11 Olympic Athletes To Watch At The Winter Games

The Winter Olympic games officially start Wednesday with the early rounds of curling and alpine skiing kicking off the 2018 games in PyeongChang, South Korea. The opening ceremonies will be televised Friday evening beginning at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.

During the opening ceremonies, most of the 242 athletes who are set to represent Team USA will enter the arena for the official start of the games. The full schedule for the games is available online for fans of the winter games who are looking forward to certain events.

With 15 events there will be plenty to keep up with and watch and Team USA has athletes competing in every single event so Americans will have someone to root for no matter what is airing. Here are some of the athletes who are expected to shine this year at the 2018 Olympic games.

Chloe Kim

The 2018 Winter Olympic games will be Kim's first and she is a force to be reckoned with. The 17-year-old halfpipe snowboarder is a record breaker and shows no signs of stopping for the games. She may be young but that didn't stop her from becoming the first woman to ever land back-to-back 1080 jumps and score a perfect score.

Mikaela Shiffrin

Another young athlete to look out for on the mountain this year is Mikaela Shiffrin. The PyeongChang games are the second Olympics for the Vail native who is set to compete in the slalom. She holds the title of youngest woman to earn a World Championship and the youngest skier to ever win the Olympic gold in the slalom, according to her team bio.

Nathan Chen

Nathan Chen picked up skating after watching his brothers play hockey but the first skates he got on the ice with were figure skates, from there the rest is history. The 18-year-old will make his Olympic debut in the 2018 games and is heavily favored to earn a medal for Team USA.

Maame Biney

Maame Biney started figure skating when she was six but she her need for speed prompted her to make the switch to short-track speed skating. To qualify for the games she won the women's 500m race. She'll be an easy athlete to spot during the games because she almost always has a big smile on her face.

Adam Rippon

The PyeongChang games mark a first for Adam Rippon as well as for figure skating and Team USA. The games will be Rippon's first, but they will also be the first time an openly gay man has competed in the Winter Olympics for Team USA. With his 2008 and 2009 World Juniors wins he became the first and only man to ever win the title in back-to-back years.

The siblings:

Becca and Matt Hamilton

This brother-sister duo will compete in the women's and men's competitions as well as Team USA's mixed doubles team. It will be both of their first Olympic games though they each have experience in the World's Championship.

Alex and Maia Shibutani

Most people know this duo as the "Shib Sibs" the pair have been skating together since 2004 though Alex is three years older than his sister. The two competed together in the 2014 Sochi games and placed ninth. Together they've medaled at the United States Championship competitions for 13 years in a row.

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Shaun White

This four-time Olympian became a household name more than a decade ago as "the Flying Tomato," for his long red hair in his first games. The two-time gold medalist in the halfpipe has grown a lot since his first Olympic games. White is counting down to the PyeongChang games where the 31-year-old will compete to redeem himself after his fourth-place finish in Sochi.

Lindsey Vonn

Vonn didn't make it to the Sochi games in 2014 after she injured her knee before the games. The 2018 games will be the fourth for the skier and she has a packed schedule. She's scheduled to compete in the slalom, super-G, downhill and alpine combined events. Vonn told CNN that if she's invited to the White House after the games, she won't be attending.