Young American slalom specialist Mikaela Shiffrin is eying no less than four possible medals at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea.
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Slalom queen Shiffrin —
Having dominated the World Cup slalom circuit in the years since she took the 2014 Sochi Games by storm as a teenager, Shiffrin will be trying to become the first man or woman to successfully defend an Olympic slalom title.
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Winter Olympics —
Ski racing will play a central role at the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Games, which will be held from February 9 to 25.
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Matthias Mayer —
A star was born in Sochi when Austrian Matthias Mayer, then aged just 23, triumphed despite having never won a downhill race before.
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Matthias Mayer —
But it remains to be seen how Mayer will fare on the Olympic course in Jeongseon, which is full of big curves and long rolls, particularly after breaking two vertebrae in a serious crash in 2015.
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Scenic and spectacular —
The World Cup circuit will be hosting about 80 races on three different continents, crossing from the European Alps to the North American Rockies before finishing with the finals in Are, Sweden, in March. The season starts at the majestic 3,000-meter high Rettenbach glacier in Soelden, Austria (pictured) on October 28.
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Racers will be throwing themselves down the mountain at speeds of up to 80 miles-per-hour, and no event is more breathtaking than the classic Hahnenkamm race on the feared Streif course in Kitzbuhel, Austria.