Olympic Trials 2013-14: American Stars to Follow on Path to Sochi

While the 2014 Winter Olympics are still a few months away, it is never too early to familiarize yourself with the biggest stars in the sport.

The winter games are usually not as popular as the summer version, but the athletes competing still deserve quite a bit of respect for being the best in their sport. Not all of them have received a bid to Sochi just yet, although they are working on it over the next couple of months.

Most people will wait until the men and women are on the international stage to watch them perform. However, these stars are worth a look in the upcoming qualifiers.

John Shuster

Event: Curling

Qualification: 11/11/13 to 11/16/13

Few Americans have accomplished more in curling than John Shuster. The 31-year-old veteran was a lead at the 2006 Olympics when his team won the bronze medal, and he returned as the skip in 2010.

While his team struggled in Vancouver, the Americans enter this round of qualification looking for redemption.

Shuster's squad—which features Jeff Isaacson, Jared Zezel and John Landsteiner—earned a bid to the trials after being selected by the High Performance Program committee. Although the other teams in the competition have finished higher in the last two national championships, they don't have the experience of Shuster.

The Minnesota native has won four U.S. titles in his career and should be looking for his second Olympic medal in February.

J.R. Celski

Event: Short-Track Speed Skating

Qualification: 1/2/14 to 1/5/14

Apolo Anton Ohno has been the star of short-track speed skating for about a decade, but it is time for him to pass the torch. The person with the best chance of taking over is J.R. Celski.

The 23-year-old star earned a bronze medal in the 1500-meter race at the 2010 Olympics, trailing Ohno and South Korean skater Lee Jung-Su. He also added a bronze medal in the team competition.

Of course, he has excelled outside of the Olympics as well. He owns seven career medals from the World Championships and is the current world record holder in the 500-meter event.

He is likely to qualify once again for Sochi, where he can look to win multiple medals again.

Ashley Wagner

Event: Figure Skating

Qualification: 1/5/14 to 1/12/14

Figure skating does not have any automatic qualifiers. Instead, a selection committee chooses the participants based on the number of athletes for each country. The United States is allowed three entries in the female singles competition.

In all likelihood, Ashley Wagner will be on that list for the American team.

The young competitor has already won the last two United States titles and is looking for a third in January. Unfortunately, the U.S. has not seen a lot of success at the international level.

From 1990 to 2006, the U.S. won 10 gold medals and 23 medals overall thanks to notable stars like Michelle Kwan, Kristi Yamaguchi, Tara Lipinski and others. Since then, however, no American has finished in the top three.

Wagner will look to bring some success back to the country and win a gold medal for Team USA.

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