TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2014 SPORTS Sports at Sochi Olympics KRASNAYA POLYANA: Russian biathlete Glazyrina Ekaterina trains at Laura Cross-country Ski & SOCHI: Jonathan Kuck of the US practices during a test race at Adler Arena Skating Center at the 2014 Biathlon Center ahead of the 2014 Winter Olympics. —AP Winter Olympics. —AP ALPINE SKIING events, and its two biggest stars are Petter Northug STARS TO WATCH a bit lower at the Sochi Olympics. Steering is done by SKI JUMPING THE BASICS and Marit Bjoergen. Northug has struggled with illness Defending moguls champion Alex Bilodeau’s subtle shifts of the body, and the start is critical. Lugers THE BASICS After missing the first three Winter Olympics, Alpine this season, however, and his form is in question. toughest competition could come from Canadian wear gloves with tiny spikes attached to the finger Women will compete for the first time in a sport skiing joined the program in 1936. Ten gold medals will Bjoergen won three golds in Vancouver in 2010 and teammate Mikael Kingsbury. Hannah Kearney of the pads, using them to dig into the ice to gain momen- the men have had to themselves since 1924. Four be awarded in Sochi, five for men and five for women - could well repeat that feat in Sochi if she again gets the United States is the defending women’s champion. tum, before settling into position for the ride. gold medals will be awarded overall, the large hill, downhill, slalom, giant slalom, super giant slalom (usu- better of main rival Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland. Victor Oehling Norberg of Sweden is a consistent top- the normal hill and a team event for the men. The ally called super-G) and super combined. Three-time overall World Cup winner Dario Cologna 10 finisher in skicross but still looking for that first vic- STARS TO WATCH women will compete only on the normal hill. has only recently returned from an ankle injury but tory of the season. Germany, Germany, Germany. Felix Loch is the STARS TO WATCH should still be a contender. reigning Olympic champion and is favored to repeat in STARS TO WATCH With Lindsey Vonn out injured, the 18-year-old DID YOU KNOW? the men’s race, and teammate Natalie Geisenberger “Kid Ballerina” Sara Takahashi of Japan, who says American many call “The Next Lindsey Vonn,” Mikaela DID YOU KNOW? Freestyle skiing dates back more than 100 years has been nearly unbeatable on the World Cup circuit her ballet training helps her maintain balance during Shiffrin, will attract plenty of attention as the favorite to The most successful Winter Olympian of all time with records of skiers performing somersaults on skis to earn her Sochi-favorite status. The Germans also jumps, is the women’s favorite. Her biggest competi- win the slalom. Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany, a dou- was a cross-country skier. Bjoern Daehlie of Norway at the start of the 20th century in Norway, Italy and dominate in doubles luge. tors are American teenager Sarah Hendrickson, the ble gold medalist at the 2010 Vancouver Games, and won eight Olympic gold medals between 1992 and Austria. The first professional competitions were in world champion who is coming off right knee sur- Lara Gut of Switzerland, who’ll be making her Olympic 1998, along with four silvers. He nearly won a ninth 1971, and it entered the Olympic program in 1992. DID YOU KNOW? gery in August, and Lindsey Van, the sport’s first debut, could dominate other races. Aksel Lund Svindal gold, but surprisingly lost a sprint finish to Silvio Fauner The Olympic luge program is growing in Sochi with world champion and Hendrickson’s teammate. of Norway already enjoys rock-star status in Europe, of Italy in the men’s 4x10-kilometer relay at the 1994 MEN’S HOCKEY the addition of a team relay. One man, one woman and while 36-year-old Bode Miller, owner of five Olympic Lillehammer Games, stunning the home crowd. THE BASICS one doubles team will compose each nation’s team, DID YOU KNOW? medals, and Ted Ligety, who won three titles at last About 150 jetlagged NHL players join their and they’ll go one after another - with one slider slap- The International Olympic Committee fought for year’s world championships, will also be ones to watch CURLING European counterparts in a frenetic 12-team, 12-day ping a pad to trigger the clock and tell the next team- years to keep women from ski jumping at the from the US team. THE BASICS tournament for hockey supremacy. Nobody has time mate it’s time to start their run. Olympics, with suggestions their event wasn’t com- Two gold medals will be awarded, one for men and for practice or team-building with three quick open- petitive enough and that their bodies weren’t strong DID YOU KNOW? one for women. Ten teams are in both tournaments. ing-round games before the knockout portion begins, NORDIC COMBINED enough to take the strain of jumps, affecting their Austria has won a record 105 Alpine skiing medals They all play each other once in the round-robin stage, but Canada, Russia, Sweden, Finland and the United THE BASICS ability to have children. at the Olympics, nearly twice as many as any other with four advancing to the semifinals. States all have their eyes on gold. With ski jumping and cross-country skiing, it’s the country. Switzerland ranks second with 56, followed by sole male-only sport left at the Winter Olympics. Three SNOWBOARDING France with 43 and the United States with 39. STARS TO WATCH STARS TO WATCH gold medals will be awarded, off the normal and large THE BASICS Margaretha Sigfridsson of Sweden and Eve Reigning NHL MVP Alex Ovechkin and fellow stars hills with 10-kilometer ski races for each, and a team Five events: Halfpipe, snowboardcross, parallel BIATHLON Muirhead of Britain have been engaged in a battle for Evgeni Malkin and Pavel Datsyuk are under extraordi- event from the large hill which includes a 4x5-kilome- giant slalom and two new ones - slopestyle and par- THE BASICS supremacy in women’s curling for the past 12 months. nary home-country pressure to lead the Russians to ter cross-country race. allel slalom. Slopestyle is a ride down a hill with Like several other sports, biathlon has military ori- Muirhead is the world champion and Sigfridsson the their first gold medals since the Unified Team’s 1992 steeply angled jumps, rails and little bumps called gins with the combination of cross-country skiing and European champion - and the Olympics can be viewed win in Albertville. Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby also is STARS TO WATCH “jibs.” Parallel slalom is racing - a shortened version of rifle shooting first becoming a common exercise for as the decider. Brad Jacobs is the star attraction in back for more Olympic magic after scoring the gold- Eric Frenzel of Germany comes into Sochi with a parallel giant slalom event that’s been on the pro- winter troops in northern countries during the second gram since snowboarding was introduced in 1998. half of the 19th century. That also helps explain why countries like Norway, Russia and Sweden are still STARS TO WATCH dominant. Biathlon has one of the busiest schedules A certain rider named Shaun White, who is going on the Olympic program, with four individual events for his third straight halfpipe gold and trying to win for both men and women, along with a relay. New for in slopestyle, as well. Another rider to watch will be this year is a mixed relay. Torah Bright of Australia, the defending Olympic halfpipe champion who will compete in halfpipe, STARS TO WATCH slopestyle and snowboardcross. Martin Fourcade of France has been the top men’s biathlete in the last two years, winning three world DID YOU KNOW? championship titles in 2012 and the overall World Cup Mark McMorris of Canada is largely considered last season, and he is expected to add his first Olympic White’s top challenger in slopestyle but he broke a gold in Sochi. Emil Hegle Svendsen of Norway could rib competing in the Winter X Games. He’s expected well add to his two golds from Vancouver, as well. On to be OK in time for Sochi. the women’s side, expect Tora Berger of Norway and Darya Domracheva of Belarus to grab at least a couple LONG TRACK SPEEDSKATING of medals each. THE BASICS All races are held in pairs using two lanes on the DID YOU KNOW? track. At the back straightaway, the skaters switch One of the all-time greats will be competing in the lanes, allowing them both to cover the same dis- biathlon events in Sochi as Ole Einar Bjoerndalen aims tance per lap. When both skaters emerge from the to cap his storied career by making Olympic history. corner at the same time, the skater in the inside lane The 40-year-old Norwegian has six Olympic golds from has to let the outer lane pass in front of them. The previous games and needs two more to equal the men and women each compete in five individual Winter Games record. While Bjoerndalen hasn’t won an events, and the team pursuit. individual World Cup race in two years, Norway is one of the favorites in both the men’s and mixed relay - STARS TO WATCH meaning he could well get there. SOCHI: Figure skater Patrick Chan of Canada in action during a training session prior to the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics at Shani Davis of the United States will try to Iceberg Skating Palace.