(PyeongChang G-100) PyeongChang 2018 to feature stars on ice, snow, slopes

SEOUL, Oct. 29 (Yonhap) -- From short trackers to speed skaters, and from ski jumpers to biathletes, the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics will not be short on stars, homegrown or international. Host South Korea will try to set its Winter Olympics record with eight gold medals and 20 medals overall. The country will try to crack the top five in the medal standings. At the previous Winter Games, Sochi 2014, South Korea won three gold, three silver and two bronze medals to rank 13th. South Korea's best Winter Games performance came at Vancouver in 2010, with six gold medals and 14 medals in total putting it in fifth place. All 26 Winter Olympic titles by South Korea have come from ice events -- short track, speed skating and figure skating. And the trend will likely hold up in PyeongChang. A whopping 21 of those 26 gold medals have come from short track speed skating, and the country should pick up a few more on home ice. Shim Suk-hee and Choi Min-jeong have dominated the women's competition of late and are considered heavy favorites. Shim won three medals at her Olympic debut in 2014, while Choi is a two-time world overall champion. In the 2016-2017 season, Shim finished first overall in the 1,500m in the International Skating Union (ISU) World Cup points race, and Choi finished second in the 1,000m. With the two leading the way, South Korea captured four of the six World Cup relay titles. Shim will be a crowd favorite at the competition as she was born in Gangneung, a sub-host city which will hold all the skating events during the Olympics. In the men's races, Victor An of Russia will likely have his Olympic swan song in his native land. Born Ahn Hyun-soo in South Korea, the 31-year-old acquired a Russian passport in 2011 and went on to win three gold medals in Sochi. Add those to the three gold medals he won for South Korea at Torino 2006 and he's the most decorated Olympic short tracker in history. In speed skating, Lee Sang-hwa will try to win her third straight gold medal in the women's 500m. Only Bonnie Blair of the United States has won three straight Olympic titles in the distance, though Blair's third title, at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics, came two years after her second gold. Lee, world record holder in the 500m, has struggled with a nagging knee injury since Sochi, as Nao Kodaira of Japan has emerged as the biggest threat. In February this year, Kodaira beat Lee at the ISU World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships at Gangneung Oval, which will host speed skating races at PyeongChang 2018. Two former short trackers will seek to become inaugural Olympic speed skating champions in mass start, a 16-lap race where all skaters start at once. Lee Seung-hoon and Kim Bo-reum ended the past ISU World Cup season ranked No. 1 in men's and women's mass start. Away from the ice, Yun Sung-bin in men's skeleton represents South Korea's best hope for the first Olympic medal in a sliding event. He has finished second overall in each of the past two International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) World Cup seasons, with Martins Dukurs of Latvia winning the title in both years. In eight World Cup races in the 2016-2017 season, Yun never finished worse than fifth. He notched one win and three runner-up finishes, including one in PyeongChang in March. Dukurs will still be the man to beat. An Olympic gold has eluded the five-time world champion, who has settled for silver in each of the past two Winter Games. There will be plenty of other international stars to watch at PyeongChang 2018. In figure skating, one of the marquee events at the Winter Olympics, Russian teenager Evgenia Medvedeva will try to become the second consecutive ladies' singles champion from her country, after Adelina Sotnikova. The two-time reigning world champion owns the world record with 80.85 points in short program, 160.46 points in free skate and 242.31 points in overall score. All of them were set during the 2017 World Team Trophy in April. Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan has been the dominant force in the men's singles, where he'll be going for his second straight Olympic gold. The two-time world champion is hoping to join Gillis Grafstrom, Karl Schafer and Dick Button as the only men to successfully defend an Olympic title. Ole Einar Bjorndalen, the "King of Biathlon" from Norway, will try to add to his record medal tally. Bjorndalen, who will be 44 by PyeongChang 2018, leads all Winter Games athletes with 13 medals, and is tied with cross-country skier Bjorn Daehlie, also from Norway, with eight gold medals all-time. Sara Takanashi of Japan is among the most decorated ski jumpers in history, but an Olympic medal is the only prize missing in her resume. In Sochi, the then-teenager just missed the podium by placing fourth, but she has since put together a remarkable run in which she has captured 53 individual World Cup titles, tied with Gregor Schlierenzauer for most in history. On the slopes, American star Mikaela Shiffrin will go for her second Olympic alpine skiing gold, after winning the women's slalom title at Sochi 2014. Another American, Lindsay Vonn, missed the 2014 Games with a knee injury, and the 2010 downhill champion will be out to re-enter the Olympic record books. jeeho@yna.co.kr (END)