This weekend in Olympic sports, Mikaela Shiffrin is expected to race for the last time before the Olympics in a World Cup giant slalom (Saturday) and slalom (Sunday) in Czechia.
In her most recent races, Shiffrin matched her best giant slalom result in two years (fourth place) and won for the sixth time in seven slalom races this season.
Swiss Marco Odermatt, the world No. 1 in the downhill, super-G and giant slalom, looks to fill the biggest hole on his resume: a win in the Hahnenkamm downhill, the most prestigious annual ski race, in Kitzbuehel, Austria, on Saturday.
The last speed skating competition before the Olympics is a World Cup in Inzell, Germany, from Friday through Sunday, live on Peacock.
Jordan Stolz won his last nine international races over his three primary events (500m, 1000m and 1500m), plus at the last World Cup in December earned his first mass start win. In Milan, he can become the second American to win three or more gold medals at one Winter Olympics after fellow Wisconsin speed skater Eric Heiden in 1980.
The Winter X Games, Friday through Sunday, is the final competition before the Olympics for many top freeskiers and snowboarders, including 2022 Olympic ski slopestyle gold medalist Alex Hall and two-time Olympic ski halfpipe medalist Alex Ferreira.
Though full entries haven’t been announced, three-time Olympic medalist Jessie Diggins is expected to race Saturday and Sunday for the last time before the Olympics. She should go into the Games as the World Cup overall leader.
Ice dancers Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik are the lone members of the U.S. Olympic figure skating team competing at the Four Continents Championships in Beijing, the last event before the Games.
They lead going into Friday’s free dance. In women’s singles, Olympic medal contenders Ami Nakai and Mone Chiba from Japan are first and third going into Friday’s free skate.
Summer Britcher
The last luge World Cup before the Olympics in Oberhof, Germany, features Americans Summer Britcher and the doubles team of Chevonne Forgan and Sophia Kirkby — Olympic medal contenders who each rank fourth in the World Cup standings.
