2014 US Olympic Trials: Jan. 4 Event Schedule, TV Info, Preview and More

As the U.S. Olympic squads begin to take shape, the men's and women's speedskating teams are conducting their trials from January 3-5 in Salt Lake City, Utah. This Saturday, the men's and women's short-track speedskating teams will compete in the 500m race, the shortest of three distances (the others being 1000-meter and 1500-meter). The winner of the event will receive an automatic Olympic berth.

The men qualified the maximum total allotment of five skaters (three per distance), but the women will unfortunately only be sending three skaters because of disqualification from the relay race. So what should we expect the teams to look like by the end of the weekend? Here is a complete preview for today's 500-meter short track trials.

When	Watch	Streaming
Saturday, January 4 from 4 p.m. ET to 5:30 p.m. ET	NBC Sports Network	NBC Sports Live Extra

Men's

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J.R. Celski is the top medal hope not only for the men but for the entire U.S. speedskating team in this event. Celski took care of business on Thursday in the lap time trials, winning the nine-lap race with a time of 1 minute and 21.667 seconds and the four-lap 36.269 seconds. According to Associated Press, Celski believes he is rounding into form as he attempts to replace U.S. speedskating legend Apolo Anton Ohno:

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"Very happy with the times," he said. "It will be fun to get back in there and race with these guys."

With short track star Apolo Anton Ohno retired and doing TV commentary, the spotlight is focused squarely on Celski, who won a pair of bronze medals at the 2010 Vancouver Games.

"It's a little different for sure," Celski said about Ohno's absence from the ice. "The level has raised over the past four years."

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While the 23-year-old Celski is the most likely medal hope for the Americans, Eddy Alvarez also stands a reasonable shot of reaching the podium at Sochi. Alvarez, who earned a bronze medal in the event at the World Cup in Shanghai, missed out on the 2010 Vancouver games due to a pair of knee injuries.

Now healthy, Alvarez and Chris Creveling (who finished second behind Celski in both lap times) give the team multiple medal threats on the short track. The American men have dominated short track individual events in recent years, and even without Ohno, they figure to have a solid showing in Sochi.

Women's

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The squeeze on the women's team makes the competition even tougher, as there are likely four leading candidates for three spots: Jessica Smith, Emily Scott, Alyson Dudek and Lana Gehring.

Smith is the leader, as she is the top U.S. skater in the World Cup rankings for all three distances. Smith is 21st in the world in the 500-meter, and she placed third in the 500-meter World Cup events at Salt Lake City and Shanghai. Smith was an alternate at the Vancouver games, and she uses that failure as motivation to perform at Sochi, per Joe Paisley of The Gazette:

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Her failure to qualify for the 2010 Winter Olympics team still motivates her as Smith, 30, enters the trials in Kearns, Utah, Thursday through Sunday as the national record holder in the 500 meters and as a world championship medalist (one silver, two bronzes) the past three seasons.

"Everyone told me when I was younger to just enjoy the experience but I was a 12-year-old beating 17-year-olds to make the (inline) national team," she said. "I won gold at Pan Ams and worlds and had done everything I wanted in inline. Not making the (Vancouver) Olympic team was my first setback. I decided then that I would use that as motivation for the next four years."

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Smith is likely the Americans' best hope to medal—though Scott and Gehring have both helped U.S. relay teams medal at previous World Cups. It's unfortunate that the relay team was disqualified, as the women earned bronze in the event in 2010.

Nevertheless, the three women who end up qualifying can atone for that mishap by breaking the United States' drought, as the American ladies have not medaled in a World Cup event since February 2012. Snapping that two-year streak begins this weekend with a strong tune-up ahead of the big stage next month.