CCB

My schedule in Milan:
 
February 8th
Figure skating mixed competition
 
February 9th
Speedskating 1000 m women (Jutta )
 
February 10th
Shorttrack mixed relay
 
February 11th
Speedskating 1000 m men
 
February 12th
Speedskating 5000m women
Shorttrack 1000 men / 500 women
 
February 13th
Back home and tv on!

Dutch Medal Prospects 
 
Speed skating
Recently, it was reported that the Dutch soeed skaters along with the Canadian and Italian skaters will wear a suit that has been developed to gain an advantage of up to 5-8% compared to previously used suits. I'm usually skeptical, but some skaters who wore the prototype of this suit to the Olympic Qualifiers managed to cause a big surprise with Van de Bunt qualifying twice out of nowhere, and Schulting, Snel and Diniz also wear this suit and surprisingly qualified. It's simply impossible to expect the same success as 2022, but of course The Netherlands should get a good amount of medals here.
 
500m (M) - A medal is very much possible, but not gold. De Boo would be the biggest medal contender, although he was out of form in the most recent world cup in Inzell. 
1000m (M) - Definitely an okay distance for us, but obviously Stolz would be the clear favourite for gold. One medal should be doable, on a good day even two, but winning no medal would not be too surprising either.
1500m (M) - Not a great distance for us. Nuis and Wennemars are capable of medalling on a good day, but again gold is very unlikely.
5000m (M) - Perhaps our worst distance, but Van de Bunt has been a big surprise in the qualigiers so he's at least a wild card. Chances are very slim however.
10000m (M) - Similar to the 5000m, Van de Bunt is a wild card but with the progression of many others in this discipline I don't see a medal here.
Mass Start (M) - Bergsma has had a couple of good results here, but again Van de Bunt is a wildcard and I'm unsure what the strategy will be. A medal is possible, gold is very difficult.
Team Pursuit (M) - The team barely trained together. With a bit of luck they could scrape bronze, but not too likely.
500m (W) - This should be a win for Kok, with another possible medal for Leerdam.
1000m (W) - Same as the 500m, except Leerdam and Kok switched around. I don't expect Schulting to be in the mix.
1500m (W) - Kok, Groenewoud and Rijpma-De Jong all could medal here, but the competition is tough. 1 or 2 medals, maybe even gold, are on the table, but no medals wouldn't be completely surprising either.
3000m (W) - This is the only distance Beune will skate unfortunately, but together with Groenewoud I see a good chance of a (gold) medal. Wiklund is in the form of her life however, so she is easily the favourite.
5000m (W) - I don't really know what to expect from this distance, Conijn and Kerkhoff are quite inconsistent. A gold medal is not really possible I believe, maybe a bronze might be possible.
Mass Start (W) - With Groenewoud, we have a huge shot at a medal, if not gold here. 
Team Pursuit (W) - I think it's a battle for gold with Canada, but silver should be the minimum.
 
2022 Olympic Games: 6 Gold, 3 Silver, 2 Bronze
2026 Olympic Games prediction: 3 Gold, 5 Silver, 4 Bronze
 
Shorttrack
As a massive shorttrack fan (I truly believe it's the best sport to watch in the world), I feel like on paper we could medal in nearly every event, but short track isn't performed on paper but on ice and that makes it very unpredictable. Compared to the last Winter Games, we have medal chances for both Men's and Women's distances.
 
500m (M) - This is probably the distance with the least chance of a medal. J. Van 't Wout lacks the pure pace, although he is one of the few men who are capable of overtaking on these high speeds. Teun Beur could have an outside shot, but only if he manages to start first in the quarters / semis which is a big ask.
1000m (M) - I'd say this is the best distance of J. Van 't Wout. Challenging for a gold medal is difficult, but a medal should be doable. 
1500m (M) - Again, a medal should be possible but gold is less likely than in the 1000m. J. Van 't Wout is the only likely skater to win a medal though.
Relay (M) - A medal is likely, but other countries have more depth. The fourth man is significantly worse than the others, whether it's De Laat or Emons. However, Van 't Wout as a finisher means I still believe a medal is possible, if not likely.
500m (W) - This is the only realistic distance with 2 potential medals. Xandra Velzeboer is the favourite to win, and Selma Poutsma is the fastest starter in the world. Michelle Velzeboer could als make the final. All in all, I could see 2 medals here.
1000m (W) - X. Velzeboer is quite comfortable at this distance, but I don't think she's the favourite. A medal is not realistic, but it's a 50/50 I'd say. I don't believe other women would have a big shot here.
1500m (W) - Interestingly, Suzanne Schulting will take part in the 1500m. Even though she hasn't performed in any international competitions, she is the biggest shot at a medal in my opinion. Still, I don't see a realistic chance of a medal here.
Relay (W) - This is a strong line-up and I expect they will medal, with gold being realistic but definitely not easy.
Mixed relay - Strong medal contenders, if not favourites along with Canada. 

2022 Olympic Games: 2 Gold, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze
2026 Olympic Games prediction: 2 Gold, 2 Silver, 2 Bronze
 
Skeleton
SIngle (W) - Last year Bos may have been the favourite, but this year the results have been lacklustre. There is definitely a chance of a medal here, maybe even gold, but it's not very likely.
 
2022 Olympic Games: 1 Bronze
2026 Olympic Games prediction: No medal
 
Snowboarding
Cross (M) - Not a chance of medalling
Slopestyle (W) - Not a chance of medalling
Big AIr (W) - Not a chance of medalling
Parallel (W) - Small chance of medalling here, but not very likely
 
2022 Olympic Games: No medal
2026 Olympic Games prediction: No medal
 
Bobsleigh
2-Man - Not a chance of medalling
4-Man - Not a chance of medalling
 
2022 Olympic Games: No medal
2026 Olympic Games prediction: No medal
 
Figure Skating
Pairs - Not a chance of medalling
 
2022 Olympic Games: No medal
2026 Olympic Games prediction: No medal
 
Final tally
2022 Olympic Games: 8 Gold, 5 Silver, 4 Bronze
2026 Olympic Games prediction: 5 Gold, 7 Silver, 6 Bronze

OK, so here is my first post ever on this site.  Have been a lurker for a few years.  Huge fan of the Olympics dating back to Barcelona.  A statistics junky.  Drives my family crazy.  I really like seeing the perspectives of the various nationalities on here.  However, make no mistake I root for the Red White and Blue.  I keep my own medal total predictions for each four-year cycle and update them as the various world cup competitions, injuries, etc. occur.  Here's my USA predictions:
 
Alpine Skiing:  4 Medals - Vonn's return is huge.  Macuga's injury hurt in the speed events but Vonn makes that up.  Johnson is an outside threat.  Shiffrin certainly a favorite in Slalom.  The new combined event will be interesting.  Moltzan and Shiffrin are threats in GS.  Men not likely to medal but an outside shot in the speed events.  
 
Biathlon:  1 Medal - Campbell Wright has a shot (pun intended).  Would be USA first in biathlon.  Women won't be close.  Mixed relay will be competitive (top 8).  Probably optimistic here with Wright but would be neat for first medal in this event.
 
Bobsled: 2 Medals - This one is tough for me.  Humphries and Meyer-Taylor are the veterans and very competitive and threat to medal in both women's events but likely their last hurah as they are getting older.  Love is a wildcard.  All comes down to the actual track on the sliding events.  Very unlikely the men even threaten a medal.  Delu Duca can be competitive in the two-man but won't beat the German men.  Can anyone stop the German sweeps in the men's events?  
 
Cross Country Skiing: 2 Medals - Assuming two from Diggins.  Could be more.  Individual sprint is classical so that dampens the threat a bit.  Would love to see the US women medal in the relay but prolly not.  Schumaker is making some noise for the men and an outside shot to medal.  
 
Curling: 0 Medals - Had Shuster qualified I think he would have competed for a medal but good time to pass the torch.  Team Casper needs to get some good experience here for the  future.  Women not likely to medal.  Mixed doubles would be the best chance but not a favorite per se.  
 
Figure Skating: 4 Medals - Manlin, Chock/Bates, Team and one of the women.  Pretty straightforward here.  
 
Freestyle Skiing: 8 Medals - All about the men in Halfpipe, BA and Slopestyle, need a double medal in one of those...women in those events would be a long shot but possible.  If only Gu competed foe USA.   Need 4 medals there.  Womens Moguls hopefully good for 2 considering there are two events.   Men have an outside shot.  Dual moguls event helps here.  Pick-up two more in aerials (likely men and team...maybe the women's).
 
Ice Hockey: 2 Medals - I say women for Silver but are the actual favorites for gold this time just never know with the CAN match-up.  Men with NHL should be fun.  We should medal but chemistry will be key for the all the men's teams.  
 
Luge: 1 Medal - Likely from the women (singles) or team event.   Men's doubles is competitive as well.  Going to come down to whomever best masters the track...  Germans showing some weakness here lately but more than making up for it in bobsled.
 
Nordic Combined: 0 Medals - Men are getting better but not close to medal contention.  If the women were in there would be one here.  
 
Short Track: 3 Medals - Banking on Stoddard and Santos.  Those two also make the women's relay and mixed teams very competitive.  As everyone says this is so unpredictable.  Men are becoming more competitive.  Kim and Heo could find themselves in a final.  If you're there. anything can happen.
 
Skeleton: 1 Medal - Prolly my least confident guess.  Ro was looking strong but fell off this World Cup season.  Decent shot in the mixed team with Florian.  Men won't medal by themselves.  
 
Ski Jumping: 0 Medals - Men are getting competitive especially a couple of younger fellas.  My dark horse pick for a US medal in 2030 is here.  Women are not there with this current group.
 
Ski-Mo: 0 Medals - Only qualified with the continental quota.  I really don't know too much but seems like a European sport.  Guess that balances with Flag Football showing up in 28'  
 
Snowboarding: 3 Medals - This is tricky and could be a zero for the first time.  Banking on Kim being ok, but she might not be Gold worthy.  Barbieri is young and competitive on the men's side of the half pipe.  A couple men should threaten in SS and BA.  Women and men in cross will compete.  Non are favorites to medal but this is also unpredictable.  
 
Speed Skating: 6 Medals - Counting on Stolz for 4 including Mass Start which he did well in during the fall.  500m is going to be real tough with the young Pole.   Dawson can compete in top 5 at 5,000 and 10,000.  Men's Pursuit should medal.  On the women's side Bowe in her farewell has been consistent top 5 at 1,000 and 1500 i don't see a medal for her but maybe two top-5's.  Jackson will compete in the 500m.  Women's pursuit could challenge for Bronze.  Mangenello medaled in Mass Start multiple times this fall.  Looking at Stolz for 4, Team Pursuit for 1 and need one other to medal.  
 
So this puts us at 37 and not being overly aggressive/optimistic.  Previous best was Vancouver in 2010 with 37 and home at Salt Lake with 34.  I see us right in that mix, a nice round number would be 35.  Best golds was SLC with 10.  Could really threaten to top that.  Regardless, I am hoping this is the best for Team USA outside of North America.  
 
Winter OG are by far my favorite.  As a fan, much easier to follow most all events.  
 
Feel free to give me feedback on the predictions.  My other overall thoughts are:
 
1. Germany will have an off games.....outside of mens Bobsled.
2. Netherlands will be off from previous speed skating highs
3. As always Italy will surprise.  I see a lot of pessimism form their fans on here but I have confidence in the home field.
4. Cannot put a finger on where CAN will land.  Part of me sees them with a strong games but I can also see them disappointing.  
 
 
 
 

Someone has to tally USA up, I'll make it as short as I can.
 
Alpine Skiing: 2-5. Shiffrin and Vonn have a chance to medal in any event they are a part of. Small chance for a men's athlete to medal like in 2022. 1 gold and 1 silver to Shiffrin. Gold in women's team. 3 total. Bobsled: 1-3. Women's monobob team has the former gold medalist (Kaillie Humphries), the most recent world champion (Kayasha Love), and a medalist in both (Elana Meyers Taylor). Two medals in the event is very possible with a two woman as a chance. 1 gold in monobob Cross-Country ski: 1-4. Jesse Diggins has been ripping up the world circuit since her 2022 silver in 30km free and bronze in sprint. She'll get another medal this year, and could go for a legacy games with 4. 2 gold and 1 silver to diggins. So 3 total Figure Skating: 3-5. Ilia Malinin for men's, Madison Chock and Evan Bates for ice dancing, and the team event are some of the safest medals for team USA. I would expect another medal or two from the women's singles, but it's thin ice there between 2 medals or 0 in that event. 1 gold to Ilia, Chock and Bates, and the team. 1 silver to Liu in women's. 4 total Freestyle skiing: 6-11. The best winter sport for team USA, with 8 medals in the last Olympics and 9 at the 2025 worlds. High medal chances in men's aerials, slope, half and women's dual moguls, aerials, and mixed aerial teams. Good chances in men's big air and women's single moguls. Double medals in the strongest events is also likely. I'd say 9 is reasonable as the inclusion of double moguls could give 1-3 just in the women's event. 9 in total, too many to count Ice Hockey: 1-2. The women's team medals, they have done it every time and shouldn't stop this year. An NHL lead men's team should be getting a medal but a chance encounter with Canada could slow things down. Gold or silver for women's, bronze for men's. 2 Short Track Speed Skating: 0-1. There's 8 events the US has qualified for, it's a chaotic sport, one odd medal seems possible but not likely. 0 likely Skeleton: 0-1. Mystique Ro won 2 medals at the most recent world's albeit on home ice in Lake Placid. She has 2 chances to show up in individual and mixed relay and could win a medal. Bronze to Ro. 1 Snowboard: 0-4. This is a rough year for US snowboarding. Although we invented the sport, like skateboarding, the Japanese have mastered it. Chole Kim sits as the sole star for the team and if she's recovered from her recent injury should win halfpipe, but it's a looming question. There's chances in men's slope and big air from Ollie Martin or maybe Red Gerrard. The 4th medal would come from Men's snowboard cross where there's 4 top athletes. Maybe a bit harsh, we could go 5 or 6 if things align, but we could also reasonably get nothing. 3 seems doable, 1 gold to Kim, 1 bronze to Marin, 1 cross medal in men's or mixed team. 3 Speed skating: 3-6.  I had no idea the US team was this strong. Jordan Stolz is that guy and based on recent championships should medal in the 3 shortest distances if not win a few. Add in a very strong team pursuit squad for men's and a top 5 women's team and good athletes in the mass start event and we could see this as US's second best sport. 3 medals to Stolz, one in men's pursuit. 4

So tallied up the range is 17-42, which is basically a meaningless range to be honest because neither extreme is possible. I went back over and gave an official prediction with 30 medals total. 5 more then in Beijing. Maybe optimistic, but I think that makes sense with extra chances in double moguls, a stronger men's hockey team, and the Stolz having a good games. Reasonable range is 24-32

I'm pretty sure USA would eventually win the medal table, even if Klaebo could win even more gold medals than Stolz (actually, the 6-gold campaign is not completely out of order for him, given what he showed last weekend)
 
it will depend mostly on biathlon and the freeski disciplines, I think those will make the difference (given that Stolz + women's alpine skiing for USA = Klaebo + speedskating for NOR)

My schedule in Milan:
 
February 8th
Figure skating mixed competition
 
February 9th
Speedskating 1000 m women (Jutta )
 
February 10th
Shorttrack mixed relay
 
February 11th
Speedskating 1000 m men
 
February 12th
Speedskating 5000m women
Shorttrack 1000 men / 500 women
 
February 13th
Back home and tv on!

My schedule in Milan:
 
February 8th
Figure skating mixed competition
 
February 9th
Speedskating 1000 m women (Jutta )
 
February 10th
Shorttrack mixed relay
 
February 11th
Speedskating 1000 m men
 
February 12th
Speedskating 5000m women
Shorttrack 1000 men / 500 women
 
February 13th
Back home and tv on!

Men's speedskating - 1 silver, 1 bronze
Women's speedskating - 3 gold, 3 silver, 3 bronze
 
Men's shorttrack - 1 bronze
Women's shorttrack - 1 gold, 1 silver
Mixed - 1 silver
 
15 medals in total

Illya Kharun Is switching from  to  
 
https://www.instagram.com/p/DT-tVgrAClA/?igsh=MW5xamVyb25hZ2lhYg==
 
Big hit to Canada’s medal hopes in swimming, not completely unexpected though 

15, lowest medal count for  since Nagano 1998 
 
Total disaster in almost every single event 
 
Kidding, but something tells me we won't have a "successful" Olympics, half of our realistic gold medal chances come in short track and we're probably gonna get penalized by the judges or crash knowing our luck

Daan Kos (our best rider after Jens van 't Wout) is still injured and can't participate at the Olympic Games. Very sad for him (and our relay).

Martina Valcepina (short track)

Why would I be angry about something somebody posts on some internet forum?

Why are you just making up fake Italian names? :P
 
But once again, I feel like people always underestimate how weird Olympic speed skating results can be. There are always people who find the form of their lives, people who overtrain, people who are randomly in bad form and people who have been hiding their form all season.

Yeah, you've decided to keep going on this ultrapessimist streak? Alrighty. I honestly don't think any Italian skater can even get into the top-6 in any event at all, it's a miracle they qualified  

It looks like Heerenveen has the edge. There were talks backstage during the WC at Thialf and I assume the Netherlands will offer some interesting favors to the French federation as a reward for this once in a lifetime chance of hosting the Games. French skaters will probably relocate there and benefit from the installations. We'll know soon enough.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025–26_ISU_Short_Track_World_Tour

Milano men's relay is:

Semi final 1:
 
 
 
Semi final 2:

 
 
They classify the countries according the World Tour Standings. Not according the SOQC-list. Otherwise  and  would switch.
 
Good relay final from the Dutch, even without Jens van 't Wout. Looks like he has a pretty annoying injury. Not te be underestimated in any case. Hopefully he will recorver in time for European Champs and Olympic Games.

Mixed relay in Milano:
 
Heat 1:

 
 
Heat 2:
 
 
 
Heat 3:
 
 

Oh no!!! Groin injury for Jens van 't Wout. DNS on the 1.000 and probably not on the relay (this afternoon). 

Women's relay in Milano:
 
Semi final 1:

 
 
Semi final 2:
 
 

it's ready!
 
the new Speedskating track in Rho/Fiera (Milan) will be the stage for the 1st Junior World cup meet of the season on Saturday (10 a.m. start with 1000m, 3000m & team pursuit for juniors and neo-seniors, men and women) & Sunday (9.30 a.m. start with 500m, 1500m & mass start races, always for juniors and neo-seniors, men and women)
 
ladies and gentlemen, the track!
 

Manganello was an unsympathetic winner, damn  
 
Even going so far as to push Kerkhoff. Manganello is nearly a century old, surely she has heard of basic tactics like not taking turns in a lead group when you have your sprinter team mate behind you in the peloton. Manganello has even been a cyclist, come on, it's not that difficult.

Marit Bouwmeester, most succesful female Olympic sailor, with two golds, one silver and one bronze medal.