Skeleton
Whistler Sliding Center
FEB. 18-19

Best of the U.S.: Katie Uhlaender and Noelle Pikus-Pace have seven world championship medals among them and two sound legs. Pikus-Pace, the 2007 champion, broke her right leg in 2005, when a runaway bobsled slammed into her as she stood along the track. Uhlaender shattered her left kneecap in a snowmobile accident in April and has been slow to recover. In the men’s competition, 2006 Olympian Eric Bernotas won a gold medal in Igls, Germany, the penultimate World Cup race of this season.
Best of the rest: There are two Dukurs on the Latvian men’s team. Bet on the younger one, Martins, ranked No. 1 in the world, to continue his hot streak. Frank Rommel has finished the last two seasons in second place. It’s tough to imagine that anyone can beat Canadian Mellisa Hollingsworth, the 2006 Olympic bronze medalist ranked No. 1 in the world, at home. But if anyone can, it is Germany’s Marion Trott.
Predictions
Men: 1. Martins Dukurs, Latvia. 2. Rommel, Germany. 3. Jon Montgomery, Canada.
Women: 1. Hollingsworth, Canada. 2. Trott, Germany. 3. Shelley Rudman, Great Britain.