2026 Winter Olympics - Very Early Predictions

[rafalgorka 1,548]

11 minutes ago, Josh said:

Day 1

 

 

 

Ski Jumping - Women’s Normal Hill Individual

Gold-  Eva Pinkelnig

Silver-  Sara Takanashi

Bronze-  Nika Prevc

 

 

No medal for Loutitt???

 

You don't hope for it???

Edited Saturday at 04:48 AM by rafalgorka

[Josh 10,534]

1 minute ago, rafalgorka said:

No medal for Loutitt???

I think she’ll get top 6, but no podium. With the amount of medal contenders that we have, there’s gonna be some disappointments (In Beijing we had Kingsbury in moguls even with the silver, Dubreuil in the 500m, men’s ski cross, curling, and our men’s hockey team as the main ones)

[heywoodu 15,164]

2 hours ago, Josh said:

Cross Country Skiing - Women’s 10km and 10km Skiathlon (Confused on the format and favourites… might not be the best of guesses) @heywoodu does this look fine? 

Gold-  Jessie Diggins

Silver-  Frida Karlsson

Bronze-  Krista Parmakoski

It's generally just called the skiathlon, so having a 'X km and X km' in the title is a bit confusing. The point is that the race is cut into two halves, one is done in the classic technique, the other in the freestyle (skating technique), so in this case it's a 20km race  

[phelps 7,686]

6 hours ago, Josh said:

You don’t think  and  have high chances at a medal? Especially the German, who is ahead of the Slovak athlete in the rankings from last season. 

no, I don't think

women's sprint will be an easy double for  with  Fatton,  Jagercikova (who's a pure sprint specialist) and maybe (and I underline maybe)  Giulia Murada fighting for bronze, unless, as I wrote, the  2023 junior world champion has a spectacular transition to the senior ranks (which in the sprint race is quite possible)

the men's event will be a lot more open, but I still think  Cardona Coll, the  guys (whoever they select) and the  guys are a good step ahead of the rest of the field

I hope  Erik Canovi can improve a lot in these 2 seasons, but I fear the 2026 Olympics are still too early for him to become what the Italian team expects from him

the  man, moreover, is not a sprint specialist at all

rankings can be deceiving, as not all the athletes always participates to all the events (and there are no discards)

[phelps 7,686]

6 hours ago, rafalgorka said:

FINAL MEDAL TABLE - version 1.0 30.11.2024 early morning CET

 

 

17-11-9---37

14-13-12---39

12-8-16---36

10-8-6---24

9-10-10---29

9-10-6---25

7-5-13---25

7-5-4---16

6-5-7---18

5-11-10---26

5-9-4---18

5-5-2---12

2-2-4---8

2-2-1---5

2-1-1---4

1-2-3---6

1-2-1---4

1-1-2---4

1-0-1---2

0-2-1---3

0-2-0---2

0-1-0---1

0-1-0---1

0-0-2---2

0-0-1---1

0-0-1---1

0-0-1---1

7 golds, 25 medals for ? 

where have I to put my signature? 

[rafalgorka 1,548]

20 hours ago, phelps said:

7 golds, 25 medals for ? 

where have I to put my signature? 

And what are your early thoughts for Italy here? How many golds? How many medals in total? Who may be a new kid in the block, a breakthrough, a surprising medal for Italy???

Edited yesterday at 07:15 AM by rafalgorka

[phelps 7,686]

13 hours ago, rafalgorka said:

And what are your early thoughts for Italy here? How many golds? How many medals in total? Who may be a new kid in the block, a breakthrough, a surprising medal for Italy???

boh? 

 

I don't have a consolidated idea yet...

 

golds? I hope many, but I fear we won't get to 5

 

medals? hopefully, more than in 2022

 

the "athlete of the Games"? Davide Ghiotto (speedskating) and Pietro Sighel (short track speedskating)

hopefully, also Sofia Goggia (alpine skiing), Arianna Fontana (short track & speedskating) and Stefania Constantini (curling)...but it's just hope, not a prediction

 

breakthrough? Tommaso Giacomel (men's biathlon)

 

newcomers? I think the Big Air guys (Tabanelli siblings in freestyle, Matteoli in snowboard), hopefully Erik Canovi in SkiMo (but, as I wrote earlier, I fear it's too early for him, as he's still a junior)

with a lot of optimism, Elia Barp (cross-country) and Daniele Di Stefano (speedskating, mass start)

 

surprising medals? I don't think there's any chance for  to win a truly surprising medal, all those who have just the smallest chance to make the podium, it wouldn't be a true upset if they get it