Vancouver Olympics medal count: US chances for Saturday

Let the US-Canada rumble begin!

The women, perhaps even more surprisingly, defeated the strong Canadian team to advance to the semifinal. They are decided underdogs against the Germans in their semifinal but could take bronze with a victory over the loser of the Japan/Poland semifinal.

• American medal chances: (men) guaranteed; (women) fairly good

Snowboard (men’s parallel giant slalom): This figures to be a battle between two Canadians and two Austrians. American Chris Klug won a bronze in 2002 but is a relative long shot to medal again.

• American medal chances: slim (Chris Klug)

Alpine skiing (slalom): The story here is that the Austrian men are looking to win their first medal of any color at the Vancouver Olympics – a remarkable shutout. They are a strong favorite to medal here, with three slalom skiers in the top 6 of the World Cup standings, including current World Cup overall leader Benjamin Raich.

Frenchman Julien Lizeroux, Croatian Ivica Kostelic, and Swiss Silvan Zurbriggen are also favorites. America will look to Ted Ligety and Bode Miller as decent medal chances. Miller skis so fast and close to the edge that if he finishes, he could well medal.

• American medal chances: fair (Ted Ligety, Bode Miller)

Bobsled (four man): Steven Holcomb piloted the USA 1 sled to a 0.40 lead in heats 1 and 2, setting track records on both runs. As the top-ranked four-man pilot in the world, he’s in pole position to win gold. Behind him are Canada 1 and Germany 1.

Just how long has it been since the US took gold in four-man boblsed?

• American medal chances: very good (USA 1)

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