Beijing (AFP)

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Yuzuru Hanyu (JPN)

Almost 27 years old, Yuzuru Hanyu is looking for an extremely rare performance: to be crowned Olympic figure skating champion three times in a row, after 2014 and 2018. Only one skater, the Swede Gillis Grafström, and one skater, the Norwegian Sonja Henie, signed such a feat in the interwar years.

But the slender Japanese will have a lot to do with the competition from the twirling American Nathan Chen, 22 years old and three-time reigning world champion with quadruple jumps.

Even though Chen just had his first setback in three and a half years last weekend at Skate America, the first Grand Prix of the season, to kick off his Olympic winter.

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Eileen Gu (CHN)

Glamor and show: freestyle skier Eileen Gu has everything to become one of the faces of the Olympics-2022. Barely 18 years old, she is a model in her spare time, as well as a brilliant student who will join the American University of Stanford next year. After shining at the X-Games, the freestyler won two gold medals at the last Worlds in March, in halfpipe and slopestyle. This Californian, born to an American father and a Chinese mother, has represented China in sports since June 2019. Known there as "Gu Ailing", she was greeted with enthusiasm by the media of "the Middle Empire", who affectionately nicknamed her "Frog Princess", in reference to her green helmet.

Chinese-American freestyle skier Eileen Gu at the 2021 Met Gala, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, September 13, 2021. Mike Coppola GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP

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Mikaela Shiffrin (USA)

Looking for a third consecutive gold medal in slalom, Mikaela Shiffrin admitted having some apprehension before Beijing.

The 26-year-old world ski star won the big World Cup globe for three consecutive winters, from 2017 to 2019, but that streak ended in 2020 (2nd behind Brignone), after a season marked by the sudden death of his father in February, the Covid-19 pandemic and a back injury.

Serene again after skipping the speed events last winter, the American kicked off her Olympic season perfectly by winning the inaugural giant of Sölden on Saturday, her 70th World Cup victory, 16 units off the record. by Swede Ingemar Stenmark.

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Chloe Kim (USA)

Born in the United States of South Korean parents, the snowboarder was one of the faces of the Pyeongchang Olympics in 2018, at only 17 years old, winning gold in the halfpipe, acclaimed by local spectators.

Kim has since won world gold in the same event in 2019 and 2021. Deprived of participation in the Sochi Games in 2014 due to her too young age, in 2016 she became the first woman to do two 1.080 °, or three full turns.

In April, she revealed to be the victim of dozens of racist insults every day on social networks, against the backdrop of a wave of anti-Asian violence in the United States.

The American Chloe Kim on the highest step of the Olympic podium with her gold medal in the women's snowboard halfpipe, in Pyeongchang, on February 13, 2018. Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV AFP

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Connor McDavid (CAN)

After skipping the 2018 Olympics, the players of the prestigious North American Ice Hockey League, the NHL, are back.

Edmonton Oilers star Connor McDavid will be one of the attractions of Team Canada: at 24, he is already one of the most formidable players in the NHL, named twice the best player (MVP) of this championship. , and his association with Colorado forward Nathan MacKinnon is shaping up to be one of the most lethal combinations in men's hockey in Beijing.

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Alexis Pinturault (FRA)

Winner in 2021 of the general classification of the Alpine Skiing World Cup after two second places, the 30-year-old Frenchman will be aiming for gold in Beijing.

Double bronze medalist in giant in 2014 and 2018, Pinturault had also brought in the combined silver of Pyeongchang, as of the 2021 World Championships. With his 34 World Cup victories, the 2019 world champion of the combined is counting on his versatility to achieve its goal.

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