Winter Olympics TV schedule: What to watch Wednesday, Feb. 19
The women's figure skating competition kicks off with the short program, and Americans are medal favorites in bobsled and alpine skiing.
Gracie Gold of the United States reacts at the end of her program during the Team Ladies Free Skating Program at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, Feb. 9, 2014.
David Gray/Reuters
Olympics coverage heats up today with several fan-favorite events, including women鈥檚 figure skating and men鈥檚 alpine skiing.
Medals will be awarded in eight events, including cross-country team sprints, women鈥檚 bobsled, speed skating, snowboard parallel slalom, and biathlon.
NBC听will air a tape-delayed afternoon broadcast from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. EST and a primetime broadcast at 8 p.m. EST. Its affiliate networks, including NBC Sports, MSNBC, and CNBC, will broadcast events听, and all events can be live-streamed by cable subscribers at听.听
You don鈥檛 want to miss:
Men鈥檚 alpine ski giant slalom
American Ted Ligety is the reigning World Cup champion in this event. He鈥檚 skiing for his first medal of the Sochi Games after disappointing off-podium finishes in earlier races. No American has ever won gold in this event in the Olympics. Ligety will have to fend off challenges from on-fire racers including Austrian Marcel Hirscher and Frenchman Alexis Pinturault.
The event streamed live at 5:30 a.m. EST and will replay on NBC primetime. Find .听
Women鈥檚 bobsled
Two American teams are in contention for a medal: Team USA 1 and Team USA 2 sit in first and third place, respectively, after the first two heats yesterday. They鈥檙e separated by the Canadians, who aim to play spoiler to a one-two US finish. Two of the US bobsled pairs have Summer Olympians serving as brakemen: Lauryn Williams on Team 1 aims to become the first American to win a gold medal in the Summer and Winter Olympics. Her teammate Lolo Jones, a hurdler in Beijing and London, is on Team 3 (which is currently in 11th听place).
The event will stream live at 11:15 a.m. EST and replay on NBC primetime.听听 听 听听
Women鈥檚 figure skating
The Winter Olympics marquee event is shaping up to be a classic showdown of top talent. Defending Olympic and World champion Kim Yu-na of South Korea is back to reclaim her title. But 15-year-old Yulia听Lipnitskaia of Russia, the newly crowned European champion, stunned the crowd (and the judges) with her near-flawless performances during the team competition in Sochi. Mao Asada of Japan, the silver medalist in 2010 and only woman who plans on performing a triple axel in competition, is also a top contender. Then there are the Americans, Gracie Gold and Ashley Wagner, who realistically look to be battling for bronze at best. Keep an eye on their American teammate, Polina Edmunds, who may be a medal contender in 2018.听
The event will stream live at 10 a.m. EST and replay on NBC primetime.听
Snowboard parallel giant slalom
In this event, 鈥渢wo athletes engage in听a听head-to-head competition on听parallel courses," . "The athletes with the best results in听the qualifying round advance to听the finals, and then compete on听an听elimination basis. The snowboarder who wins all the races wins the competition."
Both men and women will compete in separate events today. Medal favorites heading into the event are Patrizia Kummer (Switzerland), Amelie Kober (Germany) and Tomoka Takeuchi (Japan) for the women, and Benjamin Karl (Austria), Lukas Mathies (Austria), and Rok Marguc (France) for the men.听
The event will be replayed on NBC late-night at 1:30 a.m. EST. 听
What else is on:
NBC 3-5 p.m. EST: Speed Skating (Women's 5000m), Cross-Country (Men's and Women's Team Sprints)
NBC 8 p.m. EST: Alpine Skiing (Men's Giant Slalom), Bobsled (Women's Runs 3 and 4), Figure Skating (Ladies' Short Program)
NBC Sports Network: 3 p.m. EST Men鈥檚 ice hockey: Finland vs. Russia; 5 p.m. men鈥檚 ice hockey USA vs. Czech Republic 听