. Don’t get me wrong, Latvia has Oskars Kibermanis and Switzerland has Rico Peter, but this is a three-country race. Nigeria qualified their first ever Winter Olympians in the women’s bobsled, so that’s a good story.
CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING
When: 2/10-2/25
Where: Alpensia Cross-Country Centre
Live?: Mostly no, and when it is, it’ll be way early in the morning. Plenty of replays scattered whenever they can slot them in.
Events: It’s like cross-country running, but on skiis! From the 1.4k sprints to the 50k mass starts, there’s a cross-country skiing event for almost every attention span. The shorter stuff tends to have the more wild finishes, while the longer stuff is about watching people just die out there from exhaustion. Both are good.
U-S-A?: U-S-meh. We don’t do men’s cross-country skiing, and we don’t have the patience to do marathon cross country skiing. We do do women’s sprints, where Jessie Diggins is no stranger to podiums; she just won the 10k on the 28th in Austria, and could medal in two or three events. It’d be an improvement from the (checks) zero medals we won in Sochi.
O, Canada?: Eh, Canada. Canada was also shut out in 2014, but they’ve got Alex Harvey this year. He won gold at the World Championships in the 50k (first North American to ever do that!) and could medal in any of the longer marathon events.
Germany?: Nein. This ice isn’t slanted in any way shape or form, how could Germany hope to compete! They won a bronze in the women’s 4.5km relay in Sochi and bring Nicole Fessel and Stefanie Bohler back from that team, but they’re not exactly heavy favorites.
Other Countries: I’m pretty sure everyone in Norway is born wearing skis; they’re the all time leader hear as well as the top medal getters in both Vancouver and Sochi. They’ll likely bring home double-digit medals here, led by three-time World Cup winner Johannes Hesflot Klaebo in the short stuff and Martin Johnsrud Sundby in the long stuff, with Heidi Weng somehow finding time in her 12-hour-a-day sleep schedule to pick some up for the women, alongside living legend Marit Bjorgen. What few medals are left might go to Sweden, where Charlotte Kalla is a Sochi hero (3 medals, including a big come-from-behind in the relay) back for more. Italy might have the best shot of anyone else of taking a team medal (where Norway can only take home one at a time!), Federico Pellegrino leads a deep sprint relay team.
CURLING
When: 2/8-2/25
Where: Gangneung Curling Centre
Live?: Mostly no, though the finals will all be. There’s enough curling that some gets stuck in as live way early events; there’s tons of the stuff.
Events: New for PyeongChang: Mixed doubles curling! It’s just like regular curling, only with two men and two women on each team. Otherwise…it’s curling!
U-S-A?: U-S-No. I mean, we’ve got a team in each field – the men’s team even finished third in qualification thanks to a strong 2016 season by John Shuster‘s squad. We didn’t win any in Sochi or Vancouver, though, because some other countries care about this more.
O, Canada?: O, Canada! Canada will be going for the sweep and all three gold medals. I mean, this is big-time sport in Canada; the Tim Horton’s Roar of the Rings tournament (their Olympic qualifier) might be a higher level than the actual Olympic tournament. Kevin Koe skips the men, Rachel Homan the women, and Kaitlyn Lawes and John Morris the mixed. The mixed doubles is their weakest event; they only qualified in second place.
Germany?: Nein. Germany is not sending any curlers to the Olympics.
Other Countries: Switzerland is the big rivals for Canada in the mixed doubles; while they didn’t compete in 2016, they won the 2017 world championship. They meet on February 10th in Draw 5, and likely will see each other again in the playoffs. Sweden qualified second for the men, finishing second in the 2017 World Championships. They meet Canada’s men on February 17th. Great Britain is GB in name only; it’s really the Scottish team – which actually was an issue, as England actually knocked Scotland (and thus GB) out of the mixed doubles tournament. Scotland’s the only other place in the world as curling crazy as Canada, though, so watch out.
FIGURE SKATING
When: 2/9-2/25
Where: Gangneung Ice Arena
Live?: Almost all of it, live and in primetime.
Events: Nothing new under the sun here, though this is the first year where skaters can use lyrics, which is fairly awesome. There’s a couple good musical choices in the field, too.
U-S-A?: U-S-A. Nathan Chen is the only skater in the world with five types of quadruple jumps in his arsenal, and has set all kinds of records as the first skater to do all sorts of jumps and athletic stuff. His artistry lacks a bit, but he’s probably the most impressive man on skates. He used to skate to Dream On and we’ll see him do some dance pop stuff during the gala (if he gets there), but he’s sticking to safer pieces for his main stuff, which, boo. The US has somehow become a powerhouse of ice dancing with the Shibutani siblings leading the way; they’re usually on the podium at world championships. They will be dancing to some Coldplay and then Mambo No. 5, which might be worse than boring classical music.
O, Canada?: O, Canada! Canada’s the favorites to take home the team medal with a deep squad. Gabrielle Daleman is probably the best shot to stop the Russians amongst the women; she’s the reigning world bronze medalist, and she skates to Rhapsody in Blue, which is a great choice. They have a great pair in Duhamel/Radford, the Sochi silver medalists; but they’re skating to something off of the Twilight soundtrack so I have to boo them on principle. But the stars of the team are the ice dancers of Virtue/Moir, who won Gold in Vancouver and Silver in Sochi; they are the world record holders in both the Short and Original dances. THEY skate to The Rolling Stones, Queen, Santana, The Eagles and The Tragically Hip, so fuck yeah. Go Canada.
Germany?: Ja… Aliona Savchenko used to skate for Ukraine. Bruno Massot used to skate for France. Together, they skate for Germany, obviously, and are the defending pairs bronze medalists from Vancouver and Sochi. I have literally never heard of what they are skating to.
Other Countries: Russia are big figure skating fans, and they will continue to be so, even competing as Olympic Athletes From Russia. With the ban, they’re not as deep as they normally are – though still good enough to challenge for a medal in the team event – but 15-year old Alina Zagitova should battle legend (but never Olympic champion!) Evgenia Medvedeva for the gold for the women. Japan is normally a powerhouse here, and while their women’s team is lacking, they’ve got a couple great men. Yuzuru Hanyu is probably the best artist in the field (contrasting him with Chen’s jumps); he’s the defending Olympic champion and starred as a Samurai lord in a 2016 film; he’s skating to his own theme music from that movie. Shoma Uno is the world silver medalist, and was the first ever to land a quad flip in international competition, which sounds cooler than it is. China could slip onto the pairs medal stand with Sui/Han; Sui Wenjing is the subject of an age controversy because of course China’s Olympians might not be the age they say they are. They skate to k.d. lang’s cover of Hallelujah, so that’ll be nice.
FREESTYLE SKIING
When: 2/9-2/23
Where: Bokwang Phoenix Park
Live?: About 50/50, with the good stuff happening in primetime.
Events: This is all the flippy shit on skiis, and might be the most visually fun to watch. Whether it’s the mogels or the halfpipe or the amazingly hectic skicross races (four skiiers at a time going down an obstacle course), there’s a ton of tricks and flips and all kinds of neat things that would probably cause me to break all the bones in my body.
U-S-A?: U-S-A! U-S-A! While most of our snow flipsters use snowboards instead, the US has a very deep freestyle skiing team, because we like sticking random shit on our ski slopes for people to do tricks off of. They could sweep the halfpipe, with David Wise being the defending Olympic champ and multi-time X-Game SuperPipe champ and Alex Ferreira being the up-and-coming SuperPipe star. The US will try win both halfpipe medals, as Brita Sigourney is the Winter X Game silver medalist from 2018, but it’s Jaelin Kauf with the best chance for the women on the moguls, which destroy your knees, I mean seriously, ow.
O, Canada?: Oh. Canada. Canada has the favorite for the men’s moguls, Mikael Kingsbury. He set a record with 13 straight World Cup wins, so he’s a tough one to beat. They’ll also provide the biggest challenges to US halfpipe domination, with Simon D’Artois for the men and Cassie Sharpe for the women. Justine Dufour-Lapointe is the reigning Olympic moguls champion, while Georgia Simmerling won a medal in 2016 at the SUMMER Olympics in cycling; she’s now a ski cross favorite.
Germany?: Nein. They have eight skiiers, with Sabrina Cakmakli being the only notable name, in the halfpipe. Germany doesn’t really do crazy skiing things.
Other Countries: Freestyle skiing is big in Norway, and they look to dominate the slopestyle jumps/rails/flips event, with Oystein Braten and Ferdinand Dahl competing for the men and Johanne Killi and Tiril Sjastad Christiansen competing for the women. Switzerland has the best ski-crossers in the world, with Alex Fiva and Marc Bischofberger competing for the men and Fanny Smith skiing for the women. China focuses heavily on aerials – which is one ramp and as many quick flips and rotations as you can do – and could double-gold with Qi Guangpu and Xu Mengtao.
HOCKEY
When: 2/10-2/25
Where: Gangneung and Kwandong Hockey Centres
Live?: Mostly, though that means staying up late to catch the medals.
Events: The NHL is not allowing players to attend, nor can minor leaguers in the AHL play if they are on two-way contracts. Europe, on the other hand, is letting all of their players go, which vastly shifts the balance of power on the men’s side. The women’s tournament sees a combined Korea side, which is very neat (they are going to get crushed).
U-S-A?: U-S-A. The NHL ban hits the American team very, very hard; you’ve got a lot of college players and European-based professionals and miss out on all the stars. The Women’s team, however, is very, very strong. All 18 women’s championships ever have featured the US versus Canada, though there was one slipup in Olympic competition in 2006. The women’s tournament is odd; the top four teams (USA, Canada, Finland, and Russia) are all grouped together, with the top two teams going straight to the semifinals. The four worst teams are grouped together, with the bottom two being eliminated, and the top two playing the other group’s bottom two for the right to face the top two from the good group. Basically, there are not eight good women’s hockey teams in the world.
O, Canada?: O, Canada! The NHL ban hits Canada, too, but they are, frankly, much deeper. As such, the Men are no longer favorites, but they are still easily medal contenders and should sail out of their group, at the very least. The Women are the best team in the world until proven otherwise.
Germany?: Nein. Germany snuck a Men’s team into the field at the last moment; expect them to sneak right back out again.
Other Countries: The best non-NHL league in the world is Sweden’s KHL, so they came off of the ban pretty nicely, all things considered – they’re probably the favorites on the men’s side. Russia – sorry, “Olympic Athletes From Russia” also have a strong men’s team and benefit from the NHL sitting this one out. On the women’s side, only Finland has a semi decent chance of knocking off the US/Canada duopoly, but don’t count on it.
LUGE
When: 2/10-2/15
Where: Alensia Sliding Centre
Live?: Some of it, if you don’t mind staying up waaaay late.
Events: Luge: Bobsled for claustrophobics.
U-S-A?: U-S-Eh. Summer Britcher is the US’ best hope in the women’s singles; she’s the all-time singles victory leader for USA luge. With five. She’s really, really good, but the US doesn’t have a big history here.
O, Canada?: No, Canada. Canada’s qualified a full set of lugers, led by Brooke Apshkrum (the 2016 Youth Olympics champion), but that mainly means they could sneak onto the podium in the mixed relay, as opposed to singles success.
Germany?: Wunderbar! Germany won’t dominate luge like they will bobsled, by which I mean they’re only going to sweep the golds as opposed to sweeping all the medals. German speaking women have won 40 of the 42 women’s luge medals, so Natalie Geisenberger and Dajana Eitberger would not exactly be breaking new ground. Felix Loch was the youngest Olympic champ ever in 2010; now he’s the grizzled vet for the men. The pair of Eggert/Benecken will be mostly challenged by countrymen Wendl/Arlt for a gold in the pairs and a spot on the (likely gold-medal-winning) relay team. The Germans have never missed the podium in doubles luge.
Other Countries: Austria: We’re like Germany, only down and to the right. Wolfgang Kindl is the best hope of blowing up a German sweep in the men’s singles; he’s the defending world champ, while Penz/Fischler are experienced competitors in the doubles. Russia will try to break into the men’s rankings with Semen Pavlichenko, the 2015 world champ. Italy has the deepest team not yet named, and will be fighting for the bronze slot behind Germany and Austria in the relay.
NORDIC COMBINED
When: 2/14-2/22
Where: Alpensia Ski Jumping and Cross-Country Centres
Live?: Believe it or not, yes. Huh.
Events: Ski jumping and cross country skiing, because every Olympics needs a sport that’s just two other sports awkwardly jammed together. They don’t even let women compete at the Olympics! How dumb is that. This sport is dumb.
U-S-A?: U-S-Meh. The US had an amazing 2010, but otherwise have historically not cared about Nordic Combined. Bryan and Taylor Fletcher have both qualified. Good for them!
O, Canada?: No, Canada. Canada is not sending any Nordic Combiners to the Olympics.
Germany?: Wunderbar! For some reason, Germany’s really good at this! Johannes Rydzek is trying to get revenge for Sochi; he was in the medals during the cross-country skiing portion of the Normal Hill, when he clipped someone else’s ski and fell down. They have a solid team, as well, though Rydzek is the clear star.
Other Countries: Norway beat Germany to the team medal by 0.3 seconds in Sochi, so that’s a rematch waiting to happen. Jan Schmid is a multi-time World Cup winner who leads their team. Japan boasts Akito Watabe, who took home a silver in the Normal Hill in Sochi and a silver in the Large Hill at the recent world championships. Finland has a deep team without many stars, and could challenge in the team event.
SKELETON
When: 2/15-2/17
Where: Alpensia Sliding Centre
Live?: Yup, both during daytime and primetime coverage.
Events: Skeleton: Luge for maniacs.
U-S-A?: U-S-Meh. Matthew Antoine won a bronze in Sochi, and is the US’ best medal hope, but this isn’t one of their strong points.
O, Canada?: No, Canada. Elisabeth Vathje was third in the World Cup standings, so she’s got a good shot at a podium, but that’s about it.
Germany?: Wunderbar! This is Germany’s worst sliding sport, by which I mean they might win just half the gold medals. Jacqueline Lolling and Tina Hermann are going to be very, very hard to beat for the women, while Axel Jungk has the most German-sounding name possible and is a contender for the men.
Other Countries: Latvia‘s Martins Dukurs is an eight-time European champion; he has yet to win Olympic gold and is hoping to change that this year. South Korea’s Yun Sung-bin is the reigning world’s silver medalist and could give Korea one of their few home country winners outside of the short track. Other than that, it’s slim pickings, but Ghana has only their second Winter Olympian ever competing, so that’s cool.
SKI JUMPING
When: 2/8-2/19
Where: Alpensia Ski Jumping Centre
Live?: Rarely, and only early on when nothing else is happening.
Events: No big changes; women were allowed to jump in 2014 so that’s still going on which is nice, but otherwise, this is the same thing as it’s always been. Last Olympics, they added bonus points/penalties for jumping into headwinds or from more difficult starting gates, so that makes it…harder to follow along.
U-S-A?: U-S-Meh. The US has won one medal in this event. In 1924. Their best chance this year comes from Sarah Hendrickson, who won the first ever women’s World Cup in 2012, but that was ever so long ago.
O, Canada?: No, Canada. Canada only qualified two jumpers, Taylor Henrich and MacKenzie Boyd-Clowes. They are not expected to do anything.
Germany?: Wunderbar! Germany won multiple golds in Sochi and hopes to continue that trend here. Their best chance is on the Large Hill with Richard Freitag or Andreas Wellinger, or with the women and Katharina Althaus.
Other Countries: Poland probably has the second-deepest team (behind Germany); Kamil Stoch won gold on both the Normal and Large Hills in Sochi. Austria‘s Stefan Kraft is the defending World Champ, and competes in a far more awesome-sounding sport called ski flying. Japan‘s Sara Takanashi was a huge favorite in Sochi but finished off the medals; she’ll be looking for redemption here.
SNOWBOARDING
When: 2/10-2/24
Where: Bokwang Phoenix Park
Live?: You betcha, both in primetime and day time.
Events: In Sochi, they introduced a parallel slalom event which nobody really cared about, as people are in this for the big flips and the huge jumps. So they’ve kicked that out and replaced it with Big Air, where you jump off a huge ramp and do big flips. Checks out.
U-S-A?: U-S-A! U-S-A! When snowboarding was first added to the Winter Olympics, critics said it was just to pump the US’ medal total, and, well, they’re not wrong. The US should medal in more events here than in any other event in the games. They are easily the favorites to sweep the women’s halfpipe with Chloe Kim, Maddie Mastro and the ageless Kelly Clark. Shaun White is still here, albeit no longer the absolutely dominant force he was in his youth. Red Gerard has a real shot in the new Big Air event, as does Chris Corning – and they’ll both be in Slopestyle as well. Julia Marino could make it a US sweep in the Big Air, as well. Jamie Anderson is the defending women’s Slopestyle gold medalist. And then there’s Lindsey fucking Jacobellis. She has more snowboardcross gold medals than anyone in history but only one silver in the Olympics, in 2006, in Turin. Snowboardcross is all about speed, but Jacobellis tried to showboat in 2006, messed up a jump, and got passed for the Gold. She also fell in 2010 and 2014, meaning her attempt at showboating cost her her one real shot at a gold medal.
O, Canada?: No, Canada. Mark McMorris won a bronze in Slopestyle in 2014, and is a contender in Big Air this year, but this isn’t as deep as their teams have been in the past.
Germany?: Nein. Selina Joerg is a contender in the parallel giant slalom, which is the least EXTREME of the snowboarding events and thus the one nobody cares about.
Other Countries: Austria has a deep team. Anna Gasser is the defending X-Games Big Air champion, making her the favorite for the first Olympic medal here. Most of the rest of their stars are racers, rather than jumpers, with Alexander Payer and Alessandro Haemmerle both medal contenders. Australia gets to compete at the Winter Olympics, too. Scotty James was only 15 in Sochi and has developed into a real star in the halfpipe, while Alex “Chumpy” Pullin has the best nickname and will be looking to avenge a surprise loss in the snowboardcross from Sochi. Italy’s Michela Moiloli is the most likely to benefit from Jacobellis’ usual fall in the snowboardcross, while Roland Fischnaller is a veteran with chances in the slalom.
LONG-TRACK SPEED SKATING
When: 2/10-2/24
Where: Gangneung Oval
Live?: Mostly not, with replays in daytime.
Events: New this year? The mass start event! Most long-track speed skating is two people on the ice at a time, going around the track individually. The mass start is, as the name would suggest, a mass start – everyone on the ice at the same time. It’s not QUITE first to the finish, though – the first three skaters to cross the line get Gold, Silver and Bronze, but everyone else gets bonus “sprint points” for how many laps they led. Very confusing. The last time they did this was 1932, so it’s not really “new” either.
U-S-A?: U-S-Meh. The US was shut out in Sochi, which was embarrassing. That probably won’t happen this year – Heather Bergsma is a multi-time World Champion in the sprint events, while Joey Mantia is an inline expert entering the mass start – but it’s a far cry from their heyday.
O, Canada?: No, Canada. Ted-Jan Bloemen is a duel-citizen who decided to skate for Canada rather than the Netherlands, and is their best hope, while Vincent De Haitre is an ex-cycling champ who has moved over to speed skating.
Germany?: Nein. Patrick Beckert is a distance skater who has a chance of medaling, though he missed a chance to skate in 2014 because he turned off his cell phone and didn’t get the call that a replacement skater was needed. Claudia Pechstein is also back, competing in her seventh Olympic Games.
Other Countries: The Netherlands eat, breathe and sleep speed skating; it’s all they’re going to really compete in and all they care about. They swept four podiums in Sochi; that’s unlikely to happen again, but they love this stuff. Look out for Kai Verbij in the sprints, Kjeld Nuis in the medium-distance races, and the immortal Sven Kramer in the long-distance races. Japan has also become quite good, at least on the women’s side (where the Dutch are beatable). Miho Takagi is a regular feature on world cup podiums as part of a team; she could pick up a couple individual medals this time around. South Korea prefers short track, but they’ve actually got a solid long track team (mostly from short track skaters who couldn’t cut the mustard in that intense competition). Lee Seung-hoon, Lee Sang-hwa and Kim Bo-reum could all bring home golds for the home team.
SHORT TRACK SPEED SKATING
When: 2/10-2/22
Where: Gangneung Ice Arena
Live?: No. This is being saved for primetime in Korea, which is well after you’ve gone to bed in the US.
Events: This is the best Winter Olympic event. Explosiveness, strategy, crashes, chaos – everything you could possibly want in a sport you watch once every four years.
U-S-A?: U-S-Meh. It’s a long way from the glory days of Anton Apollo Ohno. J.R. Celski and Lana Gehring are both former medalists, but it’s just not a very deep team this year.
O, Canada?: Woah, Canada! They’re not the favorites anywhere, but they’re contenders almost everywhere. Kim Boutin is probably the favorite to medal, being an expert in the two longer distances, but Charles Hamelin is a defending gold medalist in the 1500m, Marianne St.-Gelais has three medals to her name, and Samuel Girard has medaled multiple times at the World Championships.
Germany?: Nein. Germany is only sending two women, only one of whom (Anna Seidel) has any historic success of any kind.
Other Countries: This is why South Korea is hosting the Olympics – they love short track with a fiery passion. Hwang Dae-heon and Chi Min-jeong are household names (or will be, shortly). China also has had historic success on the short track, and Wu Daijing won two medals in Sochi. Hungary‘s Shaolin Sandor Liu is Chinese-Hungarian and one of the best sprinters in the world.
Bryan Knowles' Sports Ramblings 