It’s the first day of Olympic competition in Sochi (yes I know the opening ceremonies aren’t until Friday evening in Sochi… things start early) and four events in three sports (Snowboarding, Freestyle Skiing, and Figure Skating) will get underway.
All times below are ET.
Freestyle Skiing
Events: Thursday is the start of the women’s moguls competition. It will begin at 9 AM with a qualification round and a 30 athlete field that includes four Americans. Each athlete gets one run and the top ten move into the first round of the final (1 PM Saturday). The other twenty will move into a second qualification round at 9 AM on Saturday morning where they will compete for the final ten spots in the final. Americans Heidi Kloser, Eliza Outtrim, and Heather McPhie will actually be the first three to ski on Thursday while Hannah Kearney will go 20th.
When:
- Women’s moguls qualification round 1 – 9 AM
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 NBC’s first night of Olympic coverage on Thursday, 8-11 PM ET/PT.
Figure Skating
Events: The debut of the team event begins Thursday morning at 10:30 AM when the men’s short program will be contested. The American team will use Jeremy Abbott and he’ll be 5th up in the short program. The pairs short program will be at 12:10 PM and involves Americans Marissa Castelli and Simon Shnapir. They will be the sixth pair to skate.
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The competitors will be ranked 1-10 based on their scores in each event with ten points going to the best, nine to second, and so on. The team with the highest point total at the end will win. After the short programs end on Saturday the bottom five teams will be cut from the competition. The next three rounds will be on Saturday beginning at 9:30 AM.
When:
- Men’s short program – 10:30 AM
- Pairs short program – 12:10 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 included in NBC’s first night of Olympic coverage on Thursday, 8-11 PM ET/PT.
Snowboarding
Events: Thursday is the start of the men’s and women’s slopestyle competitions. On the men’s side starting at 1 AM there will be two heats and 29 competitors. Each athlete gets two runs and only their top score counts. The top four athletes move directly into the final (Saturday 3:45 PM) while the rest move into the semifinals (Saturday 12:30 AM) for a second chance at four more spots in the final. Heat one will feature American Chas Guldemond as the tenth competitor while heat two features Sage Kotsenburg seventh and Ryan Stassel 14th.
On the women’s side, starting at 5 AM, the same format is used but there are only 23 competitors. All four of the US athletes are in the second heat (7 AM start time?) with Ty Walker first up, Jamie Anderson sixth, Karly Shorr tenth and Jessika Jenson going eleventh and last. They will hope to reach Sunday’s 4:15 AM final without needing to qualifying out of the semifinal held at 1:30 AM on Sunday first.
When:
- Men’s slopestyle qualification – 1 AM
- Women’s slopestyle qualification – 5 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 snowboarding will be included in NBC’s first night of Olympic coverage on Thursday, 8-11 PM ET/PT.
