Skeleton
Whistler Sliding Center
FEB. 18-19

Best of the U.S.: Katie Uhlaender and Noelle Pikus-Pace have seven world championship medals among them and two sound legs. Pikus-Pace, the 2007 champion, broke her right leg in 2005, when a runaway bobsled slammed into her as she stood along the track. Uhlaender shattered her left kneecap in a snowmobile accident in April and has been slow to recover. In the men�s competition, 2006 Olympian Eric Bernotas won a gold medal in Igls, Germany, the penultimate World Cup race of this season.
Best of the rest: There are two Dukurs on the Latvian men�s team. Bet on the younger one, Martins, ranked No. 1 in the world, to continue his hot streak. Frank Rommel has finished the last two seasons in second place. It�s tough to imagine that anyone can beat Canadian Mellisa Hollingsworth, the 2006 Olympic bronze medalist ranked No. 1 in the world, at home. But if anyone can, it is Germany�s Marion Trott.
Predictions
Men: 1. Martins Dukurs, Latvia. 2. Rommel, Germany. 3. Jon Montgomery, Canada.
Women: 1. Hollingsworth, Canada. 2. Trott, Germany. 3. Shelley Rudman, Great Britain.