FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, February 19th, 2018

2018 PYEONGCHANG WINTER OLYMPICS – FEB. 19 PRIMETIME HIGHLIGHTS ON NBC AND NBCSN

 “Arguably the greatest ice dance team of our generation.” – Scott Hamilton on Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir winning gold in ice dance

“This moment is for them as much as it is for the audience.” – Tanith White on bronze-medal performance by Maia and Alex Shibutani

 “This feels like the right result. She has been so dominant for the last year. Cassie Sharpe can win any competition she drops into.” – Todd Harris on Sharpe’s gold medal in women’s freestyle skiing halfpipe

Lindsey Vonn, Red Gerard, and Bradie Tennell All Featured in NBC’s Primetime Coverage Tomorrow Beginning at 8 p.m. ET

STAMFORD, Conn. – February 19, 2018 – Tuesday’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 Olympic gold medalist Lindsey Vonn competing in the women’s downhill*;

 

  • Live coverage of the ladies’ figure skating short program on NBC in primetime, as Bradie Tennell, Mirai Nagasu, and Karen Chen headline the American effort;

 

  • Live coverage of the men’s snowboarding big air event on NBC in primetime, as 17-year-old Red Gerard looks to follow up his gold medal performance in men’s slopestyle last week*;

*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 – NBC

Analyst Tanith White on Maia and Alex Shibutani in the free dance, winning the bronze medal: “They wanted to skate with freedom. They felt like they had finally achieved that in a breakthrough moment, in my opinion, in the team event. Again, they are finding that emotional breakthrough today in the free dance. This moment is for them as much as it is for the audience. They said they wanted to forge their own path in this sport. They have just done everything they can to ensure that that path leads to a podium position.”

White on Canada’s Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir winning gold in the free dance: “Brilliance strikes again for Virtue and Moir. How many times are we going to see a team like this on Olympic ice?”

Play-by-play commentator Terry Gannon on Virtue and Moir: “No matter what happens, you just watched one of the all-time great ice dance teams.”

White on Virtue and Moir: “For Virtue and Moir, this is the end of one of the most brilliant Olympic stories that anyone could ever have written.”

White on French team of Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron, winning silver: “They just redefine sublime. I have never seen a team like them on the ice ever.”

Gannon on Papadakis and Cizeron: “Their brilliance doesn’t bring you out of your seat, it makes you sit back and contemplate it.”

White on Papadakis and Cizeron: “I’m sitting here grabbing my chest and feeling my heart pound. That’s the reaction that their skating brings to me. It’s incredible. They are artists first and competitors second.”

***

FREESTYLE SKIING – NBC

Analyst Luke Van Valin on American Brita Sigourney, winning the bronze medal: “What a run. That explosiveness that comes from speed, born from graceful skiing through the pipe, wall to wall, was truly magnificent. She went bigger this run than she has before.”

Play-by-play commentator Todd Harris on Canada’s Cassie Sharpe, winning gold in women’s halfpipe: “This feels like the right result. She has been so dominant for the last year. Cassie Sharpe can win any competition she drops into. She’s peaking at the right time. We were talking about her performance just a few weeks ago at Snowmass and said, ‘Wow, she’s in Olympic form.’”

Van Valin on where defending gold medalist Maddie Bowman would have finished if she had finished last jump that plagued her on all three runs:  “It would have challenged Cassie Sharpe. Looking at what the judges are loving today, they love that technical approach, those very difficult tricks. She would have at the very least been in the silver medal position.”

***

HOCKEY – NBCSN

‘Inside-the-Glass analyst Pierre McGuire on goal by Ryan Donato against Slovakia in men’s hockey, 1-0 Team USA: “Ryan Donato started that with the stretch pass to Troy Terry and he finished it off. This is what great goal-scorers do. He reads it, he sets himself up away from coverage, and puts it to the back of the net. A thing of beauty.”

McGuire on James Wisniewski’s power play goal in the second period, 2-0 Team USA: “He hasn’t had one 5-on-5 shift the entire tournament. His presence is about a one-timer on the power play, and he just blasts this thing on goal.”

Analyst Mike Milbury on Mark Arcobello’s goal, 3-0 Team USA: “We were hoping to see some veteran presence come up with some production and Mark Arcobello delivers.”

*Team USA led Slovakia 3-1 at time of press*

***

BOBSLED – NBC

Play-by-play commentator Leigh Diffey on Canada and Germany tying for the gold medal in two-man bobsled: “Twenty years in the making, history repeats for Canada! A tie for the gold medal! This Olympic Sliding Center has seen some amazing things these Games, but nothing like this.”

***

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 Virtue and Moir: “Arguably the greatest ice dance team of our generation. They’ve had success the last three Olympics. They’re unbelievable to watch. They’re very much a crowd-pleasing team. They go right after the audience.”

Hamilton on Papadakis and Cizeron’s ability to complete their routine last night despite a wardrobe malfunction: “You can’t do that without their quality, without their unbelievable ability to kind of focus, lock in, and that’s why arguably, beyond Virtue and Moir, you got to say they’re in the conversation for greatest dancing in the world right now.”

***

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 —