Evan Lysacek, Lindsey Vonn, Snowboarders, Go for Gold Today for U.S.

The U.S. Olympic team will be hard pressed today to match the six medals—three of them gold—that it produced yesterday in the men’s halfpipe, women’s downhill, and men’s 1,000 meters in speed skating.

Day seven in Vancouver, however, does appear to be another opportunity for American athletes to shine. In fact, if all of the U.S. medal contenders in action reached the podium today, it could garner the team another six, or even seven, medals.

At the halfpipe tonight, the U.S. women will look to do what the men just failed to do last night—sweep the podium. The men took home first, third, and fifth place.

There is no overwhelming favorite in the women’s halfpipe as there was last night with Shaun White, who successfully defended his gold medal from four years ago with ease. The U.S. women boast, however, one of the most impressive teams ever put together in any Olympic event with two former gold medalists and a silver medalist in the event.

The favorite is Kelly Clark, who won gold in Salt Lake City in 2002 and once again finds herself atop the world of women’s halfpipe after finishing a disappointing fourth in Torino. Gretchen Bleiler, who won silver in Torino, should challenge Clark for the gold.

Defending Olympic gold medalist, Hannah Teter, may in fact be the team’s weakest link having struggled over the last year, but she remains one of the top podium contenders.

The biggest threat to a U.S. podium sweep is Australian Torah Bright. Bright has proven herself recently as one of the best snowboarders in the world. It is the “double cork” trick, so far only successfully completed in competition by some of the top men, that she is rumored to have been working on, that could land her a gold medal.

Lindsey Vonn, also returns to the slopes today for the United States in the women’s super combined. The women’s combined consists of one downhill and one slalom run.

Vonn showed her strength yesterday in the downhill as she won her first Olympic gold medal. She is expected to lead after the downhill portion of the competition, but will have to maintain it through the more technical slalom, which is not her strength.

Maria Riesch of Germany and Anja Parson of Sweden were favorites in the event but both may be feeling the effects of yesterday’s crash-filled downhill competition. Parson took a nasty spill over the course’s final jump while Riesch took a conservative run down the mountain and seemed unsettled by all the crashes that preceded her.

The uncertainty surrounding Riesch and Parson should make Vonn a favorite for the podium even though it is not her best event. A strong Austrian team led by downhill bronze medalist Elisabeth Gorgl is sure to figure in the mix as well.

America’s fifth medal hopeful is men’s figure skater Evan Lysacek. Lysacek, the reigning world champion, sits in second place by less than a point after the short program behind defending gold medalist Evgeni Plushenko of Russia.

Lysacek performed almost flawlessly on Tuesday night in the short program four years after a disastrous opening night in Torino put him in eighth place heading into the longer free skate. Lysacek skated brilliantly, however, in his Torino free skate and moved all the way up to fourth position.

While Plushenko is the favorite, if Lysacek puts together a free skate of the same quality tonight he will find himself on the podium.

The always eccentric Johnny Weir also finds himself in the hunt to put another American on the podium. Weir sits sixth after the short program and within reach of any of the podium positions with an excellent skate tonight.

In the women’s 1,000 meters speed skating, none of the four Americans are in the final four pairs of skaters from which the medals are usually determined. After a surprising sixth place in the 500 meters a few nights ago, however, 20-year-old Heather Richardson could reach the podium this afternoon for the United States.

The United States has little chance of producing a podium finish in the day’s two remaining medal events—the men’s 20K individual biathlon and the women’s 15K individual biathlon. Tim Burke is one of the best American biathletes in history and has the potential to medal, but he has struggled so far in his two previous events at these Olympics.

After yesterday’s banner day, the United States leads in the overall medal count with 14 to Germany’s 10. Between the women’s snowboarding trio, Vonn, Lysacek, and Weir, the American team should extend its lead in the medals on day seven in Vancouver.