2010 Winter Olympics Preview: Speed Skating, Luge, Nordic Combined
Day five, the final day of our Olympic Preview. The opening ceremonies are schedule to take place tonight. All week on Double G Sports we have previewed the Olympic events. Today we discuss the final three. Speed Skating, Luge, and Nordic Combined.
Speed Skating
Over the years, speed skating has been a wide open competition. Norway is the all time medal leader with 79. The United States stands in third with 63 all time medals.
The United States has a few athletes that will certainly battle for the gold medal. Shani Davis, Chad Hedrick, and Trevor Marsicano. Davis is the world record holder in both the 1000m ad 1500m events. In 2009, Marsicano beat both Davis and Denny Morrison to win his first world title at the Single Distance Worlds. Hedrick took home three medals in the Torino games. Sprinter Tucker Fredricks is a medal contender in the 500m event.
Catherine Raney and Jennifer Rodriguez lead the women's side for the US. Both skaters could be part of the United States pursuit team. The pursuit team finished fifth in Torino and hopes to improve on that this year.
Luge
This event will be a focus of the Olympics this year as just today they suffered a tragic death. Nodar Kumaritashvili, a luger from Georgia Republice died today after a crash during a training run. Just hours before opening ceremonies, everyone involved in the Olympics is shocked.
Erin Hamlin of New York is the United States best hope for a medal here. She has a chance to become the first United States single luger (male or female) to win an Olympic medal. She is the reigning world champion.
Germany has been the dominant force in the women's luge and are favored once again.
Doubles pair Mark Grimmette and Brian Martin are the most successful luge athletes in United States history. This pair has been together for 14 years. Despite their history of success, Grimmette and Martin are still thought to be long shots to medal in these games.
Tony Benshoof will be appearing in his third winter Olympics for the United States.
Nordic Combined
The United States is feeling confident they can gain their first Olympic medal in the Nordic Combined. Many people believe its not a matter of if, but when. This could be the year.
New Yorker Bill Demong is the leading candidate to medal for the United States. Todd Lodwick is another athlete that has the potential to medal. He had two wins at the 2009 World Championships. He is very tough on the cross-country course.
Norway leads the all time medal count in this event as well. They have one 26 all time medals. including 11 golds. Germany has also been very good lately.
This concludes the Double G Sports Olympic Preview. You can see our preview of every event from the site home page, Double G Sports. Follow all Olympic coverage on NBC.
Go USA!