2018 Winter Olympics: US Athletes To Watch In Pyeongchang

Figure skating, skiing and snowboarding are always favorites at the Winter Olympics, which open Friday, Feb. 9, in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Several U.S. athletes have a good chance at bringing home gold medals.

The Olympic Games run for 18 days and conclude with closing ceremonies on Feb. 25. It’s bitterly cold in Pyeongchang, and the forecast calls for 14-degree Fahrenheit temperatures for the opening ceremony on Friday.

Here are five U.S. athletes or teams to watch:

Skier Lindsey Vonn: The three-time Olympian from Vail, Colorado, won gold and bronze in the 2010 Winter Games, but missed the Sochi Olympics in 2014 because of injuries. Despite that, Vonn, 33, is still the sport’s most winning skier, and has earned world titles in all five alpine ski disciplines — something that doesn’t often happen.

Figure Skater Nathan Chen: Sports Illustrated picks 18-year-old Chen to win gold in his Olympics debut. In January, the Salt Lake, Utah, native became the first male figure skater to land five quadruple jumps in a single performance, an exceptional feat he repeated it a month later.

Skier Mikaela Shiffrin: The 22-year-old alpine racer who hails from Eagle-Vail, Colorado, is “the best slalom skier in the world,” The New Yorker said. It’s not hyperbole. Shiffrin has been the No. 1-ranked woman in the world for two years running and will defend her gold medal at the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games.

Snowboarder Jamie Anderson: Anderson, 27, won a gold medal in the slopestyle snowboarding competition in her Olympic debut in Sochi, and is well positioned to repeat the the feat in Pyeongchang. This season, the South Lake Tahoe, California, athlete unveiled a new move, a cab double underflip, at the Winter Games in New Zealand.

Ice dancers Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani: The Ann Arbor, Michigan, brother-and-sister team known as the “Shib Sibs” have won gold medals at international competitions for three consecutive seasons, and also medaled in national championships in each of the past seven years, including gold medals in both 2016 and 2017. Maia is 23 and Alex is 26. They also competed in Sochi Olympics, where they placed ninth.

See Also: When, Where To Watch The Olympics On TV, Live Streams

Lead photo: The United States’ Lindsey Vonn, the winningest U.S. skier, prepares to start the training of an alpine ski women's world Cup downhill race in Garmisch Partenkirchen, Germany, Saturday Feb. 3, 2018. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)