The Week Junior - USA (2022-02-11)

With athletes facing

off on ice, twisting in

the air, and zooming

down mountains, there

will be plenty of exciting

performances to see. In

women’s fi gure skating,

Kamila Valieva, a

15-year-old who is part

of the Russian team,

will be the one to beat.

Among the men, look for

American Nathan Chen

and Japan’s Yuzuru

Hanyu to try medal-

worthy quadruple

jumps. On the slopes,

Team USA’s Mikaela

Shiff rin is looking to

win her third consecutive

gold in alpine skiing and

could become the most

decorated US alpine

skier in history. Her

top rival is Slovakian

Petra Vlhova. Team

USA’s snowboarding

star Chloe Kim aims to

repeat her 2018 gold medal

win in the halfpipe, while

Japan’s Yuto Totsuka

and Australia’s Scotty

James will likely land

on men’s snowboarding

podiums. American

Maame Biney, the fi rst

Black woman and youngest

member of the US speed

skating team in 2018,

hopes to claim her fi rst

medal. Expect Jamaica’s

four-man bobsled team

to get attention, even

if they aren’t medal

contenders. It’s the

country’s fi rst time at

the Winter Games in

more than 20 years.

Nathan

Chen

19

Olympic preview

Closing ceremony

The Games conclude

on February 20

with a closing

ceremony at the

Bird’s Nest. When

the Olympic fl ame is

extinguished at the end

of the ceremony, the 2022

Games will be offi cially over.

The next Winter Olympics will

take place in Milan, Italy, in 2026.

Week two (February 11–

February 20)

As snowboarding starts to wrap up,

Team USA’s Shaun White may have

a shot at a fourth Olympic gold. This

week, also look for skeleton fi nals

and more alpine skiing, freestyle

skiing, and speed skating. Ice

hockey medal rounds begin

February 16. The US women, led

by Hilary Knight, hope to

defend their 2018 gold.

Media from all over the world will be covering the

Games. Viewers can watch them on NBC, NBC Sports

Network, CNBC, USA, Telemundo, Golf Channel, NBCOlympics.com,

and the Peacock and NBC Sports apps. (Due to the pandemic, NBC’s

announcers will be in the NBC Sports headquarters in Connecticut.)

Beijing is 13 hours ahead of the eastern US, so live events may air in

the middle of the night. Many popular events will be taped and will

re-air during the evening when more people can watch.

How to watch

Who to watch

Scotty James

Maame Biney

Kamila

Valieva

Games

New events

There will be seven new events this year. One is the monobob, a

bobsled event for women. Bobsleds are usually raced by teams

of two or four people, but a monobob is a sled raced by a single

athlete. Team USA’s Elana Meyers Taylor and Kaillie Humphries

are both top contenders. Also new this year are men’s and women’s

big air jumping events in freestyle skiing, previously held only in

snowboarding. In the competitions, skiers will launch off a jump and

do tricks in the air. One favorite is Eileen Gu, age 18. She was born in

the US but competes for China. This year there

will also be new mixed-gender team events in

freestyle skiing aerials, snowboard cross, ski

jumping, and short track speed skating.

GOLDEN

GLORY

The US is the only

country that has won

a gold medal at every

Winter Olympics.

Elana Meyers Taylor

Hilary Knight

Chloe Kim

The Bird’s Nest

The Ice Cube

The Ice Ribbon