Shiffrin could be the star of Winter Olympics

If Mikaela Shiffrin continues to race as well as she has been, she is setting herself up to be the biggest star of the Pyeongchang Olympics. Not just of Alpine skiing, but the entire Winter Games.

To put it simply: She has been close to unbeatable this year.

Shiffrin, a 22-year-old American, won the first five women's World Cup races she entered in 2018, part of a stretch of seven victories in eight starts.

Shiffrin was not merely winning — she was overwhelming opponents, sometimes beating the runner-up by more than 1.5 seconds, a large margin in a sport often decided by hundredths.

Born in Colorado and raised in New Hampshire and Vermont, Shiffrin was 18 at the 2014 Sochi Games when she became the youngest Olympic slalom champion in history. Her 41st career World Cup race win, which came in January, equaled the highest total for a ski racer under 23.

Now she heads to Pyeongchang as an overwhelming favorite to be the first to win consecutive slalom golds and a chance to match the Alpine record of three titles at one Olympics.

IOC president expects criticism of ban

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach is sure to face questioning with roughly 100 IOC members gathered in frigid South Korea for the start of two days of meetings that will lead up to the opening Friday of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

Bach is sure be grilled by the full IOC membership about the decision to exclude many Russian athletes from the Games despite a ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport that overturned doping bans for many of them.

The International Olympic Committee rejected a request on Monday to invite 15 Russians to the Pyeongchang Winter Games just days after the athletes' doping bans were overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The 13 active athletes and two retired athletes working in support roles were among 28 athletes whose bans were overturned by CAS on Thursday. The ban on 11 other Russians was upheld.

Russia Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has denounced the IOC move as "shameful."

Tirico replacing Costas

The biggest change for Americans watching the Winter Olympics on television this month will likely be the first face they see on the screen.

Mike Tirico is replacing

Bob Costas as host of NBC's prime-time Olympics coverage, which starts Thursday from South Korea. Costas was host for 11 Olympic games.