10 Team USA Athletes to Watch at Beijing Winter Olympics

01 of 10

Brita Sigourney - Freestyle skiing

Olympians to Watch — Brita Sigourney. Sean M. Haffey/Getty

Sigourney, 31, is mentally and physically preparing for what will be her third Olympic Games.

"I think knowing that the Olympics are coming and they're happening, there's this big ramp up getting physically ready," the bronze medalist tells PEOPLE. "I've been in the gym all summer getting physically strong."

02 of 10

Chris Mazdzer - Luge

Mazdzer, 33, is a silver medalist and an Olympic veteran, with three Games already under his belt.

Now, "As I come to the end of my 20 year career, I want to go for the impossible," he tells PEOPLE. "Do I think I can do it? I believe that I can. Do other people think? No, but that's okay."

03 of 10

Dusty Henricksen - Freestyle snowboarding

Though the 18-year-old will be a first-time Olympian if he makes the team, he's won two gold medals at the Winter X Games.

In Beijing, he tells PEOPLE, "I want to prove to my parents" that he can snag Olympic gold. "Because they believe so much in my ability and that I could possibly get to this point, and I never really did until recently. Recently it gave me a lot of motivation to really put my foot down and try my best to do as good as I possibly can, just for them and how much they've given to me."

04 of 10

Maame Biney - Short track speed skating

"Going to the Olympics a second time would be amazing for me," Biney, 21 — who participated in the 2018 Games — says. "And so my goal at 2022 would just be to be happy and to just do my best and not necessarily care about what other people are doing and just race the race that I know how to race."

05 of 10

Jaelin Kauf - Freestyle skiing

Kauf, 25, competed in women's moguls in Pyeongchang, but says she's "grown a lot" since then.

"I know how to mentally prepare and get myself to where I need to for that," she tells PEOPLE. "Whereas the last Olympics, I was just stepping into the scene and decided to win events and do well and was still very new to competing at that level and was just very unprepared for it all, just trying to take it in as much as I could. I think I've definitely learned a lot just mentally in the sport."

06 of 10

Mariah Bell - Figure skating

Twenty-five-year-old Bell is eying a spot on her first Olympic team after being a second alternate in 2018, which would be "incredible," she tells PEOPLE.

"I think we have a great opportunity in the team event to medal, and potentially be gold," Bell says. "I think that's definitely something that we could aim for. But ultimately — I think about these things all the time — ultimately, what I have to do is be the best version of myself, and skate the best that I can."

07 of 10

Nathan Chen - Figure skating

The Olympic bronze medalist, 22, tells PEOPLE he's preparing to "be the best" at his second Winter Games, but that "when it comes to the competition ... it's more about — it's not about the destination, more about the journey, you know?"

"And I definitely feel like the more that I can focus on that sort of mindset, the better it is, the better set I am."

08 of 10

Summer Britcher - Luge

The 27-year-old luger — who is eying a third Games — says she feels "pretty confident that I am doing the right things to prepare and that I will be in a good position that I can succeed."

Adds Britcher, "I want to put myself in position be working the best, be healthy, not overworked. That's my focus for having me perform well."

09 of 10

Winter Vinecki - Freestyle Skiing

Vinecki, 22, just won her first aerials world cup earlier this year.

Of training to compete at this level, Vinecki says, "It's a lot of sacrifices and it's takes years and years to be able to get to the point where we're doing triple twisting, double back flips. It's not like it's just a couple of summers. I've been doing this for nine years now. So it takes time, a lot of hours."

10 of 10

Vincent Zhou - Figure skating

Zhou, 21, has been inspired by Olympic figure skater Evan Lysacek, and tells PEOPLE he hopes one day to motivate other young athletes in his sport.

"I can only hope that my skating does the same for other kids watching," Zhou says. "It would be the greatest honor ever if one day a kid who watched me at the Olympics would be sitting here like 10 years later giving the same interview as me right now saying that I was his inspiration. That would mean so much to me."

To learn more about all the Olympic hopefuls, visit TeamUSA.org. Watch the Winter Olympics, beginning February 3 on NBC.