Monday's Favorites

WOMEN'S 10 KILOMETER CROSS COUNTRY (1:00)
GOLD: Charlotte Kalla, SWE
SILVER: Justyna Kowalczyk, POL
BRONZE: Marit Bjoergen, NOR

MEN'S DOWNHILL (1:30)
If the weather doesn't interfere yet again, this race will have 35 year old Swiss Didier Cuche as the favorite. He was fastest in the only training run despite skiing with a broken thumb that required six screws to surgically repair just less than two weeks ago.
GOLD: Didier Cuche, SUI
SILVER: Manuel Osborne-Paradis, CAN
BRONZE: Michael Walchofer, AUT
Also watch for: Werner Heel, ITA; Carlo Janka, SUI; Marco Buechel, LIE; Aksel Lund Svindal, NOR; Didier Defago, SUI; Ambrosi Hoffman, SUI.

MEN'S SNOWBOARD CROSS (1:30-qualifying; final-5:00)
It should be France vs. USA for the medals. The Americans don't always ski on the World Cup so the Olympics are a showdown unlike many other events.
GOLD: Pierre Vaultier, FRA
SILVER: Nate Holland, USA
BRONZE: Xavier de le Rue, FRA
Also look for Americans Seth Wescott, Graham Watanabe and Nick Baumgartner and Austrian Markus Schairer.

MEN'S 15 KILOMETER CROSS COUNTRY (3:30)
GOLD: Marcus Hellner, SWE
SILVER: Lukas Bauer, CZE
BRONZE: Petter Northug, NOR
The Italians have been skiing well lately, so keep an eye of Giorgio diCenta and Pietro Piller Cottrer.

MEN'S 500 METER SPEED SKATING (6:30)
This is one of the most compelling events of the entire Games. There are ten guys who have been fighting it out all season and a great champion who is an unknown quantity and home town favorite.
Gold: Lee Kyu-Hyeok, KOR
Silver: Mikka Poutala, FIN
Bronze: Tucker Fredricks, USA
4. Lee Kang-Seok, KOR
5. Keichiro Nagashima, JPN
6. Joji Kato, JPN
7. Jamie Gregg, CAN
8. Yuya Oikawa, JPN
9. Ronald Mulder, NED
10. Jan Smeekens, NED
Outsiders: Shani Davis; Yu Fengtong, CHN
The true wild card is eight-time World Champion Jeremy Wortherspoon, CAN who has not competed much on the World Cup circuit this season after breaking an arm. If he is near his best, he has as good a chance as anybody to capture the gold.

WOMEN'S LUGE (8:00)
The Germans dominated the men's event and the women are even more accomplished. Erin Hamlin of the United States won the World Championship last year and she has taken three bronze medals this year.
GOLD: Tatjana Hufner, GER
SILVER: Natalie Geisenberger, GER
BRONZE: Erin Hamlin, USA

PAIRS FIGURE SKATING (8:00)
A great short program on Sunday, with the top pairs so close, I'll stick with my picks from before the short:
GOLD: Zue Shen & Hongbo Zhao, CHN
SILVER: Aliona Savchenko & Robin Szolkowy, GER
BRONZE: Yuko Kavaguti & Alexander Smirnov, RUS