Skiing Medals Up For Grabs Monday

I have learned that many people, in an outrageous move, have been forced to attend work or school despite the three medals that will be awarded at Vancouver during the business day today.

10 AM PST - Cross-Country SkiingAnother 100 point Fantasy Olympic sport begins today with cross country skiing's Women's 10k.

Cross country is one of the most wide open fantasy sports with many countries usually medaling, including 12 different nations at Turin. Thus unlike my previous predictions which were merely wrong, these have a possibility of being Way, Way Off.

Nevertheless, Charlotte Kalla of Sweden (Brian Schwartz/Nordique Combined) is the favorite and my pick for the Gold Medal. Despite competing in her first Olympics, she's been skiing better than anyone else and just took the gold in this event at a World Cup race two weeks ago.
I'm picking Norwegian Marit Bjørgen (Zach Chromiak/Banker's Club) to repeat her silver medal performance at Turin. With 32 World Cup wins and multiple overall World Cup titles, don't count her out from medaling in any race she competes in.

My bronze medal pick is Estonia's Kristina Šmigun-Vähi (Dave Spence/Paragons). She was the gold medalist in this event at Turin but has slipped to 18th in the World Cup standings this year. Nevertheless, with a hyphenated name featuring both a squiggly lined and a double dotted vowel, it would be madness to not pick her at all.

Poland's Justina Kowalczyk (Brittany B./Buck-Toothed Rabbit Bitches), Norway's Kristina Steira and Russian Irina Khazova (John Binz/Da Nang Dynamos) are some of the other threats to medal. Khazova came back from a two-year doping suspension to win this event at a World Cup event in December.

10:30 AM EST - Alpine SkiingWeather-permitting, the men's downhill will finally take place today, and unfortunately before a small TV audience. Reprinting what I wrote Friday:

Swiss skier Didier Cuche (Joy Sadaly/Olympic Ring Worm Wood Stock Market District Attorney) is the favorite in a deep field. The Nagano silver medalist is a seasoned veteran who is used to all conditions. He finished first in the World Cup in 2007 and 2008, and also took silver at last year's World Championships. I like him to take his first Olympic gold medal in the downhill.

Austrian Michael Walchhofer (Brittany B./Buck-Toothed Rabbit Bitches) won Wednesday's training run and is another veteran, a former slalom skiier who switched to downhill. He finished first in the 2009 World Cup and also won silver in the downhill at Turin. I think he'll repeat that performance and take silver.

If the race does begin in less than ideal conditions, this could favor Canadians Manuel Osborne-Paradis, Erik Guay and Robbie Dixon (Brian Schwartz/Nordique Combined). The Canadians have all had experience skiing Whistler in many different conditions. I think one of the trio will take the bronze.

Of course, the USA's Bode Miller (Ellis Kunka/Cornballers) is another threat. I think he was unfairly maligned for his performance at Turin, and will certainly finish in the top ten with a chance to medal.
Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal (John Binz/Da Nang Dynamos) is a name to watch throughout the skiing events, but I think the two-time overall World Cup winner is a better bet for the combined gold medal than downhill. Switzerland's talented contingent of Ambrosi Hoffman, Didier Defago and Carlo Janka are all threats to medal as well.

Remember, if you need to stop at the bottom, snowplow.

12:30 PM EST - Cross-Country SkiingCross country skiing continues with the men's 15k. I'm picking the Czech Republic's Lukáš Bauer (Joy Sadaly/Olympic Ring Worm Wood Stock Market District Attorney) for gold at Vancouver. He was the silver medalist at Turin and also took silver at last year's World Championships. I think the 14 year veteran will break through with a gold today, which would be a huge win for Joy Sadaly and would allow her name to start being listed in the standings.

Norwegian Petter Northug (Zach Chromiak/Banker's Club) is my choice for silver. Inexplicably excluded from Norway's 2006 Olympic team, he's gotten even better since with three golds at the 2009 World Championships.

For bronze I'll take German Axel Teichmann (Adam Claus/Ice Lugers), who's currently ranked third overall and first for distance.

Other contenders are Italy's Pietro Piller-Cotterer (Ellis Kunka/Cornballers), Sweden's Marcus Hellner (Brian Schwartz/Nordique Combined), and France's Vincent Vittoz (undrafted).