Posted on February 4, 2022

Beijing 2022 – Who to Watch on Team USA

Weekly Update

Beijing 2022

This is your guide to the top Americans competing in the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games. I go over a quick winter game overview, the top medal favorite from Team USA and ‘Dumb Questions You Don’t Want to Ask Your BF’ about winter sports. The games open tomorrow so tune in to stay informed.

Go Team USA!

Olympics by numbers:

2900 athletes. 109 events. 90 countries. 24th winter Olympics. 18 days. 15 sports.

7 new events: W monobob, freestyle big-air skiing, mixed team events in ski jumping, freestyle skiing aerials, snowboard cross and short-track speed skating team relay.

First city to host both winter and summer games.

First Olympic games to be powered by renewable energy as primary sources.

NOR leads the USA on medal count in both golds and total.

  • NOR 368 > USA 305
  • NOR 132 > USA 105

Full Schedule 

If you want it by the daily schedule, this is my favorite place for it!

Technically events started Wed with Curling and Luge training runs. The final medal given out will be CC skiing W 30km Mass Start @ 12:30am on Sunday.

Names to Know on Team USA: Ladies first!

Mikaela Shiffrin:

  • What she is competing in: Alpine Skiing
    • Her specialty is the Slalom & Giant Slalom
    • But she has said that she will likely be competing in all 5 individual alpine skiing events: the 2 she’s previously won before and the Alpine Combined (), Super G, Downhill
  • Previous Olympics: 2x gold medalist in the Slalom in Sochi 2014 and Giant Slalom in Pyeongchang 2018
    • She was the youngest gold medalist to win in the Slalom
  • Her competition she needs to watch out for:
    • ITA Sofia Goggia if she can come back from her latest injury (Downhill)
    • SUI Lara Gut-Behrami is the sitting World Champ in the Giant Slalom
    • SUI Michelle Gisin won the Combined in 2018 and got 3rd at this year’s World Champs
  • When to watch her?
    • 2/6
      • Giant Slalom Run 1 @ 8:15pm
      • Giant Slalom Run 2 @ 11:45pm
    • 2/8
      • Slalom Run 1 @ 8:15pm
      • Slalom Run 2 @ 11:45pm
    • 2/10
      • Super G @ 9pm
    • 2/14
      • Downhill @ 9pm
    • 2/16
      • Combined – Downhill Run 1 @ 8:30pm
    • 2/17
      • Combined – Slalom Run 1 @ 12am
  • Other things to know:
    • She has already had COVID 6 weeks before the Olympics so we are really hoping that 3 month immunity lasts for her!
    • Her mother was also an alpine skier and her dad passed away in 2020. They were super close.

Erin Jackson

  • What she is competing in: Speed Skating
    • 500m (her specialty) & 1000m
  • Previous Olympics: She got 24th in Pyeongchang 2018 but has really progressed since then
  • Her competition she needs to watch out for:
    • JPN Nao Kodaira is the reigning gold medalist and Olympic Record holder in the 500m. She will also be in the 1000m & 1500m.
  • When to watch her?
    • 2/13
      • W 500m @ 7:56am
    • 2/17
      • W 1000m @ 2:30am
  • Other things to know:
    • She became the first Black woman to win a speed skating world cup victory and did so multiple times over this season
    • Although she is ranked #1 I the 500m, she failed to qualify for Team USA as she tripped in her race. However, friend Brittany Bowe gave up her qualifying spot so Jackson could go!
    • Jackson didn’t start speed skating until 2017 and wen to the Olympics in 2018..

Brittany Bowe

  • What she is competing in: Speed Skating
    • 500m, 1000m, 1500m & most likely Team Pursuit
    • She set the WR for the 1000m in 2019
  • Previous Olympics: She had a disappointing Sochi 2014 games and just a bronze in team pursuit at Pyeongchang 2018 but she has since set a world record in the 1000m.
  • Her competition she needs to watch out for:
    • Same as Erin, she needs to be wary of JPN Nao Kodaira
    • JPN Miho Takagi has won 3 of the 4 1500m world stops this year
  • When to watch her?
    • 2/7
      • W 1500m @ 2:30am
    • 2/13
      • W 500m @ 7:56am
    • 2/17
      • W 1000m @ 2:30am
  • Other thinks to know:
    • We cant talk about Erin Jackson without talking about Brittany as she is the reason Erin is here.

Elana Meyers Taylor

  • What she is competing in: Bobsleigh
    • 2-woman sleigh & Monobob
  • Previous Olympics: This is her 4th She has 2 silvers in the last 2 Olympics and a bronze from Vancouver 2010.
  • His competition he needs to watch out for: anyone from GER. They have been dominant in both Olympics and World Championships. She also has some competition from fellow American Kallie Humphries
  • When to watch her?
    • 2/12
      • Monobob Heat 1 @ 7:30pm
      • Monobob Heat 2 @ 9pm
    • 2/13
      • Monobob Heat 3 @ 7:30pm
      • Monobob Heat 4 @ 9pm
    • 2/18
      • 2-woman Heat 1 @ 6am
      • 2-woman Heat 2 @ 7:30am
    • 2/19
      • 2-woman Heat 3 @ 6am
      • 2-woman Heat 4 @ 7:30am
  • Other things to know:
    • This is the first time that the women’s monobob has been in the Olympics.

Jaime Anderson

  • What she is competing in: Snowboarding
    • Slopestyle & Big Air
  • Previous Olympics: She is 2x reigning Olympic gold medalist in Slopestyle and silver medalist from Pyeongchang 2018 in Big Air
    • She is going for a 3-peat
  • Her competition she needs to watch out for:
  • When to watch her?
    • 2/5
      • Women’s Snowboarding Slopestyle Run 1 @ 7:30pm
      • Women’s Snowboarding Slopestyle Run 2 @ 7:57pm
      • Women’s Snowboarding Slopestyle Run 3 @ 8:24pm
    • 2/14
      • Women’s Snowboarding Big Air Run 1 @ 7:30pm
      • Women’s Snowboarding Big Air Run 2 @ 7:52pm
      • Women’s Snowboarding Big Air Run 3 @ 8:15pm
  • Other things to know:
    • She became the first female snowboarder to win 2 Olympic golds
    • She has 7 siblings!

Chloe Kim

  • What she is competing in: Snowboard
    • Women’s Halfpipe
  • Previous Olympics: reigning gold medalist from Pyeongchang 2018
    • She is also Youth Olympic Champ from 2016 and current World Champ from both 2021 & 2019
    • She was the youngest woman to win Olympic snowboarding gold at the age of 17
  • Her competition she needs to watch out for: she is in a class all her own here… so her own mindset is going to be her biggest competition
  • When to watch her?
    • 2/9
      • Snowboard Women’s Halfpipe Run 1 @ 7:30pm
      • Snowboard Women’s Halfpipe Run 2 @ 7:58pm
      • Snowboard Women’s Halfpipe Run 3 @ 8:25pm
  • Other things to know:
    • She is the highest paid female snowboarder in history; she is sponsored by Nike, Toyota, P&G

Jessie Diggins

  • What she is competing in: Cross Country Skiing
    • In 2018 she competed in the W Team Sprint, 15km Skiathlon, W 4x5km Relay, 10km Freestyle, 30km Mass Start, Sprint Classical
    • .. she has not yet announced which events she intends to compete in
  • Previous Olympics: She won USA’s first Olympic CC ski gold in the women’s team sprint in Pyeongchang 2018
    • She has said her goal is to win the 4x5km relay and an individual gold
  • Her competition she needs to watch out for:
    • SWE Maja Dahlqvist & Frida Karlsson who are the top of the sprint and distance world cup standings
    • ROC Natalia Nepryaeva is good at both distance and sprints is top of the overall standings
  • When to watch her?
    • 2/10
      • W 10km Classic @ 1am
    • 2/12
      • W 4x5km Relay @ 1:30am
    • 2/16
      • W Team Sprint Semi @ 3am
      • W Team Sprint Final @ 5am
    • 2/20
      • W 30km Mass Start @ 12:30am
  • Other things to know:
    • Since her iconic 2018 race, she also won the Tour de Ski and was the first American to do so, male or female.
    • She is also 3rd in the world cup rankings with 2 individual wins
    • Her fiancé is a pro ice hockey player

The Women’s Figure Skating Trio: Mariah Bell, Alysa Liu & Karen Chen

  • What she is competing in: Figure Skating
    • Women’s Single Skating
    • Team Event
  • Previous Olympics: Only Karen Chen has been to an Olympic games. She took 11th in PyeongChang 2018. Competing in back-to-back Olympics has not been done by an American woman since Sash Cohen in 2002 & 2006.
  • Their competition they needs to watch out for:
    • The ROC women could sweep the medals with Kamila Valieva (just 15 yrs old but with record highest score), Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova (first to land a quad Lutz, toe loop and flip in competition)
  • When to watch them?
    • 2/5
      • Team Event – W Short @ 7:30am
    • 2/6
      • Team Event – W Free @ 9:35pm
    • 2/15
      • W Short Program @ 4am
    • 2/17
      • W Free Skate @ 4am
  • Other things to know:
    • Bell became the oldest woman to win a national championship since 1927 at age 25. She also is the oldest figure skating individual woman to skate for Team USA since 1928.
      • Adam Rippon is Bell’s coach. You may remember him from the 2018 games where he was the bronze medalist
    • Liu is on the opposite side. She was the youngest woman to win nationals at age 13 in 2018 (too young to qualify for the Olympics). Her Olympic debut is highly anticipated.
      • She tested positive for COVID during nationals after the short program (she was sitting in 3rd)
    • Chen took 2nd in nationals this year. She is also a student at Cornell. Her brother is also a figure skater but competes in ice dancing.

US Women’s Hockey Team

  • What they is competing in: duh Ice Hockey
  • Previous Olympics: USA has medaled in every Olympics since women’s hockey was added to the Olympic slate.
    • They won gold in Pyeongchang 2018 & Nagano 1998. 2 silvers in a row in Sochi 2014 and Salt Lake 2010.
    • The competition they needs to watch out for: CAN hands down – they have 4 golds in the event and 2 silvers as their worst finishes
    • Since the induction of the event in the Olympics in Nagano 1998, the USA and CAN have finished 1, 2 in all but 1 Olympics (Turin 2006 – SWE took 2nd)
  • When to watch them?
    • 2/3
      • vs FIN @ 7:10am
    • 2/5
      • Vs SUI @ 7:10am
    • 2/7
      • Vs CAN @ 10:10pm
    • 2/10 – 12 – Quarterfinals
    • 2/13 – 14 – Semifinals
    • 2/16
      • Bronze Medal Game @ 5:30am
      • Gold Medal Game @ 10:10pm
  • Other things to know:
    • 15 of the 23 women on the roster have prior Olympic experience; Hillary Knight has been to 4.

Onto the men:

David Wise

  • What he is competing in: Freestyle Skiing
    • Ski Halfpipe
  • Previous Olympics: 2x reigning Olympic gold medalist in this event
    • He is going for a 3-peat
  • His competition he needs to watch out for: the next guy on the list
  • When to watch him?
    • 2/18
      • Freeski Halfpipe Run 1 @ 7:30pm
      • Freeski Halfpipe Run 2 @ 7:58pm
      • Freeski Halfpipe Run 2 @ 8:25pm

Alex Ferreira

  • What he is competing in: Freestyle Skiing
    • Ski Halfpipe
  • Previous Olympics: Silver medalist in Pyeongchang 2018
  • His competition he needs to watch out for: USA David Wise
  • When to watch him?
    • 2/18
      • Freeski Halfpipe Run 1 @ 7:30pm
      • Freeski Halfpipe Run 2 @ 7:58pm
      • Freeski Halfpipe Run 2 @ 8:25pm
  • Other things to know:
    • His dad was a pro Argentinian soccer player

John Shuster

  • What he is competing in: Men’s Curling
  • Previous Olympics: gold medalist from Pyeongchang 2018, bronze medalist from Torino 2006, 9th in Sochi 2014 and 10th Vancouver 2010
  • His competition he needs to watch out for: according to the World Curling Federation the top 3 teams are SWE, SUI then CAN
  • When to watch him? (Round Robins so far have been announced)
    • 2/9 vs ROC @ 6:05am
    • 2/10
      • vs SWE @ 12:05am
      • vs GBR @ 7:05pm
    • 2/12
      • vs NOR @ @ 12:05am
      • vs CAN @ 7:05pm
    • 2/13
      • vs CHN @ 6:05am
    • 2/14
      • vs SUI @ 7:05pm
    • 2/15
      • vs ITA @ 6:05am
    • 2/16
      • vs DEN @ 7:05pm

Nathan Chen

  • What he is competing in: Figure Skating
    • Men’s Singles & prob the Team event
  • Previous Olympics: He got bronze in Pyeongchang 2018 and it was one of the biggest upsets of winter games in a while. He failed to land a single jump cleanly in the entire short program. He was in 17th after the Short but scored an Olympic record 215 points after 6 quads in the Free to take 3rd.
  • His competition he needs to watch out for:
    • JPN Hanyu Yuzuru is he 2x reigning Olympic gold medalist
    • JPN Uno Shoma is also a contender but not quite as big as the other 2. He is the silver medalist from Pyeongchang
  • When to watch him?
    • 2/3
      • Team Event – M Short @ 7:55pm
    • 2/5
      • Team Event – M Free @ 9:50pm
    • 2/7
      • Men’s Short Program @ 7:15pm
    • 2/9
      • Men’s Free Skate @ 7:30pm
  • Other things to know:
    • He has not lost a skating event except the Olympics since 2017…
    • Oh and he also attends Yale and wants to go to medical school

Shaun White

  • What he is competing in: Snowboarding
    • Men’s Halfpipe
  • Previous Olympics: 5th Olympics and he has only failed to win gold once (Sochi 2014)
  • His competition he needs to watch out for:
    • JPN Ayumu Hirano is the 2x reigning silver medalist
    • AUS Scotty James won 3 world championships and bronze in 2018
    • JPN Yuto Totsuka is the reigning world champ so he also might make a play at the gold
  • When to watch him?
    • 2/10
      • Snowboard Men’s Halfpipe Run 1 @ 7:30pm
      • Snowboard Men’s Halfpipe Run 2 @ 7:58pm
      • Snowboard Men’s Halfpipe Run 3 @ 8:25pm
  • Other things to know:
    • He has said this will be his last Olympics, although we’ve heard that before. He also said he will keep doing it as long as he is competitive and enjoying it
    • White also tried to qualify for skateboarding in the summer Olympics but did not in Tokyo.

Dumb Questions You Don’t Want to Ask your BF about the Winter Olympics:

  • What is the difference in the alpine skiing events?

    • Downhill: fastest, longest course with the gates set farthest apart. Get down the mountain as fast as possible.
    • Slalom: most technical event as the gates are closest together. Course is shortest but has quickest turns. 2 rounds on 2 different courses. Lowest time of both runs wins.
    • Giant Slalom: 2 runs on the same day on a longer slalom course
    • Super-G: aka Super Giant Slalom. But this one is longer and considered a combo between the Downhill & Slalom. Gates are further apart and 1 run takes it all. Oh ya and no practice run…
    • Alpine Combined: 1 Downhill (or Super G) run & 1 Slalom run. Lowest aggregate time of the runs wins.
    • Mixed Team Parallel Slalom: this event pitches 4 people from one country (2 women, 2 men) against another, side by side in a slalom course. If you beat the other person, you get a point. If the teams are split 2-2 after all 4 people go, the lowest aggregate time wins.

  • What is the order of difficulty in figure skating?

    • Toe Loop –> Salchow –> Loop –> Flip –> Lutz –> Axel
    • These jumps are differentiated by take off foot, edges taken off/landed on, toe vs edge jumps (harder),
    • The Axel is most difficult. It involves at least 1.5 rotations as the skater starts facing forward but lands backwards on outside edge of the other foot
    • The Lutz is when the skater starts by skating backwards on a curve, taking off on the back outside edge of one foot and landing on the back outside edge of the other foot. The landing foot is also used to propel them upwards. The difficulty of this jump comes from the skater having to rotate the opposite direction of the curve
    • A Flip looks similar to the Axel because they land on the opposite foot of the take off, but they use the toe of the other foot to propel them forward and use the inside edge on the take off foot.
    • A Loop is an edge jump meaning the skater takes off and lands on the back outside edge of the same foot
    • A Salchow is where the skater takes off from the back inside edge of one foot but lands on the back outside edge of the opposite foot. Opposite edge and feet.
    • A toe loop is similar to the loop in the send that they take off and land on the same edge and foot but this jump uses the toe pick on the opposite foot to propel them into the air
    • If you want more detail, check out this link.

 

  • What is the difference between the Short Program vs Free Skating?

    • Short program is only 2m 40s (+/- 10 seconds).
      • M must have: Double or triple Axel, 1 triple or quad jump, a jump combo (double/triple, 2 triples, quad/double or triple), 1 flying spin and camel or sit spin
      • W must have: Double or triple Axel, 2 triple, jump combo (double/triple, 2 triples), 1 flying spin, laidback or sideways leaning spin or sit or camel spin without change of foot, spin combo with 1 change of foot, step sequence of entire ice surface
    • Free skate is much longer. For the women and dance its 4m and men and pairs it’s 4m 30s. All +/- 10 seconds.
      • Must have up to 7 jumps (1 Axel), up to 3 spins (1 combo), 1 step sequence & 1 choreographic sequence

  • Difference between Long track vs short track speed skating?

    • Long track is ~400m with 2 lanes. Only 2 skaters compete at a time and you must stay in their own separate lane. Long track skaters also race the clock>each other. Think of this like a time trial event. Long track skaters are known to the taller of the two disciplines. Another easy differentiator – no helmets are worn in long track.

    • Short track is ~111.12m aka the same as an international hockey rink with no lanes. 4-6 skaters compete each race and none have to stay in a lane. Skaters compete against each other to advance out of heats. This is also how you get a lot of crazy crashes. With all of these aspects, short track skaters are usually shorter

Biggest piece of advice:

If you haven’t watched Snowboard Cross, you’re in for a treat! And they have added a new event with the Mixed Team Snowboard Cross.

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