Road to the Olympic Games: Pyeongchang looms large

Hosted by veteran broadcasters Scott Russell and Andi Petrillo, Road to the Olympic Games chronicles athletes' journeys on and off the field of play. Here's what to look for on this weekend's show on CBC Television and CBCSports.ca.

They are still more than 14 months away, but the next Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, are suddenly looming on the not-too-distant horizon.

And with the subtle anticipation comes an evolving series of great expectations, not to mention the ever-present pressure to perform for star athletes who are bound to be the headliners when the curtain rises on the Olympic stage.

The roll call for this weekend's edition of Road to the Olympic Games features a high-powered cast of characters whohaveplenty at stake as they make ready for what may be the pinnacle of their competitive lives in a little more than 400 days from now.

• Watch figure skating from Japan at 2 p.m. ET (CBC TV, CBCSports.ca)
• Commentators: Andi Petrillo, four-timeworld champion Kurt Browning, Olympic coach Carol Lane

Let's start with figure skating and the Grand Prix of Japan in Sapporo, which represents the last chance to qualify for next month's elite season finale in Marseille, France.

On the men's side, 2014 Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu champion has to stand and deliver because his major rivals, Canada's Patrick Chan and reigning world champion Javier Fernandez of Spain, each have had two resounding wins so far.Hanyu, meantime, looked shaky at Skate Canada in Mississauga and has not been dominant since the 2014 season when he won both Olympic gold and the world championship title at home in Saitama.

Hanyu is a cult figure in Japan and the burden of expectation is enormous.His following can sometimes be oppressively enraptured and they are unquestionably counting on him to become the first male skater to repeat as Olympic champion since American Dick Button won back-to-back titles in 1948 and 1952 at St. Moritz and Oslo, respectively. Anything less than Hanyu brilliance in Sapporo will meet with a lukewarm reception.

Perhaps even more intriguing is the evolving ice dance scenario.

The 2010 Olympic champions, Canadians Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, have been brilliant so far in their return to international competition.But this week they go head-to-head with the next generation, French wonderkids and two-time and reigning world champions Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron.

Chasing history

Virtue-Moir are chasing history and trying to build a legacy while pursuing the one title they've never won the Grand Prix Final (four times they've been runners-up). And they happen to be coached by Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon, the same duo who mentor Papadakis-Cizeron.

This showdown between familiar foes in the 1972 Olympic city of Sapporo promises to foreshadow another ice dance barn-burner in South Korea just as it was in Sochi when Meryl Davis and Charlie White of the U.S. narrowly eclipsed Virtue and Moir, controversy and all.

Meantime, in the Olympic city of Pyeongchang, more specifically the Alpensia Sports Park which will be the focal point of the 2018 Games, a debut sport is staging its test event and it has drawn all the heavy hitters.

Snowboardingbig air is populated by the wizards of winter who are gaining an enormous popularity because of their interpretive approach to sport. They are constantly pushing the envelope and finding their own path rather than following a pre-determined race course.These kinds of disciplines are challenging the traditional mainstays on the Olympic program like alpine skiing, cross-country skiing and long track speed skating.

But in the recent past the big stars of big air have been notorious for skipping World Cup events in favour of the more high-profile pro stops on tour.

Not this time.

Canadian icon Mark McMorris, along with his running mates Sebastien Toutant, AKA "Seb Toots," and Maxence Parrot, arealong for the ride in South Korea.They all get that the Olympics are becoming the big show and they won't miss the chance to be there when the inaugural gold medal is handed out in 2018.They bring a hefty set of credentials to the chase.Between them McMorris and Parrot have won four of the last five Winter X-Games titles in big air and Toutant has a bag full of medals.

Young person's game

But here's the thing.Big air is a young person's game and Toutant, McMorris and Parrot are 24, 22 and 22 years of age, respectively. One might suggest they are veritable senior citizens in this pursuit which is evolving at a dizzying rate and where 17-year-old Marcus Kleveland of Norway won the opening Super Series event of the season and is consistently landing something called a quad cork.

The pressure to reach ever higher is palpable in big air.

Finally, on this side of the pond, the World Cup alpine ski season gets underway at long last in Killington, Vt., as the female technical racers take to the slopes.A lack of snow scuttled the men's speed races at Lake Louise and Beaver Creek, Colo., and American superstar Lindsey Vonn is out indefinitely with a badly broken arm.

That means there's pressure on 21-year-old compatriot Mikaela Shiffrin to come to the rescue and somehow create a buzz for alpine skiing before the World Cup high-tails it out of North America and back to the European heartland.

Shiffrin has all the tools.She's the youngest slalom champion in Olympic history and at her tender age has already won 21 World Cup races. If she stays healthy there is every reason to believe she has the potential to eclipse even Vonn as the most prolific female racer of all-time.

Every sport needs a superstar and in the U.S. when it comes to skiing, Shiffrin is feeling the pressure to step up in Vonn's absence.

All over the world, the winter athletes are getting down to business on the drive down the home stretch to the ultimate destination, which is, of course, the Olympics.

And make no mistake.The mere mention of Pyeongchang conjures up the pressure to perform in every one of them.