Sochi 2014: 10 worldwide medal hopefuls for the Winter Olympics

Alpine skiing

Lindsey Vonn (USA) - The high-profile American has set plenty of skiing records - now she is looking to overcome serious injury and clinch another Olympic gold.

Bobsleigh

Kaillie Humphries (Canada) - Reigning Olympic and world champion Humphries once considered switching allegiance to Great Britain, and her training routine includes pushing cars.

Cross-country skiing

Marit Bjoergen (Norway) - The 33-year-old is a 12-time world champion and won five Olympic medals in 2010, but her unrivalled success in Vancouver was soured by allegations of cheating.

Figure skating

Yuna Kim (South Korea) - A superstar in her own country, she is looking to end her glittering career at the age of 23 by retaining the Olympic figure skating title.

Ice hockey

Alex Ovechkin (Russia) - An NHL superstar famed for partying as hard as he plays, the Russian hopes to inspire his country to ice hockey gold.

Luge

Felix Loch (Germany) - Olympic and world champion Loch is the son of a Winter Olympian and will be the man to beat in Sochi.

Short track speed skating

Wang Meng (China) - Her country's most successful Olympian has put a ban behind her and will challenge for more gold in Sochi.

Ski jumping

Sara Takanashi (Japan) - The schoolgirl will start as favourite for gold when women's ski jumping makes its Olympic debut in Sochi.

Snowboarding

Lindsey Jacobellis (USA) - The American will head to Sochi still searching for redemption in the snowboard cross after her infamous crash at the 2006 Winter Games.
Shaun White (USA) - full profile: The Flying Tomato has lost his trademark locks but none of his snowboarding skills - he's bidding for a third consecutive gold.

Source: BBC NEWS