Olympic Preview: February 19

From an American perspective, the biggest event on the second last day of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games is two-woman bobsled (Sarturday, 7 a.m. ET). But what might be a surprise is what American is currently holding down a medal spot. ‘

Elana Meyers Taylor of Oceanside, California and Sylvia Hoffman of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania are in third place. Meanwhile, three-time Olympic gold medalist Kaillie Humphries and her brakewoman Kasha Love, are on the outside looking in of the medals in fifth place after two runs.

One must realize that Meyers Taylor has a strong bobsled resume too. She is a four-time Olympic medalist, and has won four gold medals at the World Bobsleigh Championships. Currently Meyers Taylor and Hoffman lead Christine De Bruin and Kristen Bujnowski of Canada by 0.42 seconds, with Humphries and Love at 0.17 seconds back of De Bruin and Bujnowski for fourth. Germans hold down the top two spots. Laura Nolte and Deborah Levi are in first place at 2:02.05, while Mariama Jamanka of Alexandra Burghardt are in second place at 2:02.55.

We will also see the gold medal game in men’s curling between Great Britain and Sweden (Saturday, 2 a.m. ET). This is a rematch of the 2021 World Men’s Curling Championship gold medal game, won by Sweden 10-5. Note the change in time as the game has been moved one hour later to 2 a.m. ET to maximize European television viewership.

At 1 a.m. ET on Friday, the men’s 50 kilometer cross country ski race will take place. From an endurance perspective, this is the most challenging Olympic event, as it is equivalent to the men’s marathon in the Summer Olympic Games. Our gold medal favourite is Emil Iversen of Norway, who is the reigning world champion from last year in Oberstdorf, Germany.

Our other gold medal favourites are Norway (mixed alpine skiing team, 9 p.m. ET, Friday), Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov of the Russian Olympic Committee (+135), (pairs figure skating, 6 a.m. ET, Saturday), Bart Swings of Belgium (men’s mass start speed skating, 3:30 a.m. ET, Sunday), Ivanie Blondin of Canada (women’s mass start speed skating, 4 a.m. ET, Sunday) and Nico Porteous of New Zealand (men’s halfpipe skiing, 8:30 p.m. ET). Belgium has won only one gold medal ever at an Olympic Winter Games. At the 1948 Olympic Winter Games in St. Moritz, Micheline Lannoy and Pierre Baugniet placed first in pairs figure skating. New Zealand’s first gold medal in the history of the Olympic Winter Games came in Beijing courtesy of Zoi Sadowsky-Synnott in women’s slopestyle snowboarding.