Athletes to watch in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics –

Because of the COVID-19 postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Video games, the 2022 Beijing Olympics are already simply six months out.

Look forward with a refresher on a handful of the world’s high winter athletes…

Abby Roque will likely be making her Olympic debut for the USA ladies’s hockey group within the 2022 Beijing Olympic Video games in what ought to be appointment tv. Roque is among the most adorned school hockey gamers in current historical past, as her four-year profession at Wisconsin noticed her tally 170 factors in 155 video games. She was named the WCHA Offensive Participant of the 12 months twice, and in her senior season, she was named USCHO Division-I Girls’s Participant of the 12 months.

Now, Roque will be part of forces with Group USA, a squad that may, for the primary time in 20 years, enter the 2022 Beijing Olympics because the reigning gold medalists. She’s no stranger to worldwide competitors, regardless of 2022 being her Olympic debut, as she has already gained two gold medals as a member of Group USA’s junior nationwide group.

After the NHL finally determined in 2018 to not let its gamers take part within the PyeongChang Olympics, lots of the world’s greatest hockey gamers will make their Olympic debuts in 2022 – and 24-year-old Conor McDavid stands out as the most intriguing title on the listing.

The Edmonton Oilers’ heart has lengthy expressed his need to signify Group Canada on the Olympic Video games; previous to being chosen with the primary total choose within the 2015 NHL Draft, he helped Canada’s U18 group win gold on the World Championships in 2013, 2015 and 2016. Now, McDavid ought to have the possibility to guide Canada to a different gold – solely this time, on the highest stage.

McDavid is taken into account top-of-the-line hockey gamers on this planet and has the {hardware} to again it up; in 2021, he grew to become solely the second participant in NHL historical past to win the Hart Trophy by unanimous vote, becoming a member of Wayne Gretzky.

Within the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics, Chloe Kim confirmed the makings of a Group USA celebrity. At simply 17 years previous, the snowboarder gained a gold medal within the halfpipe, making her the youngest girl to win an Olympic snowboarding medal. And the accomplishment got here simply three years after she gained a silver medal within the 2014 X-Video games – regardless of being simply 14 years previous – making her the youngest X-Video games medalist.

Kim is the reigning Olympic Champion, World Champion and X-Video games Champion within the halfpipe. In Beijing, on the age of 21, she’ll have an opportunity to additional cement her legacy.

Mikael Kingsbury, one of the vital adorned mogul skiers of all time, will take his skills to Beijing coming off a gold-medal moguls efficiency within the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics and a silver-medal moguls efficiency within the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Kingsbury already holds the report for essentially the most Freestyle World Championship medals of any male competitor in historical past; now, to solidify his legacy, he’ll look to take house his second straight Olympic gold.

Charlotte Kalla is a multi-event snowboarding star for Sweden that has earned 9 Olympic medals in her profession, together with three golds in three completely different occasions (10-kilometer freestyle, Vancouver 2010; 4 x 5-kilometer relay, Sochi 2014; 15-kilometer skiathlon, PyeongChang 2018). She has gained a number of medals in each Olympics she’s participated in and is thought to be Sweden’s most profitable feminine cross-country skier of all time.

Kalla could be an athlete to look at below any circumstance, however maybe none higher than within the 2022 Olympics. At 34 years previous, Kalla might very effectively hold up her skis and retire after Beijing – solely time will inform if she will be able to declare extra medals on her approach out.

Yuzuru Hanyu stands alone atop the boys’s determine skating ranks, and he’ll look to bolster his resume on the 2022 Beijing Olympics. The 26-year-old has dominated the game since he first entered and boasts 17 non-Olympics medals to associate with two Olympic golds. He gained the boys’s singles competitors at each the 2014 Sochi Olympic Video games and the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic Video games, and he’ll look so as to add a 3rd gold to his assortment in 2022.

Hanyu’s feats span far previous the 2 most up-to-date Olympic video games. He grew to become the primary Asian males’s singles determine skater to win a gold medal in 2014, in addition to the youngest male skater to win gold since 1948. Together with his performances at non-Olympics occasions, Hanyu has damaged world data 19 instances.

Mikaela Shiffrin is coming off back-to-back winter Olympic gold medals, having gained the slalom gold within the 2014 Sochi Olympics adopted by the large slalom gold within the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics. Her first gold got here in 2014, when she was simply 19 years previous – the youngest slalom champion in Olympic historical past.

She gained 4 medals within the 2021 World Championships and can stay atop the listing of skiers to look at within the 2022 Beijing Olympic Video games. If her Olympic efficiency is something just like the final two, she gained’t be onerous to overlook, both: she participated in a number of occasions up to now two Olympics, and she or he tasks as a top-tier contender in slalom, big slalom and mixed occasions.

Ought to he qualify for the Tongan snowboarding group, Pita Taufatofua has an opportunity to make historical past within the 2022 Beijing Olympic Video games and turn out to be the first-ever athlete to take part in four-straight Olympic Video games. That’s not 4 Winter Olympic Video games, both — Taufatofua, a skier within the Winter Olympics and Taekwondo fighter within the Summer time Olympics, has already turn out to be the primary athlete to take part in three-straight (Rio 2016, Pyeongchang 2018, Tokyo 2020).

Taufatofua is understood by many because the “Shirtless Tongan,” after producing consideration as Tonga’s flagbearer for three-straight Opening Ceremonies. However he’s an athlete first, and he’ll hope to compete once more as a freestyle skier within the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

Natalie Geisenberger has utterly dominated the luge up to now two Olympic Video games. She gained a gold medal in each the singles and group relay luge within the 2014 Sochi Olympics, then repeated her double-gold efficiency within the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics.

It ought to go with out saying that Geisenberger, a four-time gold medalist, is an athlete to look at within the Beijing Olympics. Plus, she is on the cusp of historical past: yet another gold would make her the primary athlete to win three straight gold medals in ladies’s luge.