The 2022 Winter Olympics are currently ongoing in Beijing, China. The games have been competitive and exciting all the way through so far, and it’s sure to continue as such. As of February 10th, the Germans are in the lead with 6 gold medals, followed by Norway with 5, with Austria, the United States, Netherlands, and Sweden all tied for third with 4. In terms of total medal count, the Austrians lead with 13, followed by Norway and Canada with 12, the Russian Olympic Committee with 11, and the United States with 10. It is certainly heating up, as we see more events like the snowboarding and skiing competitions start to get to their medal events and the ice hockey events start to get into playoffs. 

The United States started off struggling to find gold, however, they have picked it up as of late thanks to athletes Chloe Kim, Nathen Chen, Lindsey Jacobellis, and the ski tandem of Ashley Caldwell, Christopher Lillis, and Justin Schoenefeld. Chloe Kim, who is one of the best snowboarders in the world at only 21 years old, won her second gold medal in the Women’s Snowboard Halfpipe competition, which she had previously won in 2018 at the age of 17. Nathen Chen, a 22-year-old figure skater from Utah, won the Men’s Free Skate while skating to Elton John’s “Rocketman,” defeating two-time defending champion Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan. Lindsey Jacobellis won the Women’s Snowboard Cross, giving the United States its first gold medal in the tournament. She is also the oldest woman to ever place at the Winter Olympic games in the history of the United States. Finally, the ski team of Caldwell, Lillis, and Schoenefeld won gold in the Freestyle Skiing Mixed Team Aerials. 

One of the more famous team competitions in the Winter Olympics is both men’s and women’s ice hockey. Due to COVID and the Omicron variant affecting the NHL season, causing over 100 NHL games to be postponed, the NHL elected to forbid NHL players from participating in the games. NHL players were also forbidden from participating in the 2018 Winter Olympics due to funding disputes between the NHL and the International Olympic Committee, according to ESPN, causing a second straight Winter Olympics without active NHL competition.

As for an outlook on the games, it is looking like it will be a tight race in Group A between Canada and the United States. However, 2018 silver medal winner Germany is also a big presence in the group. Both have a good pool of young junior hockey players and former NHL players, and it should be interesting to see who comes out on top there. In Group B, the frontrunner is the 2018 gold medal-winning Russians, who are officially known as the Russian Olympic Committee. However, the Czechs are going to be a force to be reckoned with, as former Boston Bruins player David Krejci has elected to play for his home country. In Group C, we see a Scandinavian matchup between the Finns and the Swedes. The Finns lineup includes many NHL veterans such as Valtteri Filppula and Sami Vatenen, while the Swedes have former two-time Stanley Cup champion, Marcus Kruger. 

On the women’s side of things, their competitions have already reached the playoffs. The current round is the quarterfinals and will feature Canada vs. Sweden, the United States vs. Czechia, the Russian Olympic Committee vs. Switzerland, and Japan vs. Finland. The frontrunners seem to be the Canadians, who went 4-0 in round-robin competition, followed by the Americans and the Japanese at 3-1. It is looking like it will be either the United States or Canada to come out on top of the competition, but anything can happen. 

It is sure to continue to be a fun Winter Olympics, and everyone has their eyes on the best of the best in their respective competitions.  The Olympics will continue until February 20th and are broadcast on NBC affiliate networks.