Olympic Preview: February 11

The most intriguing storyline on day eight at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing is whether or not Shaun White, a.k.a.  the Flying Tomato, the three-time Olympic gold medalist in the men’s halfpipe snowboarding, can win a fourth gold medal at age 35. White, who has been the face of international snowboarding the last 20 years, had the fourth best score in qualifying, only behind Ayumu and Ruka Hirano of Japan, and Scotty James of Australia (Thursday, 6:30 p.m.).

Also one of the biggest stories heading into Friday at the is the fact that Italian skiing star Sofia Goggia will not be competing in the women’s super giant slalom. Considered one of the top speed skiers in the world, Goggia is saving herself for the women’s downhill after injuring her leg in a World Cup race in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy on January 23 according to Reuters.

Our favourite for women’s super giant slalom gold is Corrine Suter of Switzerland, the reigning world champion in the women’s downhill, and the reigning silver medalist in the women’s super giant slalom (Thursday, 10pm ET). In January, Suter finished second in a World Cup women’s Super G behind Federica Brignone of Italy.

Friday is a big day for Olympic skeleton as medals will be handed out in the men’s competition (Friday, 8:55 am ET), and the women’s skeleton event commences (Thursday. 8:30 p.m. ET). The leader in the men’s Olympic skeleton event after the first two runs is Christopher Grotheer of Germany, who has a seven-tenths of a second lead over his German countryman, Axel Jungk.

There will also be two women’s quarterfinal hockey games to be played. The United States will play the Czech Republic (Thursday, 11pm ET), and Canada will play Sweden (Friday, 8 am ET). Canada and the United States are the heavy favourites.

Finally, there will be medals presented in biathlon, cross country skiing, short track speed skating and snowboarding. Our gold medal favourites are Marte Olsbu Roeiseland of Norway (women’s 7.5 kilometre sprint biathlon at 4 a.m. ET), Alexander Bolshunov of the Russian Olympic Committee (men’s 15 kilometre cross country skiing at 2 a.m. ET), Suzanne Schulting of the Nertherlands (+138) (women’s 1000 metre short track speed skating at 7:43 a.m. ET), and Nils Van Der Poel of Sweden (-600) (men’s 10000 metre speed skating at 3 a.m. ET). Van Der Poel is the world record holder in the men’s 10000 metres, at he had a time of 12:32.95 at the 2021 World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships in Heerenveen, Netherlands a year ago.