FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, February 16th, 2018

2018 PYEONGCHANG WINTER OLYMPICS – FEB. 15 PRIMETIME HIGHLIGHTS ON NBC AND NBCSN

“Unexpectedly, Mikaela Shiffrin settles for fourth in her specialty.” – Dan Hicks on Shiffrin missing the podium in the women’s slalom

 “Adam is the prince of the Olympics. He makes me jealous every day.” – Tara Lipinski on Adam Rippon

“He has crushed the opposition. Yun Sung-Bin has become a national hero.” – Leigh Diffey on South Korea’s Yun Sung-Bin winning gold in men’s skeleton

“I don’t know, that was kind of sudden. It almost felt like a virus, less about nerves.” – Mikaela Shiffrin to reporter Heather Cox on vomiting prior to first slalom run

Lindsey Vonn and Nathan Chen Slated to Compete in Primetime on Friday on NBC

STAMFORD, Conn. – February 15, 2018 – Friday’s coverage of the XXIII Olympic Winter Games from PyeongChang, South Korea, is highlighted by:

  • NBC’s primetime presentation, which begins at 8 p.m. ET live across all time zones, featuring Lindsey Vonn competing for gold in the women’s super-G*;

 

  • Coverage of the men’s figure skating free skate on NBC in primetime, as Nathan Chen continues his pursuit for gold;

 

  • Coverage of the women’s aerials in freestyle skiing, as Kiley McKinnon headlines the American effort*;

*outdoor events subject to weather conditions

 

Following are highlights from tonight’s evening and primetime coverage of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics on the networks of NBCUniversal:

ALPINE SKIING – NBC

Alpine skiing reporter Steve Porino on Mikaela Shiffrin battling nerves ahead of her first run: “I was all set to tell you, Dan, how relaxed they looked this morning. Shiffrin’s camp is loving the snow conditions. Then seconds ago, Mikaela Shiffrin went behind my setting, vomiting heavily before her run. As the old adage goes, ‘It’s one thing to be nervous, but champions don’t ski nervous.’”

Porino later added: “I talked to her trainer, Lindsay Young, who said she looked absolutely fine and relaxed and it was the moment she went inside this corral and put her eyes on that monitor that everything all of a sudden changed. Shiffrin said maybe it felt like a virus. Her trainer said, ‘There was no sign what happened before the start.’”

Shiffrin to reporter Heather Cox on dealing with nerves and vomiting before her initial run: “I don’t know, that was kind of sudden. It almost felt like a virus, less about nerves.”

Play-by-play commentator Dan Hicks on Shiffrin after run two: “Unexpectedly, Mikaela Shiffrin settles for fourth in her specialty, the slalom.”

Analyst Bode Miller on Shiffrin missing the podium in the women’s slalom: “She knew she had to push on this course. That one bobble cost her. She had it going, but you see the gate hit the top of the ski…she didn’t really adapt to this mistake as well as I would have expected. You see her land in the rut, took her a little time to get off of her ski, and then it lasted for a few gates…even after that mistake, it looked like she was tentative to take a risk on the bottom half of this course.”

Miller on the new wave of Norwegian skiers: “It’s incredible to see the new generation stepping into those shoes, and doing an amazing job filling shoes that were virtually unfillable.”

***

FIGURE SKATING – NBC

Analyst Tara Lipinski on Adam Rippon: “Adam is the prince of the Olympics. He is giving it to us. Another clean skate. He is so well trained, he works so hard. He makes me jealous every day.”

Play-by-play commentator Terry Gannon: “Adam Rippon is continuing the magic.”

Analyst Johnny Weir on Adam Rippon’s free program: “He really slayed his free program, skating it as best he could albeit without a quad. But still, he created an Olympic moment.”

Rippon to reporter Andrea Joyce on his Olympic success at 28 years-old: “I can’t explain witchcraft. I just feel like I’m coming into my own. I’m confident in who I am and what I’m doing. I’m just having a great time.”

Lipinski on Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu’s performance: “That is everything you could ever want in a short program. The complete package. He balances the artistic score and the technical score like no one I’ve ever seen. The best ever. He has the jumps, he has those quads, he has the performance ability. It was perfection.”

Weir added: “That short program was a masterpiece of epic proportion.”

***

SKELETON – NBC

Play-by-play commentator Leigh Diffey on Great Britain’s controversial suits: “If you hadn’t heard the story, there has been some controversy surrounding the Team (Great Britain) athletes with ridges on their suits. They employed the Great Britain cycling team and institute, and a lab that helped develop special cycling suits that give an aerodynamic advantage. But that advantage isn’t coming to fruition here. And by the way, the suits were cleared.”

Diffey on Yun Sung-Bin: “This is the moment this enormous crowd, on the first day of the Korean New Year, has been waiting for. More than 50 million people inhabit South Korea, and this 23 year-old has been relatively unknown. He is unknown no more.”

Analyst Bree Schaaf on Yun Sung-Bin: “He is dancing his way towards the first gold medal in skeleton for South Korea.”

Schaaf on Yun Sung-Bin: “This is his victory lap. I can’t imagine we are going to see anything but him collecting flowers all the way down in every corner.”

Diffey on Yun Sung-Bin: “He has got the Iron Man helmet, the Iron Man body, and the Iron Man will. He has crushed the opposition. Yun Sung-Bin has become a national hero.”

***

SNOWBOARDING – NBC

Play-by-play commentator Todd Harris on women’s snowboard cross: “For Lindsey Jacobellis, the fourth time is not the charm.”

***

OLYMPIC ICE PRESENTED BY TOYOTA – NBCSN

Olympic Ice Presented by Toyota is NBCSN’s live, daily figure skating studio show.

Olympic Ice analyst Scott Hamilton on U.S. pair Alexa and Chris Knierim’s performance on Wednesday: “It’s not just about being on the podium at the Olympics. It’s about the memories you take away.”

Hamilton on Spanish figure skater Javier Fernandez: “He’s just all in. He’s kind. He’s without ego. He’s all in.”

Hamilton on American figure skater Nathan Chen: “Nobody has done what he’s done. He’s changed the sport by doing so many quads in a program. He’ll do five in the long program – that’s his plan – two in the short program. He’s steady, he’s solid. There’s this calm about him. He’d be the last guy you want to compete against because you can’t read him.”

Weir on Chen: “He has given us no reason, aside from the faulty short program, to doubt him. He has won every event that he entered this year. He has the highest technical content of pretty much anyone in the world, and the short program will be no different.”

***

ABOUT NBC OLYMPICS

A division of NBC Sports Group, NBC Olympics is responsible for producing, programming and promoting NBCUniversal’s Olympic Games coverage. It is renowned for its unsurpassed Olympic heritage, award-winning production, and ability to aggregate the largest audiences in U.S. television history. NBCUniversal owns the U.S. media rights on all platforms to all Olympic Games through 2032.

— PYEONGCHANG 2018 —