2018 Winter Olympics: Odds, Schedule, Medal Favorites, Predictions for Tuesday
The five-day Olympic gold-medal drought for the United States has felt like an eternity.
After winning four snowboarding competitions and the women's giant slalom in alpine skiing, the Americans have come up short in a few events they were expected to win.
The dry spell at the top of the Olympic podium could end Tuesday, when Lindsey Vonn takes to the slopes in the women's downhill.
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Vonn's performance could act as a catalyst for a late American medal push that is expected to be led by the 33-year-old and Mikaela Shiffrin in alpine skiing.
Elsewhere in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Tuesday, one of the most electric competitions takes place in freestyle skiing, while a few Americans look to set top marks at the start of women's figure skating and men's snowboarding big air.
Tuesday's Olympic Schedule (All Times ET)
Alpine Skiing
Women's Downhill — 9 p.m.*
Bobsled
Women's Heat 2 — 8:01 a.m.
Curling
Women's Round Robin
South Korea vs. Olympic Athletes from Russia — 7:05 p.m.*
Sweden vs. China — 7:05 p.m.*
Switzerland vs. Denmark — 7:05 p.m.*
Canada vs. Great Britain — 7:05 p.m.*
Figure Skating
Women's short program — 8 p.m.*
Freestyle Skiing
Men's ski cross — 9:30 p.m., final starts at 12:35 a.m. on Wednesday*
Ice Hockey
Men's Quarterfinals: Czech Republic vs. United States — 10:10 p.m.*
Snowboarding
Men's big air qualifying — Heat 1 at 7:30 p.m.; Heat 2 at 9:45 p.m.*
*--events take place on Wednesday, February 21 in Pyeongchang, South Korea
All events can be live-streamed on NBCOlympics.com.
Medal Favorites Odds for Tuesday's Events (via Oddsshark)
Women's Downhill
Lindsey Vonn, United States (+300; Bet $100 to win $300)
Lara Gut, Switzerland (+600)
Tina Weirather, Liechtenstein (+600)
Cornelia Hutter, Austria (+650)
Sofia Goggia, Italy (+800)
Viktoria Rebensburg, Germany (+800)
Men's Ski Cross
Marc Bischofberger, Switzerland (+500)
Jean-Frederic Chapuis, France (+600)
Thomas Zangerl, Austria (+1,400)
Alex Fiva, Switzerland (+1,600)
Christoph Wahrstotter, Austria (+1,600)
Stefan Thanei, Italy (+1,600)
Medal Predictions
Women's Downhill
Since Vonn and the other top skiers in the world were stunned by Ester Ledecka of the Czech Republic in the super-G, they've been preparing for the downhill with three training runs taking place over the last two days.
Vonn's top rival in the event is Italy's Sofia Goggia, who is the top racer in the World Cup downhill standings.
Liechtenstein's Tina Weirather, who took bronze in the super-G, is third in the World Cup rankings behind Goggia and Vonn, and she's expected to be near the top of the podium again Tuesday.
Other contenders to watch are Switzerland's Lara Gut, who took bronze in the event in the 2014 Games in Sochi, Russia, and Michelle Gisin, who is the younger sister of the co-Olympic champion from Sochi, Dominique Gisin.
Breezy Johnson, Alice McKennis and Laurenne Ross are the other Americans participating in the event, but none of them are expected to reach the same heights as Vonn.
Prediction: 1. Vonn (United States), 2. Goggia (Italy), 3. Gisin (Switzerland)
Men's Ski Cross
Although there aren't any American medal favorites in the men's ski cross, the event should be one of the most entertaining things you view from Pyeongchang,
As we saw in snowboard cross last week, the gold-medal favorites aren't guaranteed of spots in the final race, as qualifying was marred with crashes that collected multiple riders.
Switzerland's Marc Bischofberger is the favorite to take gold in the men's ski cross, as he sits atop the World Cup rankings in the event.
Bischofberger has four top-five finishes on the World Cup circuit this season, including a victory in Innichen, Italy, on December 22.
France's Jean-Frederic Chapuis, who is the defending Olympic champion, is Bischofberger's top challenge for gold, as he comes into Pyeongchang with two World Cup victories in St. Francois, France, and Idre Fjall, Sweden.
While the event is dominated by Europeans on the World Cup circuit, a few Canadians could break into the medal positions.
Brady Leman, Chris Del Bosco and Kevin Drury all have a shot to represent Canada on the podium for the first time in the event that's featured at the Olympics since 2010.
Prediction: 1. Bischofberger (Switzerland), 2. Chapuis (France), 3. Del Bosco (Canada)
Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90.
Statistics obtained from Olympic.org and FIS-Ski.com.
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