By ,
Published January 08, 2015
Sochi, Russia (SportsNetwork.com) - Eight more medals will be awarded on Tuesday at the Sochi Olympics.
With the drama of his controversial withdrawal from the slopestyle competition out of the way, Shaun White will take aim at winning his third straight gold medal in Olympic halfpipe on Tuesday.
White was mocked by a pair of Canadian snowboarders after he pulled out of the slopestyle event last week, saying he wanted to concentrate on halfpipe and that the risk of injury on a slopestyle course seen by some as dangerous was too great.
He would be only the fourth athlete to win the same event in three straight Winter Olympics. The other three were all women -- speed skaters Bonnie Blair of the U.S. and Claudia Pechstein of Germany and figure skater Sonja Henie of Norway.
Erin Hamlin will try to become the first American to win a luge singles medal at the Olympics when the last two runs of the women's event are held.
Hamlin, 27, was in third place after the first two runs on Monday at Sanki Sliding Center. Competing in her third Olympics, she is .216 seconds ahead of Russia's Natalja Khoreva with Canada's Alex Gough and Kimberley McRae in fifth and sixth place.
Germany's Natalie Geisenberger, the 2010 bronze medalist, has the lead after posting the best time in each of the first two runs. She leads countrywoman and reigning Olympic champion Tatjana Huefner.
Kate Hansen, the 21-year-old American whose pre-run dancing warmup has drawn attention online, will start the last two runs in 10th place.
Fresh off a successful defense of her 7.5-kilometer biathlon gold, Slovakia's Anastasiya Kuzmina will look to reach the podium again in Tuesday's 10- kilometer pursuit.
Kuzmina, who took silver in this event at the 2010 Vancouver Games, will start 20 seconds ahead of Olga Vilukhina after the Russian claimed silver in Sunday's 7.5-km sprint. Vilukhina took third in this event at the 2012 World Championships, but slipped to a 22nd-place finish in 2013.
American Susan Dunklee will start 42 seconds after Kuzmina, while Tora Berger of Norway will look to make a run after winning gold in the 10-km pursuit at the 2013 World Championships. She starts 34 seconds after Kuzmina.
Both the men and women will collect medals in the cross country sprint.
For the men, Norway's Petter Northug Jr. takes aim at a fifth Olympic medal, including a bronze in this event at the 2010 Winter Games. Russia's Nikita Kriukov won the gold in Vancouver four years ago and again at last year's World Championships.
Canadian Alex Harvey took bronze at the 2013 World Championships and will race on Tuesday.
Norway looks to grab some medals on the women's side, with Marit Bjorgen seeking a fourth career Olympic gold. That includes one in this event at the Vancouver Games.
Bjorgen is also a three-time gold winner at the World Championships, while fellow countrywoman Maiken Caspersen Falla placed third at the 2013 Worlds.
U.S. hopefuls for the women include Kikkan Randall and Jessica Diggins.
Women's ski jumping will make its Olympic debut Tuesday, almost three years after the IOC gave it the OK. American Jessica Jerome earned her berth by winning the U.S. Olympic trials and Sarah Hendrickson, who tore the ACL, MCL and meniscus in her right knee in August, also made the U.S. team, along with Lindsey Van. Atsuko Tanaka and Taylor Henrich will jump for Canada.
Slopestyle skiing for the women will also make its debut on Tuesday and all eyes should be on Canadian Kaya Turski, a four-time X Games gold medal winner who also took gold at the 2013 FIS World Championships.
The Americans figured to push Turski with 15-year-old Maggie Voisin, but she will not participate due to an ankle injury suffered during training on Friday. Instead, U.S. hopes rest on Keri Herman and Devin Logan.
All three medal winners in the 2x500-meter speed skating event from the 2010 Vancouver Games return to Sochi, led by Korea's gold-medal winning Lee Sang- Hwa. Germany's Jenny Wolf, who took silver, and China's Wang Beixing will also skate on Tuesday. Beixing won bronze four years ago.
U.S. hopefuls for this event include Heather Richardson, who finished sixth in Vancouver, and Brittany Bowe. The Americans have not won gold in the 500 meter since Blair's third straight in the 1994 Games.
The figure skating pairs competition begins on Tuesday with the short program. The U.S. has two pairs set to compete in Marissa Castelli and Simon Shnapir, along with Felicia Zhang and Nathan Bartholomay.
The Russian duo of Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov are the team to beat, having captured gold at the 2013 World Championships. Canada's Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford took bronze at that event and will skate on Tuesday.
Group B play goes down for women's ice hockey, with Germany battling Sweden and Russia taking on Japan. Sweden shut out Japan 1-0 on Sunday, while Russia rallied past Germany 4-1.
Curling action resumes with a number of women's matchups as well as a session by the men.
The U.S. women will try to shake off Monday's setback to Switzerland in matchups with Russia and Great Britain, while the men look to crack the win column as they battle China. The American men were defeated by Norway in their lone contest on Monday.
Canada's men's team split two games in the first day's action and will play Sweden on Tuesday. The women have a matchups with Sweden on the schedule after rolling past China a day earlier.
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