Snowboardcross:
This will be an exciting battle for the men. Naturally, a lot will depend on how the brackets line up, but when the final run goes I expect to see France's Pierre Vaultier and American Seth Wescott battling for gold in the final along with U.S. teammates Nate Holland and Graham Watanabe. Even though he's not exactly a favorite at this point, I'm picking Wescott, the 2006 gold medalist, to surprise everyone and repeat here in Vancouver. Wescott has a way of stepping up in big moments.

On the women's side, I'm confident American Lindsey Jacobellis will bury her famous mistake of the past in style. For the record, I hope she goes for a giant method air again this year while winning just to silence all of the critics once and for all.

Halfpipe:
There's been a lot of talk about a U.S. men's sweep of the medal stand in halfpipe this year, but injuries have had a real impact on the depth of the American squad. The chances of them owning the podium are still real, but definitely more difficult than first thought. At the end of the day I do believe Switzerland's Louri "iPod" Podlactchikov will find his way to the podium. If not him, then Japan's Kazuhiro "Kazu" Kokubo. Both iPod and Kazu made the podium at X Games by riding very well, and I've been really impressed with their performances. This is obviously American Shaun White's event to lose, but should he stumble in the tricky conditions, my upset pick for gold will be Scotty Lago.

As for the women, I'm hearing more and more rumblings of Australia's Torah Bright going for a double cork. If true, she'd be the only women to incorporate it, and if she lands one clean, it's over. Just run up and hand her the gold medal. But if conditions don't provide her the comfort she needs to go for it, this will turn into a real battle, and in that case I'm going to give American and 2002 gold medalist Kelly Clark the edge here, because I think she's got a few tricks up her sleeve.

Parallel Giant Slalom:
The Americans will have a tough time in this discipline, which is dominated by the Europeans. Austria's Benjamin Karl and Andreas Prommegger have been dominating the FIS World Cup circuit, and I see no reason why that won't continue here. But I do expect American Chris Klug to end his Olympic career on the podium. Klug has proven time and again that he has a knack for finding a way.