The women's sprint events are also very tough to call.
Russia's Svetlana Zhurova won the world sprint title three weeks ago and, despite her 34 years and motherhood, she has never skated faster.
Canada's Catriona LeMay-Doan clinched the 500m in both Salt Lake and Nagano, but has retired. China's Wang Manli could take over her crown. She won the World Cup event at the Lingotto oval early this season. Here, too, home advantage could count with Chiara Simionato poised to do well in the 1,000m.
Once beyond the sprint distances, it looks like a Germany-Canada battle. The German media already call Pechstein and Friesinger their "golden girls." Friesinger survived a big scare when she cut her ankle skating but has since come back seemingly as strong.
Over the 1,500m, Friesinger and Klassen have exchanged the world record several times with the Canadian setting the last one in Calgary, where she also robbed Pechstein of the 3,000m mark.
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