Ice Prince and Frog Princess: Five to watch at Winter Games

The biggest names in winter sports will descend on the Chinese capital in February for the Beijing 2022 Olympics.

AFP Sport picks out five stars who look set to light up the Games.

Hanyu is still only 26, but the "Ice Prince" is already going after a hat-trick of Olympic figure skating gold medals. Regarded by many as the best figure skater in history, he is the first man ever to break the 100-point mark in short program. With only local residents allowed as spectators at the Games, Hanyu will be without his usual band of screaming Japanese fans in the stands. Chinese authorities, however, have vowed to ensure Hanyu will still get plenty of support－the official intervention underlining just how big a star he is.

Born in California and representing the United States before switching to China, Gu looks destined to be one of the faces of the Games. Just 18, the freeskier is also a model and grade-A student. Known as "Gu Ailing" in China, her father is American and mother Chinese. She has been enthusiastically embraced in China, with the country's media affectionately dubbing her "the Frog Princess" after a green helmet she wore.

The American skiing star is pursuing a third consecutive gold in slalom, but has admitted having some trepidation ahead of Beijing. The 26-year-old won the overall World Cup title for three straight years to 2019, but that streak ended with a difficult season marked by the sudden death of her father in February 2020, the coronavirus pandemic and a back injury as she went winless for the first time since her debut campaign in 2011-2012.

Born in the United States to Korean parents, Kim became one of the faces of the 2018 Pyeongchang Games when aged just 17. The snowboarder swept to halfpipe gold in South Korea, roared on by locals who adopted her as their own and chanted her name.

National Hockey League players return to the Olympics and Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid will be one to watch. At 24, he is one of Team Canada's youngest players but still one of the best. There is a good chance that the two-time NHL MVP could be paired on a forward line with Colorado Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon to form one of the most lethal scoring combinations in the men's hockey competition in Beijing.