Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics TV schedule: What to watch Friday
Ladies' ski aerials, skeleton, men's downhill super-combined and figure skating are top events to watch today.
Noelle Pikus-Pace of the US pushes off during the women's skeleton event at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. She'll race for gold today.
Murad Sezer/Reuters
Six gold medals are up for grabs in Day 7 of the Winter Games in Sochi.
Prepare for speed and finesse in the men’s alpine ski super-combined, high-flying flips in the ladies aerials, 80 m.p.h. head-first speed in the women’s skeleton, and power and grace in the men’s figure skating final.
NBC will air a tape-delayed afternoon broadcast from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. EST and a prime-time broadcast at 8 p.m. EST. Its affiliate networks, including NBC Sports, MSNBC, and CNBC, will broadcast events throughout the day, and all events can be live-streamed by cable subscribers at nbcolympics.com.
You don’t want to miss:
Alpine skiing: men’s super-combined
In this test of overall skill, skiers take one downhill run in the morning and one slalom run in the afternoon. Defending Olympic champion Bode Miller will be racing for the US, as will teammate and current world champion Ted Ligety. Both Americans are looking to rebound after disappointing runs in the downhill race earlier this week.
The event streamed live at 1 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. EST and will replay on NBC primetime. Find results here.
Men’s figure skating
The men’s figure skating finale is shaping up to be a showdown between three-time World Champion Patrick Chan of Canada and rising star Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan. Chan came into the Games as a heavy favorite, but Hanyu yesterday broke the world record for the best-scoring short program ever.
The race for bronze is on, with the possibility that American Jason Brown could reach the podium. Behind the top two leaders there is a cluster of nine-skaters scoring between 83.48 and 86.98 in the short program, putting them all within striking distance of the podium. “Smack in the middle of the group with 86.00 points is Brown, the man who was never expected to make it to Sochi but who has begun making a name for himself,” as the Monitor’s Sochi correspondent explains.
The event will stream live at 10 a.m. EST and will replay on NBC primetime.
Skeleton
This headfirst race at 80 m.p.h. speeds is shaping up to be a classic. The top four finishers from the first two runs are clustered together, with Great Britain’s Lizzy Yarnold in the lead. American Noelle Pikus-Pace, who came out of retirement after finishing fourth in the Vancouver Games, currently sits in second. Her teammate Katie Uhlaender is in fourth, close on the heels of a surprise showing from Russian Elena Nikitina who would be the youngest skeleton medalist since 1928 if she holds on for a medal.
The event will stream live at 11:30 a.m. EST and replay on NBC primetime.
Ladies’ Aerials
China is usually associated with the summer Olympics, but it fields a deep team in women’s freestyle ski aerials (due in part to effectively recruiting former gymnasts). The 2010 Olympic silver medalist Li Nina returns to compete for China, as does the 2013 world champion Xu Mengtao. They will face off against defending Olympic champion Australian Lydia Lassila and Americans Ashley Caldwell and Emily Cook.
The event will stream live at 12:30 p.m. EST and replay on the NBC afternoon broadcast.
What else is on:
NBC 3 – 5 p.m. EST: Biathlon (women’s 15-km individual), freestyle skiing (women’s aerials)
NBC 8 p.m. EST: Alpine skiing (men’s super-combined), skeleton (women’s runs 3 and 4), figure skating (men’s free skate
NBC 12:30 a.m. EST: Skeleton (men’s), freestyle skiing (women’s aerials)