1. Lindsay Vonn
This will be Lindsay Vonn’s fourth Olympic appearance for alpine skiing, previously showing success in Salt Lake City 2002, Tourin 2006, Vancouver 2010. She missed the Sochi 2014 Olympics due to an injury. Her appearance in Pyeonchang for this years Olympics will be one to impress. Her absence has built up excitement for many viewers who have been following along with her career. She has been active in other international races, including the world cup to keep her prepped and ready for the Olympics.
2. Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson and Monique Lamoureux-Morando
Jocelyne and Monique are one of the few pairs of siblings representing the United States this winter. In addition, they are the only set of twins for team USA. Competing for ice hockey, this is one of the quirky cases that we see with the athletes to have a familiar competitor on their side, especially in terms of training to get each other to where they are today.
3. Mikaela Shiffrin
In the previous Olympics at Sochi in 2014, Shiffrin was the youngest to win a gold medal in the slalom event for alpine skiing. This year one can expect an incredible performance from a young and achieving athlete, with recent success at the world championships, including the World Cup.
4. Erin Jackson
Erin Jackson is the first to compete in long track speedskating as an African American woman. In addition to firsts, she is new to this aspect of skating, after being introduced to it just a handful of months prior to the Olympics, She is not new to skating, as she has previous experience with inline skating, while being decorated with world medals. She is an athlete to keep an eye on these upcoming weeks as she transitions to a new side of speed skating.
5. Chloe Kim
Chloe Kim is among the youngest athletes competing for the United States. At 17 years old, she qualified for Sochi in 2014 for snowboarding, however could not compete because of her young age. She has now re-qualified and is ready to take on the half pipe after experience at the X Games. The youngest athlete is Vincent Zhou, representing the U.S. in men’s figure skating.
6. Elana Myers Taylor and Lauren Gibbs
The pair has potential to be the first US women’s bobsled team to win since the sport debuted in 2002. Taylor is one of the most powerful pilots in the sport entirely. She brings to the playing field her Vancouver 2010 and Sochi 2014 experiences, as well as numerous World Championships. This will be Gibbs’ first Olympics. Gibbs has been training hard for her Olympic debut – which I witnessed while on a family trip to the Olympic Training Center in the summer of 2016. The pair is in the spotlight with strengths from a seasoned veteran and eager first-time Olympian.