This weekend on the Road to the Olympics: U.S. short track team to be decided at Olympic Trials

Athletes compete for spots on the U.S. short track team at Olympic Trials, Shaun White and Chloe Kim return to the halfpipe for Olympic qualifying events, Mikaela Shiffrin enters a super-G race, and the United States resumes its rivalry with Canada in women's hockey. Here's what's happening this weekend (December 17-19) on the road to the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Short Track

The athletes who will represent the United States in short track speed skating at the 2022 Winter Games will be determined in Salt Lake City this weekend with a full three days of action at Olympic Trials. Five spots for female athletes and two for male athletes are on the line, with lots of youth in the chase. 21-year-old Maame Biney is the only athlete chasing a return to the Winter Olympics, with rising stars Kristen Santos and Brandon Kim in the mix for their first trip to the Games. 

The competition gets underway Friday in primetime on NBCSN and concludes Sunday afternoon on NBC. For more on the U.S. Olympic Short Track Trials, read the preview.

All coverage streams live on NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app.

Snowboard Halfpipe & Slopestyle

The Winter Dew Tour returns to Copper Mountain in Frisco, Colorado, after making its move there in 2020, and will once again host the world’s best park and pipe snowboarders. It’s the penultimate of four U.S. Olympic team selection events in both the halfpipe and slopestyle/big air qualifying tracks, with only January's U.S. Grand Prix at Mammoth remaining. U.S. riders can put themselves in better position for an Olympic team nomination by finishing on the podium in these selection events. Last year’s competition saw reigning Olympic champions Red Gerard and Jamie Anderson win in slopestyle, and 2018 PyeongChang medalists Scotty James and Liu Jiayu win the halfpipe events.

The snowboarding field includes all eight reigning Olympic, X Games and world champions in halfpipe and slopestyle: Chloe Kim, Anderson, New Zealander Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, Japan’s Yuto Totsuka, Shaun White, Red Gerard, Marcus Kleveland of Norway and Dusty Henricksen.

Freeski Halfpipe & Slopestyle

The Winter Dew Tour will also host halfpipe and slopestyle events for freeskiing. It’s the third of six U.S. Olympic selection events for the halfpipe team and the penultimate of five for the slopestyle/big air team. U.S. skiers can put themselves in better position for an Olympic team nomination by finishing on the podium in these selection events. Last year’s competition saw Canadians Noah Bowman and Cassie Sharpe win the halfpipe event, and Christian Nummedal and Mathilde Gremaud take the wins in slopestyle.

The freeski field includes six of the eight reigning Olympic, X Games and world champions in halfpipe and slopestyle: U.S.-born Eileen Gu of China, New Zealander Nico Porteous, Nick Goepper, David Wise, Canada's Sharpe and Swiss Sarah Hoefflin.

Alpine Skiing

The final speed races of 2021 take place in the French Alps with downhill on Saturday and super-G on Sunday. Current World Cup overall leader Mikaela Shiffrin will race the super-G event in hope of extending her streak of super-G podiums to three. Shiffrin’s U.S. teammate, Breezy Johnson, has a similar streak on the line in the downhill, though she’ll have to contend with Italy’s red-hot Sofia Goggia, winner of three of the five speed races this season.

The world’s top male ski racers head to Italy for a busy weekend. First, it’s speed events on the slopes of Val Gardena with super-G Friday and downhill Saturday, followed by giant slalom at nearby Alta Badia on Sunday.  Marco Ottermatt is in search of an extension to his overall lead. The Swiss star is in the middle of a breakout season, having won half of all races to start the season. Ryan Cochran-Siegle and Travis Ganong represent Team USA’s best chance at a podium in Italy.

Hockey

The My Why Tour continues between the U.S. and Canadian national women's teams. Team Canada took Wednesday night's tilt by a score of 2-1 in overtime, but the Americans will have a chance to settle the score Friday night in St. Louis. Puck drop is set for 8 p.m. ET. Thus far, Canada leads the series 3-2.

The U.S. and Canada will play once again Monday at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul on Monday, which will serve as the final stop in an American city for the My Why Tour.

Bobsled & Skeleton

A busy weekend approaches as the 2021-22 IBSF World Cup continues in Altenberg, Germany, where the Bobsled World Cup reaches its fifth stage and the Skeleton World Cup sees its third round of competition.

Germany’s own Francesco Friedrich (partnering with Alexander Schuller) remains golden in both the two- and four-man events, just ahead of compatriot Johannes Lochner in the rankings. The two-woman race also features Germans in the top spots, with Laura Nolte leading Kim Kalicki. Nolte ranks right behind U.S. leader (and three-time Olympic medalist) Elana Meyers Taylor in the Women’s Monobob World Series, with serious contender Kaillie Humphries – who won her first race as a U.S. citizen earlier this month – currently in fourth.

Last weekend, the Netherlands’ Kimberly Bos became the first Dutch athlete to win a World Cup gold medal in skeleton; she heads the standings. Two Germans, Christopher Grotheer and Axel Jungk, will fight for the top spot in the men’s competition.

*Delayed broadcast

Luge

At the Luge World Cup’s fifth stage in Igls, Austria, it will be difficult to top the drama on display last weekend: Men’s singles saw Austria’s Wolfgang Kindl and Germany’s Max Langenhan share gold in a stunning 1:47.977. Germany’s two-time Olympic medalist, and current World Cup leader, Johannes Ludwig finished third.

Men’s doubles, meanwhile, saw its fourth different winner of the season as Austria’s Thomas Steu and Lorenz Koller – gold medalists at 2021 World Championships – beat Germany’s top-ranked, 2018 Olympic bronze medal-winning duo of Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken. Latvian brothers Andris and Juris Sics fell to second in the standings.

Women’s singles will also see a tight battle between Austria and Germany. Austria’s Madeleine Egle took gold last weekend over Germany’s top-ranked Julia Taubitz, leaving each athlete with two race wins this season. Who will come out ahead in Igls – and, two months from now, at the 2022 Winter Olympics?

The United States’ best hope for the World Cup, and possibly the upcoming Games, lies in the team relay division. Ashley Farquharson, Tucker West, and Chris Mazdzer/Jayson Terdiman earned silver at the first event in Yanqing, China, and currently place fourth in the rankings.

Snowboard Cross & Alpine Snowboarding

The third of eight 2021-22 FIS Snowboard Cross World Cups takes place at Cervinia ski resort in Breuil-Cervinia, Italy, at the foot of iconic Alps peak Matterhorn. In last week’s stop at Montafon in Austria, the men’s and women’s winners were Great Britain’s Charlotte Bankes and this year’s world silver medalist Alessandro Haemmerle. For the latter, it was his second win of the season, staying perfect. American Nick Baumgartner sits in second on the men’s points list behind Haemmerle, who leads along with Bankes. Italians Michela Moioli and Lorenzo Sommariva won last year’s edition of the World Cup on home slopes. Eva Samkova, who injured both her legs in a mixed-team event crash at Montafon, won’t be competing.

The third of six 2021-22 Snowboard World Cups with parallel giant slalom competition takes place at Cortina d'Ampezzo ski resort in Italy, a past and future Olympic Games host. In last week’s opener at Lake Bannoye, 2018 Olympic silver medalist Lee Sang-Ho of South Korea and Russian Sofiya Nadyrshina won the PGS events, while Andreas Prommegger and Julie Zogg took the non-Olympic parallel slalom contests. On Thursday, less than 30 miles from Cortina at Carezza in Val d'Ega, Stefan Baumeister and Daniela Ulbing were the PGS victors, with Ulbing defeating Czech two-sport athlete Ester Ledecka in the big final.

Freestyle Skiing

The third of eight moguls stops on the World Cup circuit takes place at Alpe d’Huez in France, and also serves as the second of five that include competition in dual moguls, a non-Olympic event. Last week’s moguls contests at Idre Fjall in Sweden saw Japanese wins on both sides from Ikuma Horishima and Anri Kawamura, and before that, at the Ruka opener, victories from Canadian Mikael Kingsbury and American Olivia Giaccio.

The ski cross World Cup circuit’s next stop is in Innichen, Italy, wrapping this season’s Cross Alps Tour with a pair of podium chances. David Mobaerg and Marielle Thompson won Tuesday's competition at Arosa in Switzerland. Prior to that, in last week’s double contest at Val Thorens in France, reigning world champion Sandra Naeslund claimed her second and third wins of the season, while Terence Tchiknavorian and Alex Fiva took the titles on the men’s side.

Cross-Country Skiing

The fourth World Cup stop of the season and last before the start of the Tour de Ski section – beginning Dec. 28 – takes place in Dresden, Germany, with individual sprints in freestyle technique, as well as contests in team sprint. Maja Dahlqvist of Sweden has won the last three women's sprints on the circuit, the first of which was in classical, while Norway’s Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo has won the last two men’s sprints, though he wasn't expected to compete in Dresden. Americans Jessie Diggins and Rosie Brennan both seek their second World Cup wins in the individual event. It wasn’t immediately clear Thursday who would be on the team sprint pairing, but the U.S. was expected to enter.

Biathlon

The third Biathlon World Cup stop takes place at Le Grand-Bornand’s Sylvie Becaert stadium in the Annecy Mountains of the French Alps with sprints, pursuits and mass starts. PyeongChang 7.5km sprint silver medalist Marte Olsbu Roeiseland of Norway won the event Thursday to kick off competition. The men’s 10km sprint was scheduled for Friday – German Johannes Kuehn claimed the event’s most recent race on the circuit last week in Hochfilzen, Austria. Roeiseland and French favorite Quentin Fillon Maillet were the last pursuit victors, also in Hochfilzen, and the mass starts mark the opening races for those events of the season.

Ski Jumping

Nordic Combined

Curling

The United States has already locked up qualification spots for mixed doubles, as well and men's and women's team curling. However, several more spots are up for grabs at the final Olympic Qualification Event in the Netherlands. The latest teams to qualify for the Olympics will be decided Friday and Saturday when the playoff sessions commence.