Feb. 18 Olympics Preview

After the domination by Americans and defending gold medalists yesterday, a couple defending gold medalists have a good shot at taking gold again in today's medal events. Also, Canada has another shot winning a gold in speed skating with Christine Nesbitt.
Biathlon: Women's 15k Individual Start
The same contenders from the past two biathlon events, the pursuit and sprint, will be in the mix for medals today. So far both Magdalena Neuner of Germany and Anastazia Kuzmina of Slovakia have two medals in two events and will be looking for more. Challenging them will be Neuner's fellow Germans Andrea Henkel and Kati Wilhelm and Sweden's Helena Jonsson and Anna-Carin Olofsson-Zidek. The French team will look to add to their surprising amount of medals in biathlon, already with the two bronze medals, their best chance comes from pursuit bronze medalist Marie Laure Brunet.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Svetlana Ishmouratova (Russia)
Top American Hopeful: Haley Johnson (44th in WC standings)
Top Canadian Hopeful: None
Dominant Nations: Germany, Sweden
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Magdalena Neuner (Germany)
Silver: Marie Laure Brunet (France)
Bronze: Anna Carin Olofsson-Zidek (Sweden)

Biathlon: Men's 20k Individual Start
Biathlon is the only sport that the USA has not won a medal in the Winter Olympics and Tim Burke can change that today. Burke is fourth in the World Cup standings and will pose a challenge to pursuit silver medalist and individual World Cup leader Christoph Sumann of Austria for gold.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Michael Greis (Germany)
Top American Hopeful: Tim Burke
Top Canadian Hopeful: Jean-Philippe Leguellec
Dominant Nation: Austria
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Christoph Sumann (Austria)
Silver: Tim Burke (USA)
Bronze: Bjorn Ferry (Sweden)

Alpine Skiing: Women's Super Combined
The combination of downhill and slalom will give Americans Lindsey Vonn and Julia Mancuso a chance to win more medals after their 1-2 finish in the downhill yesterday. Vonn goes in as the World Cup leader and will get a challenge yet again from Anja Paerson of Sweden, who crashed yesterday, and bronze medalist in the downhill Elisbabeth Goergl of Austria.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Janica Kostelic (Croatia)
Top American Hopefuls: Lindsey Vonn and Julia Mancuso
Top Canadian Hopeful: Shona Rubens and Emily Brydon
Dominant Nations: USA, Austria
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Lindsey Vonn (USA)
Silver: Anja Paerson (Sweden)
Bronze: Julia Mancuso (USA)

Speed Skating: Women's 1000 meters
This is Christine Nesbitt's race to lose. The top-ranked Canadian has won all four World Cup events and will look to win Canada's third gold medal in Vancouver. With an internationally diverse group of skaters hailing from the Netherlands, Korea, China, and Germany chasing her, Nesbitt will have to perform like she has all season.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Marianne Timmer (Netherlands)
Top American Hopeful: Jennifer Rodriguez and Heather Richardson
Top Canadian Hopeful: Christine Nesbitt
Dominant Nation: None
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Christine Nesbitt (Canada)
Silver: Nao Kodaira (Japan)
Bronze: Kristina Groves (Canada)

Figure Skating: Men's Free Skate
After the short program on Tuesday, the top three skaters are seperated by less than a point. This puts extra pressure on all three skaters, defending gold medalist from Russia Evgeni Pluschenko, American Evan Lysacek and Japan's Daisuke Takahashi. There is no question that this is top three barring a fall but the actual medal places will be determined tonight.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Evgeni Pluschenko (Russia)
Top American Hopeful: Evan Lysacek (2nd after short program)
Top Canadian Hopeful: Patrick Chan (7th after short program)
Dominat Nations: Russia, USA, Japan
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Evgeni Pluscheko (Russia)
Silver: Evan Lysacek (USA)
Bronze: Daisuke Takahashi (Japan)

Snowboarding: Women's Halfpipe
After the show that American teammate Shaun White put on last night, Kelly Clark, Gretchen Bleiler, and Hannah Teter will look to sweep the podium tonight. The gold should go to the Americans, but competition does come from Aussie Torah Bright and Sophie Rodriguez of France. If any one of the Americans will be weak, it is Teter who has just started snowboarding again this season after taking time off to do humanitarian work.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Hannah Teter (USA)
Top American Hopefuls: Kelly Clark, Gretchen Bleiler, Hannah Teter
Top Canadian Hopeful: Mercedes Nicoll
Dominant Nation: USA
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Kelly Clark (USA)
Silver: Gretchen Bleiler (USA)
Bronze: Hannah Teter (USA)