2022 Olympics: Odds and Favorites for Friday's Schedule of Events
The first set of medals at the 2022 Winter Olympics will be handed out on Friday night and early Saturday morning.
Biathlon, cross-country skiing and speed skating will award the first gold medals of the Beijing Games while most people on the east coast of the United States are sleeping.
Before that, the preliminary round of hockey, curling and the women's snowboard slopestyle take place.
American Jamie Anderson is one of the medal favorites in the women's slopestyle. She can put herself in a great position to win gold with solid runs on Friday night.
Some of the traditional Winter Olympics powers are expected to get on the medal board on Saturday morning. Norway is favored in the first biathlon event and the Netherlands should grab at least one speed skating medal.
All available odds for the events taking place on Friday night and early Saturday morning can be found here on DraftKings Sportsbook.
Schedule of Events
Friday, February 4
Curling: Mixed doubles round-robin matches (8:05 p.m. ET)
Snowboarding: Women's slopestyle qualification (9:45 p.m. ET)
Hockey: Canada vs. Finland (Women) (11:10 p.m. ET)
Saturday, February 5
Curling: Mixed doubles round-robin matches (1:05 a.m. ET)
Ski Jumping: Men's individual normal hill qualification (1:20 a.m. ET)
Cross-Country Skiing: Women's 15km Skiathlon (2:45 a.m. ET)
Speed Skating: Women's 3,000m (3:30 a.m. ET)
Hockey: Japan vs. Denmark (Women) and Czech Republic vs. Sweden (Women) (3:45 a.m. ET)
Biathlon: Mixed 4x6km relay (4 a.m. ET)
Freestyle Skiing: Men's moguls qualification (5 a.m. ET) & finals (6:30 a.m. ET)
Ski Jumping: Women's individual normal hill qualification (5:45 a.m. ET) & finals (6:35 a.m. ET)
Women's Snowboard Slopestyle
Odds:
Zoi Sadowski-Synnott (New Zealand (-115; bet $115 to win $100)
Jamie Anderson (United States) (+250; bet $100 to win $250)
Tess Coady (Australia) (+700)
Anna Gasser (Austria) (+1200)
Laurie Blouin (Canada) (+1400)
The women's snowboard slopestyle competition gets underway on Friday night with the preliminary round.
American Jamie Anderson is the only woman to win the Olympic gold medal in the slopestyle discipline. She captured the 2014 and 2018 Olympic golds.
Anderson enters the competition as the second favorite behind Zoi Sadowski-Synnott from New Zealand. Sadowski-Synnott is a two-time gold medalist at the World Championships in slopestyle.
Sadowski-Synnott beat out Anderson and Australia's Tess Coady in the medal round to win the 2021 World Championships in Aspen, Colorado.
All of the medal favorites will look to advance to the finals with strong runs in Friday's qualification round.
The qualification round starts at 9:45 p.m. ET and it is the lone individual event taking place in that time window.
The top qualifiers from Friday's heats advance to the final on Saturday night. Sadowski-Synnott is trying to win New Zealand's first-ever snowboarding gold, while Anderson is after the first of what the Americans hope is many first-place finishes on the snow in China.
Biathlon 4x6 Km Mixed Relay
Odds:
Norway (+125)
France (+275)
Sweden (+275)
Russian Olympic Committee (+1000)
Belarus (+1500)
Norway will try to re-assert its dominance in the Olympic biathlon mixed relay early on Saturday morning.
Norway typically earns most of its Winter Olympics medals in the biathlon and cross-country skiing events.
The Norwegians were upset by France in Pyeongchang. France won the event by 21-hundredths of a second.
The gold-medal favorite took home first place in the relay event at the 2021 World Championships and that unit should come into the competition in Beijing with extra motivation to take gold back.
Sweden could be viewed as a threat to Norway's gold-medal hopes. The Swedes took bronze behind Norway and Austria in the relay event at the World Championships.
The Russian Olympic Committee and Belarus should both be in the medal mix as well.
A win for Norway could set the tone for a strong biathlon campaign in Beijing. Norway won 25 medals at the last two World Championships.
Women's Speedskating 3,000m
Odds:
Irene Schouten (Netherlands) (-300)
Antoinette de Jong (Netherlands) (+700)
Martina Sablikova (Czech Republic) (+900)
Isabelle Weidemann (Canada) (+1000)
Ragne Wiklund (Norway) (+1500)
The medal stand inside the Olympic speedskating arena is usually decked out in the orange, blue and red of the Netherlands.
The Dutch have the most speedskating medals in the event out of any country that has participated at the Winter Olympics.
Irene Schouten is favored to add yet another gold to the Dutch medal haul from the oval. She is an overwhelming favorite after winning the 2022 European Championships.
Schouten took bronze at the 3,000 meters and gold in the 5,000 meters at the 2021 World Championships.
Antoinette de Jong won the 3,000 meters last February on her home ice in Heereveen, the Netherlands.
De Jong was part of one of three medal sweeps at the 2018 Winter Olympics. She finished third behind Carlijn Achtereekte and Ireen Wust.
Martina Sablikova, a three-time Olympic gold medalist, is viewed as the biggest threat to the Dutch in the 3,000 meters.
The 34-year-old Czech skater is one of the most experienced athletes competing in Beijing and she should at least be in the mix for a medal.
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