1. Jeret Peterson
En route to winning the 2005 World Cup aerials title, Jeret Peterson, 24, debuted "the hurricane," which involves three flips and five twists—one more rotation than anyone else can land. "It's like the four-minute mile," he says. But with more pain. At last season's World Championships, Peterson botched a landing and suffered a concussion, torn rotator cuff, and scratched cornea. Now fully recovered and landing more hurricanes than Florida, Peterson has his eyes set on gold: "I don't train to get second."

2. Shaun White
AFTER MISSING OUT on the 2002 Games by a fraction of a point, then-15-year-old Shaun White had to watch from the sidelines as Americans Ross Powers, Danny Kass, and J. J. Thomas swept the halfpipe event. But he beat all three to claim the 2003 X Games superpipe title. After missing most of 2004 with a torn meniscus, he returned last year with X Games gold on the snowboard and silver on the skateboard. "Unmatched consistency, smooth style, and big amplitude," says Powers. "He has the whole package."

3. Todd Hays
Todd Hays had to fight his way into bobsledding, literally. A former national-champion kickboxer, he bought his first sled with $12,000 he won at the 1995 World Freestyle Fighting Championships in Japan, then committed himself to the ice full-time. Hays, 36, piloted the silver-medal-winning four-man squad at the 2002 Games and won two World Cup races last season, both times beating the German team that edged him for gold in Salt Lake. Look for the two squads to wind up in another title fight in Turin.

4. Apolo Anton Ohno
Apolo Anton Ohno left Salt Lake City in 2002 wearing a gold and a silver, then, sadly, took them off to break-dance on MTV. Thankfully, the skater has since stuck to performing on the ice, winning the World Cup title two of the past three years and scoring two early World Cup wins this season. "He does everything he can to improve his performance," says Derek Campbell, director of short track for U.S. speed skating. Ohno, 23, is favored to win every race he enters, which means he could be coming home with four golds.

5. Lindsey Jacobellis
The Turin Games will mark the Olympic debut of boardercross, a head-to-head—and sometimes elbow-to-head—race that sends four snowboarders at a time hurtling down a half-mile-long obstacle course. "It's a lot like roller derby," says Lindsey Jacobellis, 20, the sport's biggest star. "Sometimes you have to throw a stiff arm." She's been throwing a lot of them. Jacobellis, who's also a threat to medal in the halfpipe, strong-armed her way to boardercross gold at last year's world championships, ran away with the 2005 World Cup title, and won the first World Cup event of this season.