On the same day of the Opening Ceremonies of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, significant Olympic competition will occur in curling and figure skating. There is no doubt there will be an intriguing matchup for gold in the team figure skating competition between the Russian Olympic Committee and the United States. Due to the overall depth and skill set in the Russian figure skating program at the moment, it might be hard for the Russians to be caught.
On Friday, we will see the short programs in the pairs event and the men’s singles event, as well as the rhythm dance in ice dancing. The United States will be led by three-time World Championship gold medalist Nathan Chen of Salt Lake City, Utah in the men’s event (8:55 p.m. ET on Thursday). Due to the fact the Russians are expected to dominate the women’s event, it is pivotal Chen is the near the top of the leaderboard.
The United States are also expected to have a strong performance in the rhythm dance (10:35 p.m. ET on Thursday). Here, they will be represented by Madison Hubbell of Lansing, Michigan, and Zachary Donohue, the two-time World Championship silver medalists. Please keep in mind, that France is not represented in the Olympic team competition, so Hubbell and Donohue will not be up against the four-time world champions Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron. Hubbell and Donohue will have to face the reigning Ice Dance world champions in Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov of the Russian Olympic Committee however.
In the pairs event, it is also important that the United States have a respectable performance from Alexa Knierim of Addison, Illinois and Brandon Frazier of Phoenix, Arizona (12:15 a.m. ET on Friday). This is a new partnership as Knierim was previously with her husband Chris, where they spent eight seasons together from 2012 to 2020. The heavy favourite in the pairs portion of the competition are the reigning world champions in Anastasia Mishina, and Aleksandr Galliamov. In the free skate at the 2021 World Championship in Stockholm, Mishina and Galliamov posted an impressive score of 151.8 points.
Meanwhile in mixed doubles curling, Canada plays Switzerland in the best matchup of the day (Thursday, 7:30 pm ET). Canada defeated Switzerland in the gold medal game of the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang, but it should be noted that the Canadian team is different as Rachel Homan has replaced Kaitlyn Lawes. Lawes is still competing at the Beijing Olympic Games, but as the third for Jennifer Jones in the women’s event, which starts next week.
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