Top American athletes to watch at the Beijing Winter Olympics

The 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing formally kick off with opening ceremonies on February 4. Listed below are a number of the top American athletes to watch because the competitors will get underway.

Mikaela Shiffrin

Will Mikaela Shiffrin proceed her dominance? 

She received the final women’s World Cup slalom earlier than the Beijing Olympics. It was Shiffrin’s forty seventh profession slalom win, making her the primary skier in World Cup historical past to win that many races in a single self-discipline. Shiffrin, who received gold within the slalom on the 2014 Sochi Olympics and within the big slalom on the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, is predicted to be a high contender on this yr’s Video games. 

Alex Ferreira

The freestyle skier goes to Beijing and is an Olympic medal favourite. Alex Ferreira, who’s the son of an Argentinian pro soccer player, received silver after his efficiency within the ski halfpipe in Pyeongchang and received X Video games Aspen in 2019 and 2020. 

U.S. Ladies’s Nationwide Ice Hockey Group

USA Hockey unveiled its roster for the ladies’s ice hockey workforce this month, and so they’re able to defend their gold medal in Beijing. 

Of their 23 gamers, 15 have prior Olympic expertise. Amongst them, ahead Hilary Knight returns for her fourth Olympics. Group USA’s ongoing rivalry with Canada, which has 4 gold medals within the occasion, might be must-see TV in the event that they meet once more within the finals. 

Erin Jackson

Erin Jackson, the world’s high feminine velocity skater, might be making her second Olympic look after Group USA teammate Brittany Bowe gave up her spot. 

Jackson, 29, is simply months faraway from profitable the velocity skating World Cup, turning into the primary Black lady to take action. She is at the moment ranked No. 1 in the women’s 500-meter by the Worldwide Skating Union and can compete in the identical occasion in Beijing. 

John Shuster

Curling legend John Shuster might be again for this fifth Winter Olympics. 

After two straight disappointing Olympic appearances in 2010 and 2014, Shuster and his workforce lastly received gold in 2018, a primary for the People within the occasion. Nobody has ever received multiple gold medals in males’s curling, however Shuster and his workforce wish to take a stab at it, saying his team is “stuffed with fighters.”

Elana Meyers Taylor

Three-time Olympic medalist Elana Meyers Taylor heads to Beijing as a favourite within the monobob — the person model of bobsleigh — which makes its Olympic debut in February. 

Meyers Taylor secured the ladies’s monobob overall world cup title and is aware of her approach round a bobsled — she received silver in 2018 and 2014 and captured bronze in 2010 within the two-woman bobsled. 

Emily Sweeney

After a daunting crash in Emily Sweeney’s last run that knocked her out of the Pyeongchang Olympics, the luger might be again for the Beijing Olympics. 

The incident broke her neck and again, and it almost ended her profession. Since then, she has documented her recovery and whereas she admits she will get scared generally, she said Beijing might be one other shot at incomes a medal. She’s additionally a part of the Military’s World Class Athlete Program.

Chloe Kim

Chloe Kim turned heads in Pyeongchang 4 years in the past, when, at 17 years outdated, she won gold within the halfpipe, turning into the youngest American to ever medal in snowboarding. Now, she is favored but once more to repeat as Olympic halfpipe champion. 

Regardless of her success, she recently shared her struggles with psychological well being and the stress of expectations as an Olympian. A part of the rationale she’s snug going public is as a result of “persons are beginning to grow to be extra accepting and in addition speaking about these [mental health] points extra,” she mentioned. 

Mariah Bell

The 25-year-old determine skater won a national championship this month, turning into the oldest lady to carry the title since 1927. It was her ninth look at nationwide championships and her first title. Bell, a two-time Olympic medalist, now has her eyes on Beijing. No individual woman 25 years or older has determine skated for Group USA within the Winter Olympics since 1928. 

“Age is actually a quantity,” Bell instructed NBC Sports. “It means nothing. In case you have a dream, there isn’t a restrict on the time it’s a must to obtain that dream, for positive.”

Shaun White

Shaun White will make his fifth Olympics appearance after ending fourth amongst People within the World Snowboard Points checklist earlier than Beijing. He has three gold medals within the halfpipe, from 2006, 2014 and 2018, making him probably the most adorned male Olympic snowboarder. 

It should doubtless be the curtain name for White’s Olympic profession. He instructed Rolling Stone magazine he needs to retire from the Video games after Beijing. 

Nathan Chen

Chen, 22, just lately received his sixth figure skating championship and is now aiming for gold in Beijing. 

Anticipated to be a high contender within the Pyeongchang Olympics in 2018, he did not medal within the particular person occasion. Nonetheless, he did earn a bronze medal within the workforce occasion.