MEDAL PICKS BY ANITA VERSCHOTH
Bobsled & Luge

Bobsledders from Germany and Canada will be strong on the 15 turns of the Spiral, while the Swiss have lost some panache and the U.S. is bound to be shut out for the 11th straight Olympics. The Americans, however, should take home their first medals ever in the luge.

TWO-MAN
February 14 and 15

• Lueders & MacEachern, Canada [spotlight]
• Langen & Zimmermann, Germany
• Huber & Tartaglia, Italy

U.S. Brian Shimer and Randy Jones won two World Cup races last season and could take home a medal from Japan, too.

FOUR-MAN
February 20 and 21

• Germany (driver: Harald Czudaj)
• Switzerland (driver: Marcel Rohner)
• Austria (driver: Hubert Schösser)

U.S. Driver Shimer and his crew have a better chance for a medal in the big sled: In two World Cup races on the Spiral last February, they finished first and second.

SINGLES
February 8 and 9

• Georg Hackl, Germany
• Markus Prock, Austria
• Wendel Suckow, U.S.

U.S. Suckow, the '93 world champ, won on the Spiral last February and should excel there again—even Hackl says so.

DOUBLES
February 13

• Grimmette & Martin, U.S.
• Schiegl & Schiegl, Austria
• Brugger & Huber, Italy

U.S. This year Mark Grimmette and Brian Martin became the second U.S. duo to win a season points title; the 1997 champs, Chris Thorpe and Gordy Sheer, could also come away with a medal.

SINGLES
February 10 and 11

• Susi Erdmann, Germany
• Andrea Tagwerker, Austria
• Silke Kraushaar, Germany

U.S. The 29-year-old flag-bearer from Lillehammer, Cammy Myler, in her fourth—and, she says, last—Olympics, is shooting for her first medal.

Michelle Kwan | Swedish Hockey | Luge Duo | Hockey Photo Act

Issue date: February 9, 1998