Winter Olympics: Who are the global names to watch at Beijing 2022?

The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics start on Friday, barely six months after the delayed summer Games in Tokyo.

BBC Sport has already looked at the Team GB hopefuls, so now let's focus on some of the global names who could make the headlines in China.

Mikaela Shiffrin (Alpine skiing, United States)

A double Olympic champion, the 26-year-old — who became the youngest Winter Olympic champion in history when she won the slalom at Sochi 2014 at the age of 18 — is hot favourite to add to her medal collection.

She needs one more gold to set a new record for the most Olympic wins by an American alpine skier.

The first skier to win gold at five successive world championships in 2021, she is also the only one with wins in all six alpine ski World Cup disciplines.

Natalie Geisenberger (Luge, Germany)

She is already the most decorated female Olympic luger with four golds and one bronze.

Since winning the singles and team relay at Pyeongchang, she missed the 2019-20 season to have a baby but has returned in medal-winning form with a silver at the 2021 world championships in Germany in January and the overall World Cup title for 2020-21.

The 33-year-old is not putting any pressure on herself in Beijing, telling Sportbild: «I've achieved everything I wanted to achieve. It's a lot easier for me because everything that's coming now is an encore.»

Yuzuru Hanyu (Figure skating, Japan)

He is going for a third successive title — something that has not been done since 1928.

But the 26-year-old's preparations have not been ideal, with a right ankle ligament injury keeping him out of the start of the season after a fall.

His biggest challenge is likely to come from American Nathan Chen, who has won the past three World Championships and has an Olympic