Ian Toner: Two hundred and twenty three athletes will don the red, white and blue to compete at the Winter Olympics in Beijing. Let’s take a look at three women on the cusp of making history as part of America’s Olympic delegation.
Chloe Kim returns to the Olympic slopes after becoming the youngest woman to win an Olympic snowboarding gold medal at 17.
Even though she took a 19-month break from snowboarding, Kim’s recent performances have propelled her to a world number two ranking, and she’s favored to become the first woman to repeat as Olympic halfpipe champion.
Aaliyah: If at first you don’t succeed, dust yourself off and try again.
Toner: Okay, that’s gotta be Mariah Bell’s anthem because she just won the US women’s figure skating national title for the first time in nine trips to the competition.
That win punched the 25 year old’s first Olympic ticket, where she’ll be the oldest woman to compete on the US skating team in 94 years.
And then there’s Abby Roque, another first time Olympian set to become the first Indigenous athlete on the women’s ice hockey squad. After capturing a national title with Wisconsin in 2019, Roque helped America win silver at the 2021 world championships. And she’s expected to play big minutes as her team tries to repeat as Olympic gold medalists for the first time.
So who will you be keeping an eye on in Beijing? Let us know in the comments below.
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