Feb. 27 Olympic Preview

With two days left of the 21st Winter Olympics in Vancouver, a slew of medals are still needed to be given out. Events today include the women's cross-country 30k, men's and women's team pursuit in speed skating, men's slalom, curling and bobsled. The Americans have a great chance of reaching forty medals. Needing only six more to reach forty, three or four medalists are expected today.

Cross-Country: Women's 30k Mass Start
Marit Bjoergen of Norway will look to win her fourth gold and fifth overall medal today. Bjoergen will face competition from Justyna Kowalcyzk and Petra Majdic, who have both won a mass start event this season in the World Cup. Look for Anna Haag and Charlotte Kalla of Sweden to also be a factor.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Katerina Neumannova (Russia)
Top American Hopeful: Kikkan Randall
Top Canadian Hopeful: Sara Renner
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Marit Bjoergen (Norway)
Silver: Justyna Kowalcyzk (Poland)
Bronze: Anna Haag (Sweden)

Speed Skating: Men's Team Pursuit
After shocking the team from the Netherlands in the semifinals yesterday, Team USA led by Chad Hedrick will face Team Canada in the final. For the Americans to have a chance at most gold medals in Vancouver, Hedrick and company will have to win this race. Norway races the Dutch in the bronze medal race.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Italy
USA vs. Canada in Final
Projected Medalists:
Gold: USA
Silver: Canada
Bronze: Netherlands

Speed Skating: Women's Team Pursuit
Four teams competing for three medals today in this event. The semifinals occur close to an hour before the final. The two semifinals feature Poland vs. Japan and Team USA vs. Germany. Germany is the clear favorite but Team USA will have something to say about that with a team that is desperate to medal.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Germany
USA in semifinals
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Germany
Silver: Japan
Bronze: USA

Snowboarding: Men's Parallel Giant Slalom
It is Canada vs. Austria in the men's PGS event today. The two countries boast the top four snowboarders in World Cup competition. In the women's competition yesterday, three of the four finalists were in the top five of the World Cup standings. Look for that trend to continue for Austria's Benjamin Karl and Andreas Prommegger and Canada's Jasey-Jay Anderson and Michael Lambert.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Philipp Schoch (Switzerland)
Top American Hopeful: Chris Klug
Top Canadian Hopefuls: Anderson and Lambert
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Benjamin Karl (Austria)
Silver: Michael Lambert (Canada)
Bronze: Andreas Prommegger (Austria)

Men's Curling
The gold medal match at Vancouver Olympic Center will be between the host nation and the team with the most unique uniform of the curling tournament. Canada will face Norway tonight for the gold. After a disappointment in the women's gold medal match yesterday, Canada is expecting their team to win today. Sweden and Switzerland play for the bronze.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Canada
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Canada
Silver: Norway
Bronze: Sweden

Alpine Skiing: Men's Slalom
The Bode Miller Redemption Tour ended in a DNF in th first run but that does not mean you should not keep watching. Giuliano Razzoli of Italy has a commanding .50 second lead over Mitja Valencic of Slovenia with defending gold medalist Benjamin Raich of Austria and Ivica Kostelic of Croatia waiting in the wings. The second run of most of the alpine events have resulted in drastic change in the standings and look for that to happen today.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Benjamin Raich (Austria)
Top American Hopeful: None
Top Canadian Hopeful: Michael Janyk (11th after 1st run)
Projected Medalists:
Gold: Benjamin Raich (Austria)
Silver: Ivica Kostelic (Croatia)
Bronze: Giuliano Razzoli (Italy)

4-Man Bobsled
After setting the track record last night in the first heat, Steve Holcomb and USA I look to give Germany I's Andre Lange his first non-gold finish. Lange has won all five medals he has competed for in bobsled olympic competition.
2006 Torino Gold Medalist: Germany I (Andre Lange)
Top American Hopeful: USA I (Steve Holcomb)
Top Canadian Hopeful: Canada I (Lyndon Rush)
Projected Medalists:
Gold: USA I
Silver: Germany I
Bronze: Canada I

Men's Hockey Bronze Medal Game
Finland and Slovakia have taken two different paths to the brozne medal game. The Finns were embarrased in the first period against the USA and could not recover while the Slovakian team almost took Canada to overtime. The edge goes to Slovakia, who beat Russia and Sweden in the tournament, because Finland is coming in such an emotional low.
Projected Medalist:
Bronze: Slovakia