DETROIT – The final winter trials are underway as team U.S.A decides who will be selected to compete in the Beijing Olympics, which is only 32 days away.
There will be more than 2,000 athletes gearing up with the hopes of traveling and competing in Beijing for the winter games, including some Metro Detroiters who have already qualified.
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At the Winter Classic on Saturday Jan. 1, U.S.A hockey made it official, unveiling the roster for the U.S women’s Olympics hockey team, which once again features Farmington Hills native Megan Keller.
“We couldn’t be more excited to get back into training and working towards another gold medal,” said Keller.
The team is full of seasoned Olympians ready to defend that gold medal.
“As soon as that experience finished, I knew it was something that I was going to try and work towards again because it was just such a real opportunity and amazing moment to be a part of,” Keller said.
It was a big week for the U.S figure skating national championships. The outcome determines the team going to Beijing.
Hoping for a redo from the last Olympics, three-time world champion Nathan Chen missed medaling in the men’s singles but went on to win the next 14 competitions that followed.
Metro Detroiters are more known for their ice dancers like Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue. The three-time national champions came in fourth during the 2018 games. The games will be the third for two-time national champs, Madison Chock, and two-time national champ Evan Bates fourth. Both teams trained in Metro Detroit before moving to Montreal to train together under a new coach.
Short-track speedskating is intense to watch, and when you do, Ryan Pivirotto out of Ann Arbor will be at the starting line. Pivirotto went to PyeongChang in 2018 as an alternate, but this time around brings new excitement.
“I just can’t wait to race at the highest stage,” Pivirotto said.
We are following several other local athletes to see if any of them make the team. In the meantime, Olympic organizers feel they can hold a successful Olympic game, despite COVID.