6 local Olympians to watch in South Korea

The Pyeongchang Winter Olympics are officially underway, and the capital region is well-represented on Team Canada. 

Of the 225 athletes competing under the maple leaf in Pyeongchang, more than a dozen have ties to the Ottawa-Gatineau area.

Here are six who are definitely in the mix for a medal in South Korea.

Ivanie Blondin

Canada's long track speed skating contingent includes three local racers, and 27-year-old Ivanie Blondin might have the best shot of all of them at reaching the podium.

It's Blondin's second Winter Olympics, and the Ottawa native is hot off a 3,000-metre gold medal at a World Cup event last month.

The victory was Blondin's first of the year and her fourth World Cup medal overall, results that took her to the top of the women's 3,000-metre overall standings.

Blondin has a decent chance to be the first Ottawa athlete to medal in Pyeongchang — and potentially even the first Canadian — as the women's 3,000 takes place today.

Her real specialty, however, is the potentially-chaotic mass start race, where Blondin will be able to put her early training as a short track speed skater to good use.

She's also competing in the women's 5,000-metre event.

​Dustin Cook

Before the injury, alpine skier Dustin Cook was — as he put it — on top of the world.

The super-G specialist was coming off a shockingly-good run of form in 2015 when he tore the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in his right knee in a training accident.

The injury wiped out his entire 2015-16 season. But now, Cook's back on the slopes, working hard to regain the form that made him a major threat three years ago.

Cook finished 2017 ranked 21st in the world in the super-G, and the 28-year-old is a dark horse for a medal in Pyeongchang.

Rachel Homan

​An Olympic medal is pretty much the only accolade lacking from Rachel Homan's impeccable resumé.

Homan and the rest of her Ottawa Curling Club foursome — third Emma Miskew, second Joanne Courtney, and lead Lisa Weagle — will head to South Korea as the favourites to take home gold in women's curling.

They're coming off a season in which they won the world curling championships in Beijing without losing a single match.

The rink also clinched their Olympic berth on home ice, winning the Roar of the Rings in December in front of a decidedly-partisan Ottawa crowd.

Canada won gold in women's curling in 2014, so the 28-year-old skip will have the metaphorical target on her back in Pyeongchang.

Mirela Rahneva

Expectations are high for the 29-year-old skeleton racer with the immaculate helmet.

During her rookie World Cup season in 2016-17, Rahneva made the podium on four occasions — including a victory in just her fifth race.

She slid back a bit in her sophomore campaign, however, finishing with only one bronze and a trio of fourth-place finishes. 

Rahneva will be making her Olympic debut in South Korea. As for that helmet: it's a tribute to her mother, Valentina, who died last summer after a lengthy battle with cancer. 

Olivier Rochon

​It's been a long road to the Olympics for freestyle skier Olivier Rochon.

The Gatineau, Que., aerialist was a ski's width away from qualifying for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, falling a single point short of making Team Canada.

Four years later, Rochon was again well-placed to make the squad heading to Sochi — until he tore his anterior cruciate ligament two months before those games got underway.

Now 29 and seemingly healthy, Rochon is finally getting his chance at Olympic glory.

He'll be hitting the Pyeongchang slopes with a bit of momentum, too: in January, he nabbed a bronze medal at a World Cup event.

Seyi Smith

Six years after suffering heartbreak at the Summer Olympics, Seyi Smith is seeking some winter redemption.

The former sprinter was part of the 4x100-metre relay team that had apparently won a bronze medal at the London games — only to be disqualified moments after crossing the finish line for a lane violation.

He hung up the track shoes after failing to qualify for the 2016 games. Now, he's in Pyeongchang as part of the four-man bobsled team headed by Justin Kripps, one of world's top pilots. 

Part of Canada's largest-ever contingent in sliding sports, Smith and his sledmates are a definite medal threat, having ended their World Cup campaign in fourth place overall.