Daily Previews, Figure Skating, Freestyle Skiing, Ice Hockey, Nordic Combined, Olympics, Sochi 2014

February 20th – Sochi 2014 – Daily Preview

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What’s on tap today? Just four disciplines and competition in five events with five gold medals up for grabs.

In today: nordic combined. Out today: Alpine skiing, biathlon, bobsleigh, cross-country, snowboarding, and speed skating.

All times below are ET.

Figure Skating

Events: All three US ladies had strong short programs. Now they are all in the top seven but all quite a bit behind the top three and probably needing help to reach the medal stand. The free skate begins at 10 AM but Polina Edmunds, seventh in the short program, will be the first American at 17th, fifth in group three. That should be about 12:42 PM.

In the final group going 22nd overall and fourth in the group will be Gracie Gold. Gold is in fourth heading into the free skate and will know if there is room for her to jump onto the medal stand. She will skate at about 1:30 PM. She’ll be followed immediately by Ashley Wagner who is in sixth and will skate at about 1:38 PM.

This is the final event for figure skating in Sochi. There will be a gala still to come on Saturday but that is just for entertainment purposes.

When:

  • *Ladies’ free skate – 10 AM
    • Polina Edmunds – Approx. 12:42 PM
    • Gracie Gold – Approx 1:30 PM
    • Ashley Wagner – Approx 1:38 PM

Live Streaming: A live stream will be available on the NBC Olympics website and on the NBC Sports Live Extra app. You will probably have to authenticate a cable subscription to watch the live streams of the Olympics.

TV Coverage: The figure skating will be shown LIVE on NBCSN from 10 AM-2 PM ET and included in NBC’s primetime coverage from 8-11:30 PM ET.

Freestyle Skiing

Events: We should actually get to see the seeding round of men’s ski cross, unlike the men’s snowboarding round that was cancelled. The round involves all 32 men taking two runs on the course by themselves with their best times setting the groups for the 1/8 finals. Only one American is in the field, John Teller. Teller will go sixth in the seeding run at 2:45 AM and is guaranteed a spot in the 4:30 AM 1/8 finals.

Starting at the 1/8 finals and moving on from there the top two in each heat of four will move onto the next round. Teller will hope to reach the quarterfinals at 5:05 AM. If he does make the 5:25 AM semifinals he will be in either the main medal final, or the preceding small final to decide 5th-8th, at 5:41 AM.

That’s not the only event on Thursday as later in the day we’ll see the women’s halfpipe competition. 23-women are in the qualifying round field at 9:30 AM with four Americans taking part. Brita Sigourney will drop in fourth and Maddie Bowman goes seventh. Later on Annalisa Drew goes 17th with Angeli Vanlaanen 22nd. The women will all make two runs with the top 12 best scores moving on to the final at 12:30 PM.

In the final the start list is the reverse order of the top 12 from the qualifying round. Everyone gets two runs with the best scores counting for the medal race. This will be the last freestyle skiing event in Sochi for the US as they don’t have anyone in the women’s ski cross field on Friday.

When:

  • Men’s Ski Cross Seeding – 2:45 AM
  • Men’s Ski Cross 1/8 Finals – 4:30 AM
  • Men’s Ski Cross Quarterfinals – 5:05 AM
  • Men’s Ski Cross Semifinals – 5:25 AM
  • *Men’s Ski Cross Finals – 5:41 AM
  • Women’s Ski Halfpipe Qualification – 9:30 AM
  • *Women’s Ski Halfpipe Final – 12:30 PM

Live Streaming: A live stream will be available on the NBC Olympics website and on the NBC Sports Live Extra app. You will probably have to authenticate a cable subscription to watch the live streams of the Olympics.

TV Coverage: The freestyle skiing will be included in NBCSN’s coverage from 2-3 PM ET and in NBC’s primetime coverage from 8-11:30 PM ET.

Ice Hockey

Events: The US women will wrap up their Olympics with a medal today, but will it be silver or gold? They will decide that when they face off with Canada at 12 PM. These two teams are very familiar with each other having met in pool play. Canada won that one 3-2 with three third period goals so the US is out for revenge. The Canadians blanked the US in the gold medal game in Vancouver 2-0 and beat the US 3-2 for the gold medal in Salt Lake City. It’s been 16 years since the US beat Canada in the Olympics. They did it twice in the first women’s tournament in Nagano: 7-4 in the group stage and 3-1 for the gold medal.

When:

  • Women’s Gold Medal Game – USA vs. Canada – 12 PM

Live Streaming: A live stream will be available on the NBC Olympics website and on the NBC Sports Live Extra app. You will probably have to authenticate a cable subscription to watch the live streams of the Olympics.

TV Coverage: The ice hockey game will be shown LIVE on NBC in ALL TIME ZONES from 12-3 PM ET and replayed on NBCSN from 5-7 PM ET.

Nordic Combined

Events: Nordic combined wraps up their stay in Sochi with the team event on Thursday. The jumping begins at 3 AM with the Americans jumping fifth in each round. Todd Lodwick will go in round one, Taylor Fletcher goes in round two, Bill Demong goes in round three, and Bryan Fletcher goes in the fourth and final round.

The difference in scores from the ski jumping will be converted to times to delay teams in the start of the cross-country relay at 6 AM. I’m not sure what order the US men will be going in the cross-country portion.

When: 

  • Team Gundersen LH/4×5 km Competition Round – 3 AM
  • *Team Gundersen LH/4×5 km Cross-Country – 6 AM

Live Streaming: A live stream will be available on the NBC Olympics website or on the NBC Sports Live Extra app. You will probably have to authenticate a cable subscription to watch the live streams of the Olympics.

TV Coverage: The nordic combined will be included in NBCSN’s coverage from 3-7 AM ET and be NBC’s latenight coverage from 1-2 AM ET on Friday.

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