The 30 youngsters to watch at Beijing 2022

The Beijing 2022 Olympic Games, taking place between 4 and 20 February, will be the opportunity to watch the best athletes on the planet compete in 15 sports.

Some have youth on their side and will be making their debuts at the Games. Olympics.com compiled the names of 30 young athletes – 15 women and 15 men – to watch during the Olympics this year.

Alpine Skiing

• Alice Robinson (NZL), 20

Although she only turned 20 at the start of December, she already claimed five World Cup podiums (including three wins) which is pretty impressive in a sport where athletes usually start seeing the benefits of their work when they are around 25, after gathering experience on the World Cup circuit.

• Lucas Braathen (NOR), 21

Braathen has already showed he’s a precocious talent, winning the 2020/21 World Cup opener in Sölden last year.

Biathlon

• Elvira Oeberg (SWE), 22

The sister of the Olympic 15km individual biathlon champion, Hanna Oeberg, was 12th on the overall World Cup rankings in 2020/21 and won a silver medal this year in the sprint event in Oestersund in December. She is one of the fastest biathletes on the circuit.

• Sebastian Samuelsson (SWE), 24

Samuelsson is the reigning Olympic pursuit silver medallist and won the title at only 20 years old, while also taking home gold in the relay competition. This year, the Swede won the first two sprints of the 2021/22 season at home in Östersund, and is sure to be a strong contender in all of the biathlon events at Beijing 2022.

Bobsleigh

• Laura Nolte (GER), 23

Gold medallist at the Youth Olympics Lillehammer 2016, Nolte went on to become the 2021 European champion in the two-woman event. She also has two bronze medals from the world championships in the two-woman event and the monobob.

• Michael Vogt (SUI), 24

The Swiss pilot became the junior world champion in January 2021 in the four-man bobsleigh. He managed three podiums in the 2020/21 World Cup season in the two-man event, including one where he finished ahead of German driver Johannes Lochner.

Cross-Country Skiing

• Frida Karlsson (SWE), 22

In the absence of her compatriot, Linn Svahn, who is nursing a shoulder injury, Karlsson might be the young Swede to watch in this sport. She earned six medals over two world championships: one gold (in the team relay), three silver (in the classic and freestyle 10km, and in the skiathlon) and two bronze (in the 30km event).

• Hugo Lapalus (FRA), 23

The Frenchman is the 2021 Under-23 world champion – after winning bronze in 2020 – and has helped France clinch bronze at the 2021 senior world championships in the team relay.

Curling

• Bobby Lammie (GBR), 24

Second to skip Bruce Mouat for Team Great Britain's curling team, Lammie has ranked fifth in shot percentage for second positions at the 2021 world championships.

• Ekaterina Kuzmina (ROC), 25

In a sport where athletes are usually over 30, Ekaterina Kuzmina is bringing youth to the ROC team although she has plenty of experience. As lead, she won the 2021 world championships and finished fourth at the European championships in November.

Figure Skating

• Kamila Valieva (ROC), 15

Valieva has taken the skating world by storm this year in her first season on the senior international circuit. She set world-record scores at the Rostelecom Cup in late November and is armed with a triple Axel and both the quadruple toe and Salchow jumps.

• Kagiyama Yuma (JPN), 18

Kagiyama is the Youth Olympics Lausanne 2020 champion and has made a meteoric rise to take his place among the top men in the world less than two years later. He won the silver medal at the world championships in 2021 and was the only man to win both of his Grand Prix events in the 2021/22 season.

Freestyle Skiing

• Ailing (Eileen) Gu (CHN), 18

The San Francisco-born Chinese skier is the 2021 world champion in slopestyle and halfpipe and the bronze medallist in big air. She also won gold at the Youth Olympics Lausanne 2020 in halfpipe and big air, and silver in slopestyle.

• Matej Svancer (AUT), 17

Originally an Alpine skier, Svancer switched to freestyle skiing and, at 15, won the big air gold medal at Lausanne 2020. The now 17-year-old has won the first two big air World Cups of the season, so he looks good ahead of Beijing 2022.

Ice Hockey

• Petra Nieminen (FIN), 22

Nieminen was already part of the Finland team, who won the bronze medal at PyeongChang 2018. The prolific forward is also a world championships silver medallist from 2019. She also won two bronze medals with the team in 2017 and 2021.

• Matty Beniers (USA), 19

The American forward was selected in first round and second overall in the 2021 NHL Draft by Seattle Kraken, and won gold with Team USA at the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship, scoring one goal in seven games. He also won bronze with the senior Team USA at the 2021 IIHF Men’s World Championship.

Luge

• Anna Berreiter (GER), 22

The two-time U23 world champion has made her mark in the senior world as she became the youngest female athlete to win a luge World Cup race at Oberhof in February 2020. She is a 2021 world silver medallist too in the women’s sprint.

• Nico Gleirscher (AUT), 24

Gleirscher is a 2021 world champion in the men’s sprint event. His brother David won gold at PyeongChang 2018 in the men’s singles. Their father Gerhard was also a luger and became world champion in 1997 (mixed team).

Nordic Combined

• Jarl Magnus Riiber (NOR), 24

One glimpse at the overall World Cup standings for the past four years shows you everything you need to know about Norway’s Jarl Magnus Riiber. The 24-year-old Riiber has finished first in the overall rankings since 2018/19 and looks likely to make that four seasons in a row this year. Can he turn his dominant form into gold in Beijing?

• Johannes Lamparter (AUT), 20

The Austrian revealed himself to the world during the 2021 world championships where he won two gold medals – in the individual large hill and in the team sprint – and one bronze medal in the relay.

Short Track Speed Skating

• Lee Yubin (KOR), 20

The 3,000m relay Olympic champion from PyeongChang 2018 is still only 20. She took gold at the World Cup in late November in the 1,500m.

• Hwang Daeheon (KOR), 22

The 22-year-old skater from the Republic of Korea is young and experienced, which can be a deadly combination in this sport. He won silver in the 500m event at PyeongChang 2018 behind Dajing Wu from the People's Republic of China. He is a bronze and silver medallist from the world championships in 2018 and 2019, respectively.

Skeleton

• Hannah Neise (GER), 21

The silver medallist at the YOG Lillehammer 2016 became the junior world champion in January 2021 and made her debut on the senior World Cup circuit in November 2020. She finished in fourth place twice in the World Cup.

• Matt Weston (GBR), 24

Having won a maiden gold medal at a World Cup event last November in Innsbruck - the first by a British male in 14 years - the young British skeleton athlete showed he is in the shape of his life this season. Weston finished 2021 in seventh place in the overall World Cup standings and is an outside bet for a medal at Beijing 2022.

Ski Jumping

• Marita Kramer (AUT), 20

The Austrian won gold at the 2021 world championships in the team event. In November 2021, she won the normal hill individual event with the biggest point gap ahead of the next competitor in the history of the women’s World Cup.

• Marius Lindvik (NOR), 23

The Norwegian is a silver medallist at the YOG Lillehammer 2016 and went on to finishing in the top-10 in the overall World Cup rankings in 2020/21, and already has 12 World Cup podiums to his name.

Speed Skating

• Jutta Leerdam (NED), 22

The Dutch star has already won three world titles, including the individual 1,000m and two team sprint titles. She is the reigning sprint European champion, and is only 22.

• Gao Tingyu (CHN), 23

Gao made his Olympic debut in PyeongChang 2018 taking bronze medal in the men's 500m speed-skating event. He became the first male speed skater from the People's Republic of China to win a medal at the Olympics. Skating at home in Beijing, he’s tipped to challenge for men’s gold and make skating history for the host nation.

Snowboard

• Sofia Nadyrshina (ROC), 18

She is only 18 but is already a world champion and multiple junior world champion. In the last senior world championships in 2021, she won silver in the parallel giant slalom event and gold in the parallel slalom.

• Totsuka Yūto (JPN), 20

The Japanese snowboarder won gold at the 2021 world championships in halfpipe, and has multiple World Cup wins to his name. He competed at PyeongChang 2018 but had to be evacuated after a bad fall.

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