The Olympic medal prediction service Infostrada released an update of its Sochi 2014 medal table and event-by-event picks Monday.
Here’s a look at the highlights:
Norway and Germany were tapped to win the most overall medals (37), with Norway winning the most gold (15).
The U.S. took home the most medals in 2010, also 37 (a record), but those were a North American Games.The U.S. has never won the most medals at an Asian or European Winter Games.
The record for gold medals at a Winter Games was set by Canada in 2010 (14).
Norway hasn’t won the most medals at an Olympics since it hosted in Lillehammer in 1994.
Here are Infostrada’s picks for the top 15 countries in the medal standings:
Shaun White will not win a gold medal.
Infostrada has White winning a silver medal in the halfpipe (behind Swiss rival Iouri “I-Pod” Podladtchikov) and no medal in the new Olympic snowboarding event of slopestyle. It also has Kelly Clark winning her first gold medal in the halfpipe since 2002, with world champion Arielle Gold, 17, taking silver.
Lindsey Vonn will better her 2010 Olympic medal tally.
Infostrada picks the U.S. to rack up Alpine skiing medals. Vonn will defend her gold in the downhill and add super-G silver (with Julia Mancuso taking bronze). Vonn won super-G bronze in 2010. Mikaela Shiffrin, 18, will follow up her world title in the slalom with an Olympic gold.
Ted Ligety will win three medals: gold in the giant slalom, gold in the super combined and silver in the super-G. If that happens, it would mark the best medal haul by an American at a Winter Games since Eric Heiden‘s five gold medals in 1980. Bode Miller will win zero medals, according to Infostrada.
Tina Maze will better Ligety with three golds and one bronze, accounting for four of Slovenia’s six medals.
The U.S. will not win a singles figure skating medal.
That hasn’t happened since 1936. Infostrada’s men’s figure skating medalists: Patrick Chan–Daisuke Takahashi–Yuzuru Hanyu. Women’s figure skating medalists: Carolina Kostner–Mao Asada-Yuna Kim. That’s right, Yuna Kim wins a bronze medal. Remember, she’s out for more than a month with a foot injury.
Infostrada did pick Meryl Davis and Charlie White to win ice dance gold after they won silver in 2010, and the U.S. to win the first figure skating team competition.
No medals for U.S. or Canada in men’s hockey.
Infostrada picked Sweden for gold, Russia for silver and Finland for bronze. Neither the U.S. nor Canada have made the podium in men’s hockey at a non-North American Olympics since 1994.
It did pick the U.S. women to beat Canada in the gold-medal game, which would be the first U.S. gold since its debut in 1998.
In other sports, Infostrada’s podium prognosticators also say Shani Davis will win his third straight Olympic title in the 1000m. Heather Richardson will win the first U.S. women’s speedskating medal since 2002, a silver in the 1000m. Steve Holcomb grabs silver in the two-man but no medal in the four-man, where he’s the defending champion.
Sarah Hendrickson will return from her knee surgery to win silver in the first women’s ski jumping competition. Kikkan Randall will win the first U.S. women’s cross-country skiing medal ever, a gold in the sprint freestyle. Hannah Kearney will successfully defend her moguls gold. David Wise and Tom Wallisch will win the first Olympic ski halfpipe and ski slopestyle competitions. Jamie Anderson will win the first women’s snowboard slopestyle event.
Finally, Norway will win biathlon gold in the men’s relay and the mixed relay. If Ole Einar Bjørndalen competes in both, he will become the most decorated Winter Olympian of all time with 13 medals, passing retired Norwegian cross-country skier Bjorn Daehlie. Four men go in the men’s relay, but the mixed is two men and two women, and Bjørndalen did not compete in the mixed event at this year’s World Championships.
