This year’s Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia plays host to an overflowing array of athletes that promise to push the boundaries in their individual sports. Among the most talented athletes in these games are also some of the youngest each sport has ever seen compete at such a high stakes competition. From ice skating to ski jumping, here are some of the youngest and most promising athletes to take part in this year’s biggest sporting event.
Jason Brown, 19
Jason Brown, a U.S. men’s ice skater of age 19, skated this past week for both the team event and the individual event. Unable to make the podium for the individual event, he still scored a bronze medal in the team event with the rest of Team USA. This will just be his first Olympics of many though, being the most promising young man in the skating world at the moment.
Julia Lipnitskaia, 15
Julia Lipnitskaia is an ice skating prodigy at this year’s Olympics. At age 15, she dominated both the short and long program in the team event for Russia and now she is the favorite for gold for the women’s individual program which takes place later this week. In a incredible display of athletic ability and artistic style well beyond her years, Lipnitskaia’s performance in the women’s individual event later this week is highly anticipated.
Justine Dufour-Lapointe, 19
Canada’s Justine Dufour- Lapointe brought home the gold for Women’s Moguls in skiing. At age 19, Justine competed with her two sisters Maxime and Chloé, ages 24 and 22 respectively, her eldest sister winning a bronze of her own.
Mikaela Shiffrin, 18
Mikaela Shiffrin, age 18, is a favorite for Women’s Alpine Skiing this coming Tuesday and Friday. As the United States’ ski team has so far not been raking up the estimated amount of medals, Shiffrin is under a lot of pressure for the giant slalom and the slalom, both of which she is expected to be a medal contender for.
Coline Mattel, 18
Coline Mattel completed this past week for France in Women’s ski jumping. This year is the first time that Women’s ski jumping has been allowed at the Olympics, and Mattel won a bronze medal. Sarah Hendrickson, a 19-year-old jumper from America, was the favorite to win originally, but a previous injury stopped her from making the podium. All the women who qualified this year for ski jumping were said to be happy regardless of their finish, finally being allowed the chance to compete at the Olympics after years of waiting.
Sage Kotsenburg, 20
American snowboarder Sage Kotsenburg won gold this week for Men’s Slopestyle. At age 20, Kotsenburg won the first gold medal of the games this year, with a new trick called the Backside 1620 Japan, a trick he had never done before these Olympic finals.
For more information check out these links:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/us-figure-skater-jason-bro…
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1900952-sochi-2014-olympics-under-the…
http://www.tvguide.com/special/winter-olympics/PhotoGallery/2014-Sochi-O…
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/olympics/dufour-lapointe-family-bo…