With almost one year until the XXIII Olympic Winter Games, NBC Sports Group continues an unprecedented 100 hours of coverage of PyeongChang test events across NBC, NBCSN, Universal HD, NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app through March 2017.
NBC Sports Group's test-event coverage spans 13 sports - alpine skiing, biathlon, bobsled, cross-country skiing, figure skating, freestyle skiing, luge, nordic combined, short track, skeleton, ski jumping, snowboarding, and speed skating - and is its most-ever for Olympic Winter Games test events. Following are previews of the events, which feature Olympic medalists, World champions, and rising stars.
CROSS-COUNTRY COVERAGE BEGINS TOMORROW, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3
NBCSports.com and the
NBC Sports app will provide 8.5 hours of World Cup cross-country coverage from Pyeongchang beginning tomorrow, Friday, Feb. 3, at 5 a.m. ET, with the men's and women's individual classical sprints. Coverage continues Saturday, Feb. 4 at 12:30 a.m. ET with the women's skiathlon, followed by the men's skiathlon at 2 a.m. ET. It concludes with the mixed team freestyle sprint on Sunday, Feb. 5, at 5 a.m. ET.
Universal HD will present a recap show of the weekend's events on Sunday at 8:30 p.m. ET.
Simi Hamilton has reached two World Cup sprint podiums this season, most recently finishing second in Toblach, Italy on Jan. 14. Sochi Olympian Sophie Caldwell, who finished sixth in the individual sprint at the 2014 Winter Games, leads the U.S. women.
NORDIC COMBINED COVERAGE BEGINS FEBRUARY 4
NBCSports.com and the
NBC Sports app will provide nordic combined coverage from PyeongChang, featuring two individual large hill events. The first competition begins with the ski jumping portion on Saturday, Feb. 4, at 4 a.m. ET, followed by a 10km cross-country pursuit race at 6:30 a.m. ET. Coverage on Sunday, Feb. 5, begins at 4 a.m. ET with the ski jumping portion, followed by a 10km cross-country pursuit race at 6:30 a.m. ET.
Universal HD will air a recap show on Sunday at 7 p.m. ET.
SPEED SKATING COVERAGE BEGINS FEBRUARY 9
NBCSN presents coverage of the ISU World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships beginning Thursday, Feb. 9, at 5 p.m. ET. Coverage continues throughout the weekend, culminating Sunday, Feb. 12, at 5 p.m. ET on NBCSN.
Among those competing for the U.S. on the men's side are four-time Olympic medalist Shani Davis and 2014 Olympian Joey Mantia.
Highlighting the women's field for Team
USA is 1500m world record-holder Heather Bergsma, who won the 500m at the 2015 World Single Distances Championships.
FREESTYLE SKIING COVERAGE BEGINS FEBRUARY 10
Coverage of the freestyle skiing test events in PyeongChang begins with World Cup aerials action Friday, Feb. 10, at 5 a.m. ET on NBCSports.com and the
NBC Sports app. Streaming coverage continues the following day, Saturday, Feb. 11, at 5 a.m. ET with the moguls competition.
Universal HD will televise the aerials competition on Feb. 10, at 7 p.m. ET, and
NBCSN will showcase the moguls on Feb. 11 at 8 p.m. ET. NBCSports.com and the
NBC Sports app will also present the freestyle halfpipe competition on Friday, Feb. 17, at 11:30 p.m. ET, which will also air on Universal HD
Americans to watch include 2014 Olympian and 2015 World Cup champion Mac Bohonnon in men's aerials, two-time Olympian Ashley Caldwell and 2015 World Cup champion Kiley McKinnon in women's aerials, and 2014 Olympian Brad Wilson in men's moguls.
SNOWBOARDING COVERAGE BEGINS FEBRUARY 11
NBCSports.com and the
NBC Sports app will stream the snowboard parallel giant slalom on Sunday, Feb. 12, at 12 a.m. ET, followed by streaming coverage of the halfpipe on Thursday, Feb. 16, at 11 p.m. ET.
Universal HD will provide linear coverage of the halfpipe on Friday, Feb. 17, at 5 p.m. ET.
The Americans boast a strong contingent on the women's side, highlighted by 16-year-old phenom Chloe Kim, who went 11 months without losing a halfpipe competition, winning all seven events she entered between February 2016 and January 2017. On the men's side, American Chase Josey earned his first career World Cup win in Laax, Switzerland, besting 2014 Olympic champion Iouri Podladtchikov of Switzerland.
SKI JUMPING COVERAGE BEGINS FEBRUARY 15
NBCSports.com and the
NBC Sports app will live stream coverage of the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup, beginning Wednesday, Feb. 15, at 3 a.m. ET with the women's normal hill event.
Universal HD will present encore coverage of both the men's and women's events Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET and Thursday, Feb. 16, at 6 p.m. ET.
The men's field features four-time Olympic medalist Gregor Schlierenzauer of Austria, who recently returned to the World Cup after taking a break from the sport, and two-time Olympic gold medalist and recent Four Hills champion Kamil Stoch of Poland.
Japanese phenoms Sara Takanashi, a three-time World Cup champion, and Yuki Ito, the 2015 World Championships silver medalist, highlight the women's field. Team USA's Sarah Hendrickson, the 2013 World champion, has returned to competition after missing last season with a torn ACL.
FIGURE SKATING COVERAGE BEGINS FEBRUARY 16
NBCSN and
NBC present coverage of the 2017 Four Continents
FIGURE SKATING Championships, beginning with the short dance Thursday, Feb. 16, at Noon ET on NBCSN, and continuing throughout the week, culminating with the ladies' free skate Saturday, Feb. 18, at 2 p.m. ET on NBC.
Athletes expected to represent the United States include U.S. men's champion and Grand Prix Final silver medalist Nathan Chen, who at 17 became the youngest U.S. men's champion since Scott Allen in 1964 and landed a record five quad jumps in his free skate; U.S. ladies' champion Karen Chen; and two-time U.S. ice dance champions and World silver medalists Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani.
LUGE COVERAGE BEGINS FEBRUARY 18
NBCSports.com and the
NBC Sports app will live stream coverage of the FIL World Cup, beginning Saturday, Feb. 18, at 1:20 a.m. ET with the doubles event, and continuing throughout the weekend.
Universal HD will present coverage of the doubles event Saturday at 9 p.m. ET, and
NBCSN presents coverage of the women's singles event Saturday at 10 p.m. ET. The men's singles event will stream Sunday, Feb. 19, at 2:20 a.m. ET on NBCSports.com and the
NBC Sports app, with an encore presentation on
Universal HD Sunday at 9 p.m. ET.
Team
USA will be led by 2014 Olympic bronze medalist Erin Hamlin, as well as Sochi Olympians Matt Mortensen and Jayson Terdiman, two-time Olympian Chris Mazdzer, and 2014 Olympian Tucker West.
BIATHLON COVERAGE BEGINS MARCH 2
Universal HD will present comprehensive coverage of the IBU World Cup biathlon events from PyeongChang, beginning on Thursday, March 2, at 7:30 p.m. ET, with the women's 7.5km sprint, followed by the men's 10km sprint on Friday, March 3, at 7:30 p.m. ET. Coverage continues Saturday, March 4, at 1:30 p.m. ET, with the men's 12.5km pursuit and women's 10km pursuit, and concludes on Sunday, March 5, with the men's and women's relays at 3:30 p.m. ET.
BOBSLED, SKELETON COVERAGE BEGINS MARCH 17
Coverage of the IBSF World Cup will be presented across NBCSN, Universal HD, NBCSports.com and the
NBC Sports app, beginning Friday, March 17, at 1 a.m. ET with the women's skeleton competition on NBCSports.com and the
NBC Sports app.
NBCSN presents coverage of the men's skeleton Friday, March 17, at Noon ET, and the four-man bobsled on Sunday, March 19, at Noon ET.
Three-time Olympic medalist Steven Holcomb and his push crew highlight the four-man and two-man bobsled competitions for Team USA, while 2015 World champion and two-time Olympic medalist Elana Meyers Taylor leads the women's bobsled field.
In skeleton, 2014 Olympic bronze medalist Matt Antoine is expected to lead the U.S. on the men's side, while Annie O'Shea looks to contend in women's skeleton.
