OLYMPICS

LUGE & BOBSLED
The secret is in a fast running start, and West Germans Wolfgang Zimmerer, Sapporo gold medalist, and new partner Manfred Schumann, a former hurdles champ, have the fastest, which indicates a lock on the two-man bobsled event. They also lead the West German four-man team, but face stiffer competition in that event from the Swiss world champions. For the first time since 1956 the Italians may finish out of the medals in the four-man race, but Giorgio Alvera and Franco Perruquet should score in the two.

LUGE

MEN'S SINGLES

HANS RINN East Germany
DETLEV G√úNTHER East Germany
HANS HEINRICH WINKLER E. Ger.
MANFRED SCHMID Austria

MEN'S DOUBLES

G√úNTHER-HAHN East Germany
HAHN-HAHN East Germany
SCHMID-SCHACHNER Austria
HILDERGARTNER-PLAIKNER Italy

WOMEN'S SINGLES

MARGIT SCHUMANN East Germany
UTE R√úHROLD East Germany
EVA-MARIA WERNICKE E. Ger.
HALINA KANASZ Poland

BOBSLED

TWO-MAN

ZIMMERER-SCHUMANN W. Ger.
ALVERA-PERRUQUET Italy
SCHÄRER-SCHÄRER Switzerland
DELLE KARTH-KÖFEL Austria

FOUR-MAN

SWITZERLAND
WEST GERMANY
EAST GERMANY
AUSTRIA

FIGURE SKATING
Practically the first thing Dianne de Leeuw did after gliding onto the ice at the recent European championships was take a pratfall. Second thing she did was get up and win the title, adding it to her world crown. A Californian who skates for The Netherlands, de Leeuw is considered good as gold at Innsbruck, with only one rival in sight. She is U.S. champ Dorothy Hamill, whose best chance is to run up an early score and go for broke in the finale, a strategy she is setting up. Odds are far more even with the men: British and European champ John Curry meets Russia's Vladimir Kovalev and East Germany's Jan Hoffmann, with Curry the early favorite. Russia's pairs team, Alexander Zaitsev and Irina Rodnina, seem safely locked in, to put it mildly, and in ice dancing, a new event this year, one U.S. pair, Millns-O'Connor, may stage a surprise.

MEN

JOHN CURRY Great Britain
VLADIMIR KOVALEV U.S.S.R.
JAN HOFFMANN East Germany
SERGEI VOLKOV U.S.S.R.

WOMEN

DIANNE DE LEEUW The Netherlands
DOROTHY HAMILL U.S.A.
CHRISTINE ERRATH East Germany
ELENA VODOREZOVA U.S.S.R.

PAIRS

ZAITSEV-RODNINA U.S.S.R.
ÖSTERREICH-KERMER East Germany
KAGELMANN-GROSS East Germany
GARDNER-BABILONIA U.S.A.

DANCE

GORSHKOV-PAKHOMOVA U.S.S.R.
MINENKOV-MOISEEVA U.S.S.R.
MILLNS-O'CONNOR U.S.A.
WATTS-GREEN Great Britain

HOCKEY
The recent eight-game North American tour conducted by two Russian teams against NHL opponents was pure practice. For the real show at Innsbruck, Soviet Coach Boris Kulagin will select "from all the players who skated best against the professionals" to make up one club, which translates into pure murder. World handicappers of the game call it this way: the Russians seem a cinch but Czechoslovakia is capable of an upset. The U.S. entry could finish strong.

PUTTING IT ON ICE

U.S.S.R.
CZECHOSLOVAKIA
FINLAND
EAST GERMANY

NORDIC SKIING
The star of an aerial troupe called the Young Eagles of Austria, newest sensation of ski jumping, is 17-year-old Toni Innauer (left). There are six Eagles, all groomed since they were fledglings by Baldur Preiml, bronze medalist on the 70-meter hill in 1968. Preiml put his kids on a new type of ski and a year-round training regimen, through wind-tunnel tests, even sent them to an institute to study will power. As an extra touch, he has obtained a secret wax for slow, wet snow—just the stuff for Innsbruck. "We have worked so hard it seems impossible to do more," Preiml says. Fair enough: his team first surprised everybody a year ago; then, in this winter's international jumping series, Innauer won three out of four events, ample indication the Eagles are ready to fly.

SKI JUMPING

70-METER HILL

TONI INNAUER Austria
KARL SCHNABL Austria
JOCHEN DANNENBERG East Germany
WILLY P√úRSTL Austria

90-METER HILL

KARL SCHNABL Austria
WALTER STEINER Switzerland
TONI INNAUER Austria
REINHOLD BACHLER Austria

NORDIC COMBINED

ULRICH WEHLING East Germany
RAUNO MIETTINEN Finland
TOM SANDBERG Norway
STEFAN HULA Poland

BIATHLON

HEIKKI IKOLA Finland
NIKOLAI KRUGLOV U.S.S.R.
ESKO SAIRA Finland
TOR SVENDSBERGET Norway

BIATHLON RELAY

FINLAND
U.S.S.R.
NORWAY
EAST GERMANY

CROSS-COUNTRY
Here come the Russian women again, led by the unsinkable Galina Kulakova, 33, which means the rest of the female Nordics can stand aside. The real cold warfare will come in the men's events, with no country in control. Toughest race of them all is the 50 kilometers, a marathon that Norwegian Oddvar Brå seems to think is a sprint.

MEN

15 KILOMETERS

JUHA MIETO Finland
ARTO KOIVISTO Finland
SVEN-ÅKE LUNDBÄCK Sweden
VASILY ROCHEV U.S.S.R.

30 KILOMETERS

THOMAS MAGNUSON Sweden
GERT-DIETMAR KLAUSE East Germany
IVAR FORMO Norway
STANISLAV HENYCH Czechoslovakia

50 KILOMETERS

ODDVAR BR√Ö Norway
MAGNE MYRMO Norway
GERHARD GRIMMER East Germany
JUHANI REPO Finland

4-X-10 RELAY

EAST GERMANY
NORWAY
U.S.S.R.
FINLAND

WOMEN

5 KILOMETERS

GALINA KULAKOVA U.S.S.R.
RAISA SMETANINA U.S.S.R.
HELENA TUKKALO Finland
ZINAIDA AMOSOVA U.S.S.R.

10 KILOMETERS

GALINA KULAKOVA U.S.S.R.
MARJATTA KAJOSMAA Finland
ZINAIDA AMOSOVA U.S.S.R.
RAISA SMETANINA U.S.S.R.

4-X-5 RELAY

U.S.S.R.
EAST GERMANY
FINLAND
CZECHOSLOVAKIA

ALPINE SKIING
Everybody should know by now that the Triple Crown concept was retired with Jean-Claude Killy and that specialists have taken over the hills. Best of this new breed is Austrian down-hiller Franz (call me Astronaut) Klammer, a cocky youth who is all bomber and almost unbeatable. Italy's World Cup champ Gustavo Thöni dominates the giant slalom and would likely seize the slalom as well if it weren't for Ingemar Stenmark, the Swedish stylist, and an army of Italians who get better by the race. The women's downhill battle is meaner, a showdown between Switzerland's Bernadette Zurbriggen and Austria's Brigitte Totschnig, the slight edge going to Zurbriggen only because of her heft. For the U.S., Cindy Nelson is expected to peak at Innsbruck, just in time to win a medal. In the women's slaloms, France has a chance for a comeback with Fabienne Serrat and Danielle Debernard, but Switzerland's indomitable Lise-Marie Morerod is favored in both.

MEN

DOWNHILL

FRANZ KLAMMER Austria
BERNHARD RUSSI Switzerland
DAVE IRWIN Canada
KLAUS EBERHARD Austria

GIANT SLALOM

GUSTAVO THÖNI Italy
PIERO GROS Italy
INGEMAR STENMARK Sweden
PHIL MAHRE U.S.A.

SLALOM

INGEMAR STENMARK Sweden
GUSTAVO THÖNI Italy
HANS HINTERSEER Austria
CHRISTIAN NEUREUTHER West Germany

WOMEN

DOWNHILL

BERNADETTE ZURBRIGGEN Switzerland
BRIGITTE TOTSCHNIG Austria
CINDY NELSON U.S.A.
NICOLA SPIESS Austria

GIANT SLALOM

LISE-MARIE MOREROD Switzerland
MONIKA KASERER Austria
FABIENNE SERRAT France
HANNI WENZEL Liechtenstein

SLALOM

LISE-MARIE MOREROD Switzerland
DANIELLE DEBERNARD France
ROSI MITTERMAIER West Germany
PATRICIA EMONET France

SPEED SKATING

There are two important things to know about Sheila Young (left), the world sprint champion. First, U.S. Coach Peter Schotting considers her "the world's fastest female today at 500 and 1,000 meters. She is gutsy and simply explodes off the line; there is nobody who can beat her over the first 200 meters." Second, Sheila skates without socks, the better to sense cold steel and the ice underfoot—proof that she is prepared to suffer for her sport. Of all the Americans mentioned on the previous pages, the 25-year-old Young is the best U.S. bet for a gold medal; indeed, she is a strong candidate for two. Despite the fact that she has been knocking off victories regularly in a series of European Olympic warm-up events—including breaking her U.S. record in the 1,000 meters—Young faces fearsome competition at Innsbruck. Among her major rivals will be two Russians. Tatyana Averina should win the 1,500 (Young plans to use that race as a warmup for her two specialties, the 500 and 1,000), and the other is the 180-pound Lyubov Sadchikova, she of the Cinerama thighs. A third rival is the daintier Leah Poulos of the U.S., who is speed skating's equivalent of a clutch-hitter.

In the men's events, experts will be puzzling over several imponderables right up to the starting guns. Oddly, skating-mad Holland has not produced another giant to fill the skates of Ard Schenk, winner of three gold medals at Sapporo in 1972; surprisingly, the Russians seem loaded with sprinters and distance men and, finally, there are tall skinny Peter Mueller of the U.S. (inset) and a clutch of Norwegians. Mueller, just 21 and also coached by Schotting, a relentless drill master, burst into the front rank of world-class sprinters only two months ago when he defeated all the top Russians at a meet in Berlin. His skates are custom-built higher than the standard so that he can lean farther into the turns—and does he ever lean. Mueller may not beat Yevgeny Kulikov in the 500, since that Soviet whiz set a world record of 37 seconds for the event last year to become the world's fastest self-propelled human. And Mueller may not beat 29-year-old Valery Muratov in the 500, either; that Russian bronze medalist of 1972 thirsts for a gold medal before retiring. Ah, but the 1,000 meters, Mueller's favorite and a new Olympic event—that just might be the one.

In the long-haul events, Norway has a tradition of superb skaters going back to the inception of the Winter Games in 1924. With the Dutch falling off this year, Norwegian Sten Stensen, a 28-year-old army lieutenant, should find clear ice for two golds—in the 5,000 and 10,000—to add to the bronze medals he won at those distances in 1972. His teammate, Jan Egil Storholt, 26, made a wise decision in opting to concentrate on the 1,500. Although he has been half-blind and nearly deaf since a mine explosion seven years ago, Storholt beat the Russians in 1975 at their own training ground in Alma Ata in the Pamir Mountains. As an added incentive, he will be skating for his own birthday present: the 1,500-meter race at Innsbruck falls on the day he becomes 27.

MEN

500 METERS

YEVGENY KULIKOV U.S.S.R.
VALERY MURATOV U.S.S.R.
PETER MUELLER U.S.A.
ALEXANDER SAFRONOV U.S.S.R.

1,000 METERS

PETER MUELLER U.S.A.
YEVGENY KULIKOV U.S.S.R.
ALEXANDER SAFRONOV U.S.S.R.
DAN CARROLL U.S.A.

1,500 METERS

JAN EGIL STORHOLT Norway
AMUND SJORBREND Norway
HANS VAN HELDEN The Netherlands
DAN CARROLL U.S.A.

5,000 METERS

STEN STENSEN Norway
VLADIMIR IVANOV U.S.S.R.
VIKTOR VARLAMOV U.S.S.R.
HARALD ÖHME East Germany

10,000 METERS

STEN STENSEN Norway
VIKTOR VARLAMOV U.S.S.R.
YURY KONDAKOV U.S.S.R.
KLAAS VRIEND The Netherlands

WOMEN

500 METERS

SHEILA YOUNG U.S.A.
VERA KRASNOVA U.S.S.R.
LYUBOV SADCHIKOVA U.S.S.R.
LEAH POULOS U.S.A.

1,000 METERS

SHEILA YOUNG U.S.A.
UTE DIX East Germany
LYUBOV SADCHIKOVA U.S.S.R.
LEAH POULOS U.S.A.

1,500 METERS

TATYANA AVERINA U.S.S.R.
NINA STATKEVICH U.S.S.R.
KARIN KESSOW East Germany
GALINA STEPANSKAYA U.S.S.R.

3,000 METERS

GALINA STEPANSKAYA U.S.S.R.
KARIN KESSOW East Germany
ERWINA RYS Poland
TATYANA AVERINA U.S.S.R.

TWO PHOTOS

Pride of Innsbruck, the bobsled-luge run offers a whirl and plenty of wiggles.

PHOTO

Kicking as high as any Rockette, world champ Dianne de Leeuw hopes to put the Games on ice.

TWO PHOTOS

Soviet Forward Valery Kharlamov dazzles with speed; Vladislav Tretiak is the game's top goaltender.

PHOTO

Bachelor farmer, perpetually In training, Oddvar Brå (left) is the best over the long haul.

PHOTO

The tough, determined Galina Kulakova (above) inspires weary resignation in others.

PHOTO

U.S. hopes for an Alpine award ride with Cindy Nelson (above), who could peak in the downhill event.

PHOTO

It is not a case of win or lose with Italy's Gustavo Thöni, but whether he gets a gold medal or a silver.

PHOTO

Powering into the favorite's role, Bernadette Zurbriggen spearheads a Swiss attack.

PHOTO

Looking anything but shy, Franz Klammer (right) expects to smoke them all off in his race.

THREE PHOTOS

ILLUSTRATION