Winter Olympics Day 8 predictions & best bets – Beijing 2022

The defending-champion United States Men’s Curling team will face Great Britain – one of the favorites to take gold this year – as the 2022 Winter Olympics roll on this Friday. We’ve got a pick in that matchup as well as gold-medal picks in the Snowboarding Men’s Halfpipe and the Short Track Speed Skating Women’s 1000m.

Men’s Curling: USA +1.5 (+125) vs Great Britain -1.5 (-165)

Bruce Mouat’s Great Britain squad picked up a 7-5 win in its opening draw against Italy on Thursday, while John Shuster’s United States team fell to 1-1 in these Winter Olympics with a 7-4 loss against Sweden. Great Britain and Canada are the current co-favorites to win gold in Men’s Curling this year as both are going off at +200 with BetOnline, while the United States are a long shot to even medal at +1200 to retain their title.

As you’d expect seeing those future odds, Great Britain is a clear favorite (-300) over the United States in Thursday’s draw. The Team USA is a +200 underdog, and this isn’t a terrible line given the side’s recent loss to Sweden and its propensity for slow starts in the Olympic Games. With that said, it’s worth noting that Shuster has led the United States to wins over Bruce Mouat’s squad in both the 2021 World Curling Championship (10-9) and the 2019 WCC (9-8). Those two matches suggest we could be in for a close one on Thursday, so the USA looks good getting 1.5 points against the spread.

Snowboarding: Men’s Halfpipe

Sticking with the United States on the halfpipe, we’re going to take a shot on Shaun White as a +800 underdog to win gold in the Men’s Halfpipe event on Friday. White will have to overcome some elite competition in Japanese snowboarders Ayumu Hirano (+120), Yuto Totsuka (+800) and Ruka Hirano (+900) as well as Australian Scotty James (+275). Those three snowboarders from Japan are all 23 years old or younger and James is 27; White is a senior citizen in snowboarding years at 35 years old.

But how can you count out the five-time Olympian? White has won gold in this event three times, winning in 2006 and 2010 early in his career and then pulling off the upset in Pyeongchang as a 31-year-old in 2018. He holds world records for the most Olympic gold medals by a snowboarder and the most X-Games gold medals overall. At these odds, it’s worth taking a shot on the veteran to pull something out of his always-growing bag of tricks.

Short Track Speed Skating: Women’s 1000m

Pure and simple, the gold medal in the 1000m is Suzanne Schulting’s to lose. She is a -120 favorite to win, well clear of the next three skaters on the board in Korea’s Minjeong Choi (+600), Poland’s Natalia Maliszewska (+800) and the United States’ Kristen Santos (+1000). Schulting took gold in the 1000m event in 2018 and has been in strong form so far in Beijing. She set an Olympic record in the 500m last week during qualifying and eventually won silver in that event.

In addition to her 2018 Olympic gold medal, Schulting also has also won 1000m gold in the 2019 Sofia World Championships and the 2021 Dordecht World Championships as well as the 2020 and 2021 European Championships. She should be a far bigger favorite than she’s listed as, and she should get the job done.

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