7 to Watch: Speed, Snow and Winds

While Mikaela Shiffrin and Team USA’s other alpine skiers have been temporarily sidelined by high winds, American snowboarders are providing the Pyeongchang thrills. Competing in snowboarding slopestyle, teenager Red Gerard on Sunday won America’s first gold medal in Pyeongchang. Now, Chloe Kim, another 17-year-old, will try to match him in women’s halfpipe. And Shaun White, who won his first gold medal when Gerard and Kim were just 5 years old, takes the slopes in his fourth Olympic games in the men’s halfpipe qualifying. Kim and White highlight an action-packed day that includes speed skaters Shani Davis, Joey Mantia and Maame Biney, and a women’s hockey game between Team USA and the Olympic Athletes from Russia. Here’s what you need to watch in Pyeongchang over the next 24 hours: 1. Kim Goes for Gold, White Makes Pyeongchang DebutChloe Kim is a 17-year-old sensation appearing in her first Olympics. Carlsbad native Shaun White is one of the most decorated snowboarders ever, appearing in his fourth Olympics. Kim will go for her first gold medal on Tuesday (Monday night in the U.S.), and White will make his Pyeongchang debut.Kim, whose parents are from South Korea, has dominated the women’s halfpipe in the years since the Sochi Games, when she was too young to compete. In 2016, she became the first woman to land back-to-back 1080s in a halfpipe contest. She began snowboarding at age 4 with her father, but does not like snow.”Actually, I hate it,” Kim told Sports Illustrated in January. “I grew up in Southern California.”White won gold medals in the men’s halfpipe in his first two Olympics, but finished fourth in Sochi in 2014. He’s looking for redemption in Pyeongchang. He’ll compete in qualifying on Tuesday (Monday night in the U.S.), and then go for a medal on Wednesday if he advances.Watch both Kim and White live during NBC 7’s primetime coverage at 5 p.m. PT.Watch Kim’s medal event on digital platforms at 5 p.m. PT on digital platforms at this link. Watch White’s qualifying event at 8 p.m. PT on digital platforms at this link.2. Speedskater Biney Is America’s Best Hope in 500-Meter Short TrackChina’s Fan Kexin, who has six world medals in 500-meter short track speed skating, slipped in the semifinals at the Sochi Olympics four years ago, costing her a shot at a medal. Now, she’s got another shot at a gold medal. Her stiffest American competition? The Ghana-born Maame Biney the first black woman to qualify for a U.S. Olympic short track team. Biney learned to skate after moving to the United States at age 5. Another top contender, Choi Min-jeong, is from South Korea. Watch live on digital platforms beginning at 2 a.m. PT Tuesday at this link, or during NBC 7’s daytime Olympics coverage at noon PT Tuesday. 3.  Americans Speed Skaters Shani Davis and Joey Mantia Takes Ice in 1500m Medal EventFour-time Olympic medalist Shani Davis may be the more recognizable name in the Men’s 1500m, but it’s American Joey Mantia who is most likely to challenge for a medal.Mantia, from Ocala, Florida, struggled in Sochi, finishing 15th in the 1000-meter race and 22nd in his best event, the 1500-meters. Calling the experience “a complete disaster,” Mantia is hoping to find his way to the medal podium in Pyeongchang.The international field will be headlined by the Netherlands’ Kjeld Nuis, the reigning 1500m world champion, and his teammate Koen Verweij, who returned from a kidney injury that kept him from training for a year.Watch live at 3 a.m. Tuesday PT on digital platforms at this link, or during NBC 7’s daytime Olympics coverage at noon PT Tuesday. 4. U.S. Lugers Face the Powerhouse GermansU.S. luge medalist Erin Hamlin, America’s flag bearer during the opening ceremony, is in the mix for the women’s singles luge competition in Pyeongchang. Hamlin, a four-time Olympian, won the bronze medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics, the first U.S. athlete to win an Olympics singles luge medal in the sports’ 50-year Olympic history. But the strongest U.S. woman this season has been Sochi Olympian Summer Britcher. And German women have dominated the sport, among them defending gold medalist Natalie Geisenberger and Tatjana Huefner, a three-time Olympic medalist in luge. Watch live on NBCSN beginning at 2 a.m. PT Tuesday or on digital platforms at this link.  5. U.S. Women’s Hockey Continues Quest for Gold vs. RussiansThe U.S. women’s hockey team won its opening game in Pyeongchang against Finland, 3-1, on Sunday. Now they face the Olympic Athletes from Russia, as the Russians are being referred to in Pyeongchang. The Russians are the youngest team in the tournament, with less experience and almost an entirely new roster from the team that played in four years ago in Sochi. The Americans have failed to win a gold medal since the sport was added to the Games in 1998. Most heartbreaking was their loss to powerhouse Canada in the gold medal game at Sochi. The Canadians, their longtime rivals, have won four straight gold medals. Watch live on NBCSN at 4:10 a.m. PT Tuesday or on digital platforms at this link. 6.  Gusts Delay Ski Jump Practice RunsDue to gusty conditions, only 34 of 55 ski jumpers participated in training for the individual Gunderson normal hill event at the Pyeongchang Olympics, part of Nordic combined. Two of three scheduled practice runs were canceled.Defending Olympic champion Eric Frenzel led training as high winds continued to affect the Alpensia Ski Jumping Center.The 29-year-old German had a jump of 108 meters in Monday’s training session. The normal hill final is scheduled for Wednesday.Nordic combined features ski jumping followed later the same day by a 10-kilometer cross-country race. The athlete who wins the ski jumping phase begins first, followed by the remaining athletes in their order of finish.Those involved in winter sports are used to this sort of thing, of course.At the 2007 Alpine world championships in Sweden, for example, strong winds wiped out first three days of competition. At the 1993 world championships in Japan, the men’s super-G was never contested. Can happen the other way, too. At the 2010 Vancouver Games, the first two Alpine races were postponed because of rain and — get this — too-warm temperatures in the 40s. The entire Alpine world championships slated for Spain in 1995 were rescheduled for a whole year later because of a lack of snow.7. Quick-Change ArtistIf you thought you saw the same coach sitting next to some of the athletes in Sunday’s figure skating competition, you weren’t wrong.Busy figure skating coach Marina Zoueva represents several athletes who are on the ice.And that can mean quick changes between three jackets from the three countries her dance teams are competing for in the team event: Germany, Japan and the U.S.See what we mean here.Photo Credit: Getty Images This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.
Source: NBC San Diego