Possible Nordique Combined Comeback?

Brian Schwartz's Nordique Combined team, which has fallen far back of the leaders, needs a big night to get back into contention. Golds from Canada women's hockey and South Korean figure skating could provide the team 75 points, and medals from USA freestyle skiing would help. Otherwise Schwartz's squad is finished.

11 AM & 3:30 PM PST - Ice Hockey
Ice hockey was covered in our medal round preview. Both women's games are important today, as the bronze medal game features our first and third place fantasy teams. Ellis Kunka, managing Cornballers (Finland) takes on John Binz's Da Nang Dynamos (Sweden). The gold medal game shapes up as a virtual elimination match between Brian Schwartz's Nordique Combined (Canada) and Paragons, managed by Dave Spence (USA). Both teams trail by nearly 100 points and need double gold in hockey to win the Fantasy Olympics.

5 PM PST - Figure Skating
The final figure skating medal is the women's individual, worth 25 points for gold. Ranking first after the short program is the favorite Yu-Na Kim (Brian Schwartz/Nordique Combined). Kim, the favorite going in and clearly the best skater during the free skate, leads by almost five points and will win gold unless she falls. She won't.

Japanese skater Mao Asada (Zach Chromiak/Banker's Club) had a very good short program and is in second, 2.5 points ahrad of the Canadian Joannie Rochette (Ellis Kunka/Cornballers). As I'm sure you know, Rochette's mother died yesterday and is on home ice, both advantages in the judging. Luckily I will not be watching so I don't have to hear NBC announcers imply that winning the bronze medal somewhat offsets her mother's death by saying that it doesn't.

Japan's Miki Ando is in fourth and the USA's Rachael Flatt and Mirai Nagasu (Tim Lavoie/Fightin' Ovechkins) are in fifth and sixth. As always, nobody below that has a chance to pick up a medal.

6 PM PST - Freestyle Skiing
Freestyle skiing wraps up with the Men's Aerials. The only countries represented in the final are China, Canada, the USA, Switzerland and Belarus. The field is wide open after Belarus's Anton Kushnir (undrafted), aerials champion in four of six World Cups this year, fell in qualifying and did not advance.

My pick to win is Canada's Steve Omischl (Adam Claus/Ice Lugers). He took silver in the 2009 World Championships and has 40 top three finishes in his career. Take the home team in a judged sport.
Canadian Kyle Nissen is my choice for silver. He has only won two World Cup aerial golds in his career but is always near the top. Guangpu Qi of China (Ellis Kunka/Cornballers) has three World Cup silvers this year in aerials and is my pick for bronze.

The U.S. (Brian Schwartz/Nordique Combined) has a couple of veteran athletes, Ryan St. Onge and Jeret Speedy Peterson, but I don't expect either to medal.

Cornballers Favored For 2 Golds Tonight

6:15 PM PST - BobsleighCanada (Tim Lavoie/Fightin' Ovechkins) has the top team after two rounds in the two-woman bobsleigh, with the remaining heats at 5 and 6:15 p.m. local time. Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse are in first. I have no idea if this is them, but this is most certainly a Canadian bobsled team.
Team USA (Brittany B./Buck-Toothed Rabbit Bitches) has the second place sled with Erin Pac and Elana Meyers just 0.13 seconds behind. Canada could get two medals with Helen Upperton and Shelley-Ann Brown currently in fourth.

Germany (Zach Chromiak/Banker's Club), always a force in the gravity sports, is currently in third and fifth. They'll certainly be ready to move up if either of the top two teams make a mistake. The difference between #3 and #5 is 0.04 seconds, with the top two teams comfortably in front by bobsled standards.

6:26 PM PST - Short Track Speed SkatingThe final in the women's 3000 meter relay is an interesting event because there is no set distance per skater. The team of four skaters decides how many laps each skater will race, as long as the final laps are covered by the same person. There are usually seven or eight exchanges per team in the race.

My pick for gold is China's team of Linlin Sun, Wang Meng, Hui Zhang and Zhou Yang (Ellis Kunka/Cornballers). Having the top skater at the end is key, and the Chinese have exactly that in Meng. They set the Olympic record in qualifying and it would be a major upset if China lost. But remember, anythign can happen in short track. China similarly was a heavy favorite and was disqualified at Turin.

Korea's team of Ha-Ri Cho, Min-Jung Kim, Eun-Byul Lee and Seung-Hi Park (John Binz/Da Nang Dynamos) qualified with the second fastest time. They are the defending gold medal winner and finished less than a second out of gold at the 2009 World Championships. I'm picking them for second.

Team USA (Brittany B./Buck-Toothed Rabbit Bitches) is my choice for bronze. Kimberly Derrick, Alyson Dudek, Lana Gehring and Katherine Reutter skated in the qualifying rounds. Allison Baver, a Berks County native, will skate in the finals although I'm not sure who she's replacing. She appears to have at a minimum, bronze medal talent.
Team Canada (Dave Spence/Paragons) - Jessica Gregg, Kalyna Roberge, Marianne St-Gelais and Tania Vicent - has won the bronze at every World Cup event this season. St-Gelais, Gregg and Roberge all finished in the top 6 in the 500, but I think they'll get shut out in the relay.

7:30 PM PST - Freestyle SkiingOnly four countries have qualified athletes for the Women's Aerials final. Athletes can choose two of many different jumps that combine back flips and twists with differing degrees of difficulty. Athletes are judged on the quality of take off, height gained, form and body position, and how they maintain balance upon landing.

My pick to win is Nina Li of China (Ellis Kunka/Cornballers). She is a three time world champion and won the silver at Turin.

Lydia Lassila of Australia (John Binz/Da Nang Dynamos) is my choice for silver. She's already won two World Cup aerials events this year and would have medaled at Turin if not for injury.
Guo Xinxin of China is my pick for bronze. According to her Vancouver Olympic profile her hobbies are "Collecting personal accessories, shopping and spending time with her parents." It seems like she has a lot of time to practice.

Among other competitors, Jacqui Cooper of Australia returns at age 37. She crashed on both jumps at Turin but is a four time World Cup champion, and the greatest freestyle skier of all time. Team USA (Brian Schwartz/Nordique Combined) includes Ashley Caldwell (Hampton, Virginia), Lacy Schnoor (Draper, Utah) and Emily Cook (Belmont, Mass.). I think all but Cook are too inexperienced to medal this time around. Latvia (undrafted) is the only other country with skiers in the final.

3 Skiing Medals Up Tuesday Afternoon

1 PM PST - Alpine SkiingCornballers (Ellis Kunka) have a chance to extend their lead if American Bode Miller can take another gold in the Men's Giant Slalom.

Historically this has been an Austrian dominated event. Austria (Brittany B./Buck-Toothed Rabbit Bitches) has won every gold since Nagano and have the two favorites again this year, Marcel Kirscher and Benjamin Raich.

However, I think the Austrians will settle for silver and bronze. Bode Miller clearly relishes the underdog role and would love to get another gold. He's my pick for gold. Italian Massimiliano Blardone (Tim Lavoie/Fightin' Ovechkins) is another strong contender. Suprisingly there are only two pictures online of Bode Miller in any kind of a compromising pose and I have already posted them, forcing me to run this Bode Miller political cartoon.

2 PM PST - Nordic CombinedNordique Combined (Brian Schwartz) needs a big rebound from their namesake team Norway in the Team 4x5k Relay. They won't get it.

The relay team consists of four athletes, each of whom jumps once on the large hill and skis a 5k. Team USA (Brittany B./Buck-Toothed Rabbit Bitches) hasn't medaled in this event since Nagano but has to be the choice for gold. They had three of the top six finishers in the individual Nordic combined event, Johnny Spillane, Todd Lodwick and Bill Demong.

Austria (Zach Chromiak/Banker's Club), the only other team which placed all of its competitors in the top 25 of the individual event, is my pick for silver.
In a shocking upset, I'm predicting that none of the plus sign countries will even medal. Germany (Dave Spence/Paragons) had all four team members in the top 28 of the individual event and is my choice for bronze.

2:03 PM PST - Freestyle SkiingOphélie David of France (inexplicably undrafted) is my pick to take gold in the Women's Ski Cross. This is the first time the event has been contested at the Olympics, but Ophelie has won gold at the last four Winter X Games.

After Ophélie David, the Canadians Ashleigh McIvor, Kelsey Serwa and Julia Murray (Adam Claus/Ice Lugers) are the best at this event. Normally I would pick Julia Murray to medal but her status recovering from an injury is questionable. I'm picking McIvor, the extremely talented defending world champion pictured at right, for silver.

Fanny Smith of Switzerland (Joy Sadaly/Olympic Ring Worm Wood Stock Market District Attorney) is supposedly a contender but I'm saying she won't medal because she's apparently at least 130 years old.

Biathlon, Skiing Medals Sunday Afternoon

Four Fantasy Winter Olympic medals will be awarded this afternoon. With two more biathlon events, John Binz's Norwegians could put Da Nag Dynamos even farther into first.

11 AM PST - BiathlonThe Men's 15k Mass Start is the only biathlon event that Norway's Ole-Einar Bjørndalen (John Binz/Da Nang Dynamos) has never taken Olympic gold in, and it's also a bit surprising that he doesn't have a gold yet in these Games. I'm picking that streak to end today. Emil Hegle Svendsen, also of Norway, is another favorite after taking gold in the 20k. I'm picking him for silver.

For bronze I'm picking the Austrian Dominik Landertinger (Brian Schwartz/Nordique Combined) to win his first Olympic medal edging out fellow Austrian Christoph Sumann. Michael Greis of Germany (Adam Claus/Ice Lugers) won gold in this event in Turin and is of course another top competitor.

12:15 PM PST - Alpine SkiingMen's Super Combined finally takes place today five days after it was scheduled originally. This is probably the most difficult race of the game as it requires prowess in both the downhill and the slalon.

Team USA (Ellis Kunka/Cornballers) will hope to continue it's unbelievable success in alpine and has four skiers entered including Bode Miller and Andrew Weibrecht, who already have medals. I'm picking Miller for bronze.

My pick for gold is Benjamin Raich of Austria (Brittany B./Buck-Toothed Rabbit Bitches), the world's top slalom skier. If he can keep things close in the downhill he should be able to take the lead in slalom. It's about time for the Austrian skiers to start validating B's #1 pick.

Carlo Janka of Switzerland (Joy Sadaly/Olympic Ring Worm Wood Stock Market District Attorney), who won two combined World Cup events last year, is my pick for silver. Ivica Kostelic of Croatia, the 2006 silver medalist in this event, is another threat. It would be quite a redemption for Dave Spence's Paragons after the Croatia pick was ripped on this very site yesterday.

1 PM PST - BiathlonAs usual I'm picking Magdalena Neuner (Adam Claus/Ice Lugers) to win the women's biathlon. The Mass Start is the final individual biathlon event of these Games. Magdalena is the best skier in the field but needs to avoid shooting errors to win.

Tora Berger of Norway (John Binz/Da Nang Dynamos), her country's first female gold medal biathlete in the 15k, is my choice for silver. German Andrea Henkel was the 2007 world champion in this event and I'm picking her for bronze.

Other contenders are Sweden's Helena Jonsson (Dave Spence/Paragons), the reigning World Cup winner, and Darya Domracheva of Belarus (undrafted), the 15k bronze medalist.

1:18 PM PST - Freestyle SkiingThe Men's Ski Cross is pretty hard to predict since this is its first appearance at the Games. Nonetheless it should be a pretty exciting event as it's rare we get to see skiers race against each other live.

I'm picking Michael Schmid of Switzerland (Joy Sadaly/Olympic Ring Worm Wood Stock Market District Attorney) to win gold. He's done well recently in the World Cup and also is among the most experienced competitors in this event.

Tomas Kraus of the Czech Republic (undrafted), a two-time former world champion in this event, is my pick for silver. Finally Christopher Del Bosco of Canada (Adam Claus/Ice Lugers), the defending X Games Champion in this event, is my pick for bronze. Andreas Matt of Austria (Brittany B./Buck-Toothed Rabbit Bitches is my choice to round out the final finishing fourth.

Men's Moguls & Figure Skating Previews

2:30 PM PST - Freestyle SkiingQualification for the Men's Moguls begins at 2:30 PM PST with the final at 5:30 PM PST.

It's not quite "Xavier Nady returning to PNC Park" but there's a homecoming storyline with Australian Dale Begg-Smith (John Binz/Da Nang Dynamos). Apparently he skied for Canada in juniors but quit the program and moved to Australia because the Canadian coaches objected to him pursuing outside interests other than skiing. He refused to talk to Canadian reporters before the event, but I think he'll do his talking with a gold medal.
Other contenders are Canada's Alexandre Bilodeau (Adam Claus/Ice Lugers) and Jesper Bjornland of Sweden (Zach Chromiak/Banker's Club). I think Bilodeau, a former World Cup champion, will take the silver and Bjornland gets the bronze.

Guilbaut Colas of France (undrafted), with seven World Cup gold medals - including one less than a month ago in this event - is another strong contender.

4:30 PM PST - Figure SkatingFigure skating junkies and Fantasy Olympians are no doubt looking forward to tonight's Pairs Short Program which is the first appearance of the sport at Vancouver.

The scores will be combined with the free skate to determine a 25 point gold medal, huge in the Fantasy Winter Olympics. Some of the top teams have the extra motivation of proving commentators wrong, such as the asshole at fantasywinterolympics.blogspot.com who criticized some early figure skating draft picks.

During the Pairs Short Program, couples must execute eight required elements in two minutes and 50 seconds.
1. Lift
2. Double or triple twist lift
3. Double or triple throw jump
4. Solo (side-by-side) double or triple jump
5. Solo (side-by-side) spin combination with one change of foot
6. Pair spin combination with one change of foot
7. Death spiral on a specified edge
8. Spiral or step sequence

The program is set up like a Journey concert. Open with a favorite and then close with five songs everbody knows.

Two-time Olympic bronze medalists Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo of China (John Binz/Da Nang Dynamos) will skate first in the short program. Then there's a huge break before any of the other favorites.
European champions Yuko Kawaguchi and Alexander Smirnov of Russia (Dave Spence/Paragons) skate 16th. Skating 17th are Canadian champions Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison.

Two more Chinese couples - Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao, silver medalists in Turin, and Pang Qing and Tong Jian, the 2006 world champions - are strong contenders and will skate 18th and 19th. Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of Germany (Brittany B./Buck-Toothed Rabbit Bitches, winners of the last two world titles, will skate last.

Don't stop believing, but I'm picking the Germans to take the gold with the Chinese taking silver and bronze.

Day 2 Evening Preview

As Fantasy Winter Olympic competition continues, two medals are at stake tonight:

4:30 PM PST - Freestyle Skiing
Freestyle skiing gets underway tonight with the Ladies' Moguls. Qualifying is at 4:30 PST with the final at 7:30 PST.

North Americans usually dominate this sport. I like Canadian Jennifer Heil (Adam Claus/Ice Lugers) to take the gold. She won gold at Turin in this event and has only gotten better since, and now even benefits from a home field advantage.
Another Canadian, Kristi Richards, is a strong contender, but I think a couple of athletes from Team USA (Brian Schwartz/Nordique Combined) will take the other two medals. Vermont's Hannah Kearney and Montana's Heather McPhie are my bets to avenge their states' lack of electoral votes. Shannon Bahrke is another American who's a threat to medal.

A couple of undrafted competitors, France's Nikola Sudova and Japan's Aiko Uemura, also have good shots at medals. Unfortunately Uniontown native Kristi Leskinen will not be competing.
5:00 PM PST - Short Track Speed Skating
Short track skating gets underway with heats at 5:00 PM PST, semifinals at 6:18 PM PST and finals at 7:18 PM PST.

Men's short track is dominated by South Korea (John Binz/Da Nang Dynamos). I'm predicting a sweep by the South Koreans Ho-Suk Lee, Jung-Su Lee and Si-Bak Sung. Bonus points if you can remember those three names.

The USA's Apolo Ohno (Brittany B./Buck-Toothed Rabbit Bitches), gold medalist in this event at Salt Lake, is the main threat to unseat one of the Koreans from the medal table. He's a five-time medalist but I don't think he'll get there in the 1500. I do expect him to medal in the 500. Another American John Celski has a good chance to make the finals but is a long shot to medal.

I think Canadian Charles Hamelin (Dave Spence/Paragons) will round out the finals but will also be shut out of the medal count.