FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Saturday, February 17th, 2018

2018 PYEONGCHANG WINTER OLYMPICS – FEB. 16 PRIMETIME HIGHLIGHTS ON NBC AND NBCSN

“Nathan Chen is still the Quad King. He should really be named Nathan Quad.”– Tara Lipinski

“This performance was about so much more than all of the things he does well. This is about who he is as a person, and the strength of character that Nathan Chen has.” – Johnny Weir

“These are the Olympics, and anything can happen – it just happened in the women’s Super-G. Ester Ledecka of the Czech Republic came down the hill…and shocked the world.” – Dan Hicks on Ledecka’s shocking win

“It was virtually a perfect run – except for one turn. She wins the race without that mistake.” – Bode Miller on Lindsey Vonn’s last turn in the Super-G, costing her the podium

Team USA Men’s Hockey Faces Off vs. Olympic Athletes From Russia Saturday Morning at 7:10 a.m. ET Live on NBCSN

STAMFORD, Conn. – February 16, 2018 – Saturday’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 two-time Olympic gold medalist Ted Ligety competing in the men’s giant slalom*;

 

  • Coverage of gold medal finals in short track in primetime on NBC, as host South Korea boasts multiple medal contenders in the men’s 1000m and women’s 1500m events;

 

  • Coverage of the gold medal final in men’s freestyle skiing slopestyle in primetime plus on NBC, including Sochi silver medalist Gus Kenworthy and Sochi bronze medalist Nick Goepper*;

 

  • Team USA men’s hockey facing off against Olympic Athletes from Russia on Saturday morning at 7:10 a.m. ET live on NBCSN, as captain Brian Gionta hopes to lead the Americans to the quarterfinal with a win;

*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:

 

FIGURE SKATING – NBCSN

Play-by-play commentator Terry Gannon following Nathan Chen’s performance: “Breaking records, setting standards, changing his sport. The real Nathan Chen just showed up at the Olympics.”

Analyst Tara Lipinski on Chen: “He’s superhuman. Nathan Chen is still the Quad King. He was planning five quads and instead did six. That was so gutsy, under so much pressure. He should really be named Nathan Quad. Let’s just change his name to Nathan Quad.”

Analyst Johnny Weir: “This is the Nathan Chen we know. It was almost like a little kid at the playground, just popping off these quads for fun. This is why he was a gold medal favorite coming into these Games. He is technically brilliant and so great artistically. This was about so much more than all the things he does well. This performance was about who he is as a person, and the strength of character he has.”

Lipinski on American Adam Rippon: “He has created a moment that is as valuable as any medal in this event. And he already has a bronze. Adam’s statement has been made. He has brought joy, he has brought hope, he has brought all that sass to figure skating. He just can’t miss.”

Weir on Rippon: “Adam Rippon is a skater to believe in. He is a hero for so many people. He made all of us proud.”

Lipinski on American Vincent Zhou: “He said he always looked up to Nathan Chen and over the years he said, ‘I’m slowly closing the gap.’ Not quite yet, but in four more years, I could see him as the leading man in Beijing.”

***

ALPINE SKIING – NBC

Analyst Bode Miller on Lindsey Vonn going wide right at the bottom of the women’s Super-G and missing the podium: “That’s going to hurt her. That’s a really flat section of the course. Luckily it’s close to the bottom. It’s not going to compound itself that bad, but that was a big mistake…it was virtually a perfect run – except for one turn…she wins the race without that mistake.”

Vonn to reporter Heather Cox on her run and the disadvantage of going first in the women’s Super-G: “We haven’t been on this trail yet this year. I think it was a pretty big disadvantage, to be honest. There was a little bit of fluff left on the course. Unfortunately I got some headwind in the middle section…but I attacked. I gave it everything I had. I have no regrets. I made a mistake on the bottom…but that’s the thing with going number one. You’re not able to see any of the other racers go. You don’t know what the speeds are. You don’t know if the line is exactly as you expect it. I did the best I could with the information I had.”

Play-by-play commentator Dan Hicks on shocking win by Ester Ledecka of the Czech Republic in the women’s Super-G, defeating Austria’s Anna Veith by 0.01 seconds: “Well, these are the Olympics, and anything can happen, and it just happened in the women’s Super-G. The 26th skier down, while everyone on this hill — including all of Austria, everyone here in the media, including us — was anointing Anna Veith of Austria the winner in the women’s Super-G, Ester Ledecka of the Czech Republic came down the hill — the 26th skier down, as a world champion in parallel snowboarding back in 2017. She’ll compete in the snowboarding next week, the first to compete in that discipline and alpine skiing — came down the hill just a short time ago and shocked the world.”

Miller added on Ledecka: “And doing it on Mikaela Shiffrin’s skis, keep in mind. That is a key element to look at here. Mikaela had been fast this year in Super-G. Ester Ledecka is not really what we would call a well-known, well-developed ski champion. She’s a snowboard champion. Period.”

Hicks as Ledecka crossed the line in first place: “This is a world champion – in snowboarding. She didn’t even believe it after she crossed the line.”

Miller: “She has no idea what’s going on right now.”

***

FREESTYLE SKIING – NBC

Analyst Luke Van Valin on first run from American Devin Logan in the women’s slopestyle qualification: “Logan putting down a stellar first run and a sigh of relief having landed everything. The pressure is in many ways off of her as she goes into run two. Very clean. Everything about her posture in this run is confident, calculated, and executed to perfection.”

***

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 Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu’s short program: “He absolutely threw it down. Second-best (short program) of all-time to … Hanyu (laughter).”

Olympic Ice analyst Tanith White on Hanyu performing under pressure for the first time since his injury: “Nobody else could have handled that moment like Yuzuru Hanyu did.”

Hamilton on American Nathan Chen’s short program: “When you miss every jumping pass in a short program, it goes back to that (thought of), ‘I’ve just taken myself out of the competition.’ And 17th place is nothing that anyone could have predicted. It was difficult just to see someone that is such a spectacular athlete have a moment like that.”

White added: “The advancements that his quad revolution has pushed and how great a skater he is, none of that is negated by that performance. But right now, that’s just a heavy load to bear for a young man.”

Weir on Hanyu’s short program: “Yuzuru Hanyu in the short program was like liquid silk.”

***

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 —