Feb. 15 Olympic Preview

Now that Canada has gotten the monkey, otherwise known as the gold medal on home soil, off their back, the Olympics will now focus on the slopes of Cypress Mountain where the alpine skiing events start with the men's downhill after a two day weather delay. At night, figure skating will once again take the spotlight with the pairs free skate.

Men's Downhill
The first of the alpine events begins Monday with the focus not on the athletes but on the course and how it will hold up after the rain and snow this weekend. The focus on athletes will consist of Swiss duo of Didiers, Cuche and Defago as well as countryman Carlo Janka. American hopes will rest on Bode Miller, who after a disappointing Olympics in Torino is after a medal in Vancouver.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Antoine Deneriaz (France)
Top American Hopeful: Bode Miller
Top Canadian Hopeful: Manuel Osborne-Paradis (3rd in WC standings)
Dominant Country: Switzerland
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Carlo Janka (Switzerland)
Silver: Didier Cuche (Switzerland)
Bronze: Michael Walchhofer (Austria)

Cross-Country Skiing: Women's 10km Free
The first cross-country event kicks off with a race against the clock with skiiers starting every 30 seconds. Favorites in this race include Slovenia's Petra Majdic and Poland's Justina Kowalcyzk. Also, look for someone to emerge from the middle of the World Cup standings to contend and as we have seen in the biahtlon, conditions could change the competition.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Kristina Smigun (Estonia)
Top American Hopeful: None
Top Canadian Hopeful: None
Dominant Countries: Finland, Sweden, Norway, Russia
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Petra Madjic (Slovenia)
Silver: Aino-Kaisa Saarinen (Finland)
Bronze: Hanna Falk (Sweden)

Cross-Country Skiing: Men's 15 km Free
The men's version of the women's event is 5 kilometers longer and that is really the only difference. The same nations from Scandinavia are dominant and the World Cup leader hails from Norway in Petter Northug.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Andrus Veerpalu (Estonia)
Top American Hopeful: Kris Freeman (26th in WC Standings)
Top Canadian Hopeful: Ivan Babikov (20th in WC Standings)
Dominant Country: Norway
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Petter Northug (Norway)
Silver: Lukas Bauer (Czech Republic)
Bronze: Matti Heikkinen (Finland)

Men's Snowboard Cross
The real shot for the Americans to claim gold and possibly a sweep is in this event. The American contingent is deep considering that '06 gold medalist Seth Wescott might not even make it to a medal sweep by the Americans if it happens shows how deep this team is. The man that could crash the party is Pierre Vaultier of France, who is first in World Cup this season.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Seth Wescott (USA)
Top American Hopefuls: Graham Watanabe, Nate Holland, Seth Wescott, Nick Baumgartner
Top Canadian Hopeful: Robert Fagan
Dominant Country: USA
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Nate Holland (USA)
Silver: Graham Watanabe (USA)
Bronze: Seth Wescott (USA)

Figure Skating: Pairs' Free Skate
After the short program on Sunday night, China's Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo have the lead over Germany's Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy. The rest of the competition are looking up at these two pairs that will be hard to unseed as the top two pairs.
2006 Torino Gold Medalists: Tatyana Totmiyanina and Maxim Marinin (Russia)
Top American Hopefuls: Mark Ladwig and Amanda Evora (10th after short program)
Top Canadian Hopefuls: Jessica Dube and Bryce Davidson (6th after short program) and Anabelle Langlois and Cody Hay (7th)
Dominant Country: China- 3 of top 5 pairs after short program
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Shen/Zhao (China)
Silver: Savchenko/Szolkowy (Germany)
Bronze: Pang/Tong (China)

Speed Skating: Men's 500 meters
American fans will have to wait another event for Shani Davis to win his gold medal but teammate Tucker Fredericks has a shot in a disclipine that has been dominated by Korea and Japan all season on the World Cup circuit and that domination should continue Monday night in both runs.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Joey Cheek (USA)
Top American Hopeful: Tucker Fredericks (4th in WC Standings)
Top Canadian Hopeful: Jamie Gregg (10th in WC)
Dominant Countries: Korea and Japan
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Lee-Kang Seok (Korea)
Silver: Lee-Kyu Hyeok (Korea)
Bronze: Keiichiro Nagashima (Japan)

Non-Medal Events to Look Forward To:
Women's Luge Runs 1 & 2
Women's Hockey: Canada vs. Switzerland & Sweden vs. Slovakia