Sochi Winter Olympics TV schedule: What to watch Thursday
Kick back your heels and tune in to watch the world鈥檚 top athletes sprint, flip, and slide today in pursuit of victory at the Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.听
Highlights of the day include freestyle ski slopestyle, speed skating, cross-country skiing, luge, ice hockey, and figure skating.
NBC聽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聽, and all events can be live-streamed by cable subscribers at聽.
You don鈥檛 want to miss:
Men鈥檚 ski slopestyle
The men鈥檚 freestyle ski slopestyle competition was 鈥渢hrilling,鈥� writes the Monitor鈥檚 correspondent in Sochi. 鈥淭o put it plainly: that was wicked fun. Can I tell you to watch NBC tonight? Is that journalistically ethical? Who cares. Miss it at your peril,鈥� he writes. (Find .)
The event is new to Sochi, and features skiers flipping and twisting on the same slopestyle course that snowboarders competed on earlier this week.
The event streamed live at 4:30 a.m. EST and will be replayed on NBC prime time.
Speed skating
The women speed skaters take to the ice in the 1,000-meter race a day after American Shani Davis came up short in his bid to win three gold medals in the event in three consecutive Winter Games. Korean skater Lee Sang-hwa, the winner of the 500-meter race earlier this week, and her teammate Seung Ju Park are major contenders for gold. Heather Richardson, Kelly Gunther, Sugar Todd, and Brittany Bowe will compete for the US.
The event will stream live at 9 a.m. and will be replayed on NBC prime time.
Luge
The final luge competition of the Sochi Games takes place today, with the first-ever team relay. Teams from 12 nations will compete in an event that combines a woman鈥檚 single luge, a man鈥檚 single luge, and two men from the doubles luge. The times are combined and the lowest score wins.听
Erin Hamlin, who won the first American medal in an individual luge event on Tuesday (a bronze), will be on the US team, as will Chris Mazdzer, 海角大神 Niccum, and Jayson Terdiman. German lugers have swept the gold medals in all the luge events so far and are the favorites to take home the gold tonight.听
Luge is as 鈥渙ne of聽the most dangerous Olympic winter sports. It聽involves sliding at聽high speeds on聽single or聽two-person sleds on聽a聽special track of聽artificially frozen ice. The athlete or聽athletes starts in聽a聽seating position and after pushing off lie down on聽their back on聽the sled with their feet stretched out in聽front of聽them. The rider steers the sled by聽moving his or聽her center of聽gravity. The winner of聽the competition is聽the rider with the fastest time. During a聽run, the sled can reach speeds of聽over 140聽km/h.鈥�
The event will stream live at 11:15 a.m. EST and replay on the NBC afternoon broadcast.听
Men鈥檚 ice hockey
Men鈥檚 hockey takes to the ice for the first time in Sochi today. The Russian team is under enormous in the first Winter Olympics held on Russian soil. Preliminary group play kicks off today with Russia vs. Slovenia, USA vs. Slovakia, and Canada vs. Norway.听
The Russia and US games will stream at 7:30 a.m. EST, and Canada at 12 p.m. EST. NBC Sports Network will replay the US vs. Slovakia at 5 p.m. EST and Canada vs. Norway at 3 p.m. EST.
Men鈥檚 figure skating 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽
The individual men鈥檚 figure skating event gets started today with the short program. Evgeni聽Plushenko聽of Russia will look to wow the home crowd again after a rousing performance in the team competition. Three-time world champion Patrick Chan of Canada looks to break the so-called "Canadian curse": No Canadian male world champion has ever won figure-skating gold at the Olympics.
Jeremy Abbott and Jason Brown, whose performance at the national championships in Boston , will compete for the US.
The even will stream live at 10 a.m. EST and replay on NBC prime time.
What else is on:
NBC 3 p.m. 鈥� 5 p.m. EST: Biathlon (men鈥檚 20km individual), luge (team relay)
NBC 8 p.m. EST: Freestyle skiing (men鈥檚 slopestyle), speed skating (women鈥檚 1,000m), figure skating (men鈥檚 short program), skeleton (women鈥檚)
NBC 12:30 a.m. EST: Short track (women鈥檚 500m, men鈥檚 relay), cross country (women鈥檚 10km classic)
