At the Rio Olympics last summer, , and that figures to be the case again when the 23rd Winter Olympics begins a year from Thursday in PyeongChang, South Korea.
Vail Valley ski racers Mikaela Shiffrin and Lindsey Vonn will be favored to win multiple medals, if healthy, as the Winter Games return to Asia four years after the Sochi Games. Figure skater , thrust herself into the Olympic buildup by finishing third at the U.S. championships last month.
Breckenridge’s , having missed a medal by 0.04 of a second in Sochi, and Mikaela Matthews of Frisco is one of the top U.S. moguls skiers.
Ski racers are competing this week and next in the biennial world championships in St. Moritz, Switzerland. World championships the year before an Olympics always have a way of starting the countdown clock for the Winter Games.
“For sure itap getting me thinking more and more about the Olympics and big events in general and what my goals will be going into South Korea next year — what events I’m going to want to ski and how I can best prepare myself for that throughout the rest of this season, over the summer and in the next prep period before next winter starts,” Shiffrin said this week in a U.S. Olympic Committee media teleconference.
PyeongChang is located in a mountainous area about 50 miles from the border with North Korea. Alan Ashley, a former skier and coach at the University of Colorado who is now director of sport performance for the USOC, was in PyeongChang last week to check out the facilities.
“The venues are really in great shape,” Ashley said. “Overall I would say the venues and the villages are really coming together well.”
Ashley said the heavily forested mountains around PyeongChang remind him of New England.
“It is beautiful,” Ashley said. “It is very wintry. When we were there it was cold and crisp and the snow was fantastic. The volunteers we worked with and the people that have supported us so far have just been unbelievable in terms of communication and organization.”
Bell heads to South Korea next week to compete in an Olympic “test event,” this year’s site of the annual Four Continents Championships, having qualified with her breakthrough performance at U.S. championships. Shiffrin will be heading there two weeks later when the World Cup arrives for a test event.
“I’m pretty psyched to see what itap all about and get eyes on the venue,” Shiffrin said. “I’ve heard the snow in Asia can be incredible, and oftentimes itap dry and plentiful, a lot like Colorado.”
but suffered in the previous 12 months. . She is going for her third consecutive slalom world title in St. Moritz and leads the World Cup overall standings.
“Itap nice to know a little bit about what to expect going into these next Olympics since I was in Russia, but itap going to be totally new feeling having been to an Olympics before, having won a gold medal,” Shiffrin said. “There is definitely more expectations around me going into this next Olympics … I’m trying to keep my head on straight now with a lot of incredible opportunities still to come this season. But it has gone by in the blink of an eye. Sometimes itap hard to keep everything in order in my head and remember how it all happened. It seems like this happened so fast.”
Two major questions loom for PyeongChang: Will NHL players participate? And what about Russia?
NHL players want to play, but the NHL is in a dispute with the international hockey federation.
“The sooner we get a resolution the better, from the standpoint of our ability to plan with USA Hockey and make sure we’re doing a good job supporting them,” Ashley said. “That question’s still out there as to who’s going to participate. We’re waiting like everyone else in terms of how this sorts itself out. We have a Plan A and a Plan B. We’ll be ready for whatever the outcome is to do our very best to make sure our hockey team’s ready to go.”
Only a handful of Russian athletes competed in the Rio Olympics last summer because most were banned after Russia’s massive state-supported doping program was revealed.
“We don’t have a firm answer specifically on what will be the status of the Russian team in PyeongChang,” Ashley said. “The good news is that there’s a lot of discussion on focusing on the current anti-doping regime and really trying to find a solution. Thatap about as much as I can worry about.”
Colorado athletes expected to be major names at 2018 Winter Olympics
Lindsey Vonn, alpine racing, Vail: With 77 World Cup wins, Vonn is closing in on the all-time record (86).PyeongChang would mark her fourth Olympics.
Mikaela Shiffrin, alpine racing, EagleVail: At age 21, the reigning Olympic slalom champion is ahead of Vonn’s career pace for wins.
Mariah Bell, figure skating, Monument: The 20-year-old Ralston Valley graduate finished third at the U.S. championships last month, qualifying to compete in the world championships next month.
Katie Uhlaender, skeleton, Breckenridge: Three-time Olympian and former world champion who finished fourth in Sochi, only 0.04 of a second from a medal.
Bryan and Taylor Fletcher, Nordic combined, Steamboat Springs: , are the heart of the NC team.
Gus Kenworthy, freeskiing, Telluride: claimed silver medal in slope style in Sochi.
Mikaela Matthews, moguls, Frisco: Captured her first World Cup victory last season.
Simi Hamilton, cross country, Aspen: One of the top sprinters in the world, had two World Cup podiums last season and another last month.
Torin Yater-Wallace, halfpipe, Basalt: Won his first World Cup since 2014 this month, following a concussion in 2015 and a that put him on life support.
Taylor and Arielle Gold, snowboarding, Steamboat Springs: Both made the Olympic team four years ago but in practice moments before the first competition there.
