WHAT TO WATCH
SNOWBOARDING
The women will hit the halfpipe at 6 p.m. with the gold medal final run scheduled for 7 p.m. U.S. women have never swept a Winter Games event, but they sure look strong in this one. The heavy favorite is Korean-American Chloe Kim, who couldn’t compete in Sochi because she was too young. Just 17, she is the only X Games athlete to win three gold medals before the age of 16. Teammate Maddie Mastro also is only 17. The men will hit the mogul hill looking for gold starting at 6:10 a.m. Mogul skiing is judged on style and skill as well as speed. Skiers use the bumps to make sharp turns while keeping to a fall line. Watch for flips, grabs or rotations in their two jumps off the “air bumps” on the slope. The women’s 1,500-meter race is at 5:30 a.m. The dominant Dutch painted the podium orange and swept the 3,000 on Sunday, but there are other contenders at the shorter distances, especially Japan’s Miho Takagi. Watch for the way the skaters kick their skates out at the finish. Times are marked when their skates, not their bodies, cross the line, so they push their feet forward instead of their chests like a sprinter would. Both the men and women will race for medals in the pursuits. The women race at 3:10 a.m. and the men at 5 a.m. Pursuit begins with staggered start times, which are based on the results from earlier sprint races. After stunning upsets in the men’s race on Sunday, overall gold medal favorite Martin Fourcade will start the race 24 seconds behind the sprint winner. The first-ever medal in mixed doubles will be awarded after the 5 p.m. bronze medal match.
Alpine fans may finally get a taste of Olympic racing when the men hit the hill for the downhill portion of the combined starting at 7:30 p.m. Medals in that event will be awarded after the slalom portion, which is set to start at 1 a.m. Tuesday.
Unfortunately for U.S. fans, star Mikaela Shiffrin and the rest of the women were prevented from racing Monday because of high winds. The giant slalom has been rescheduled for Thursday. Shiffrin will now make her Pyeongchang debut on Wednesday in the slalom, in which she is the defending Olympic champion.