FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, March 28th, 2016

LIVE PRIMETIME LADIES’ FREE SKATE THIS SATURDAY AT 9 PM ET ON NBC HIGHLIGHTS 29 HOURS OF ISU WORLD FIGURE SKATING CHAMPIONSHIPS COVERAGE

Saturday Primetime Coverage Hosted by Johnny Weir, Tara Lipinski & Tom Hammond Live from Boston

Live Coverage Begins Wednesday at Noon ET on NBCSN with Short Dance Competition

“A medal is not just a maybe, it’s a should be. It’s hers to lose.” – Tara Lipinski on Gracie Gold

“The pairs definitely will be a high-flying, high-twisting, crazy competition that’ll just be a constant state of one-upmanship.” – Johnny Weir

Coverage Available on NBC Sports Live Extra

STAMFORD, Conn. – March 28, 2016 – NBC Sports Group presents 29 hours of coverage of the 2016 ISU World Figure Skating Championships from TD Garden in Boston, Mass., highlighted by the ladies’ free skate this Saturday, April 2, live at 9 p.m. ET on NBC. Live coverage begins this Wednesday, March 30, at Noon ET with the short dance on NBCSN. NBC Sports Group will cover every event in the four-day competition, which is being held in the U.S. for the first time since 2009 (Los Angeles).

NBC’s live primetime broadcast team features 1998 Olympic champion Tara Lipinski, three-time U.S. champion Johnny Weir, play-by-play announcer Tom Hammond, and reporter Andrea Joyce. 2006 Olympic ice dance silver medalist Tanith White will contribute to the recap show on Sunday, April 10, at 3 p.m. ET on NBC. Weir, Lipinski, and Hammond will also handle live coverage this Friday, April 1, at 9 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

Calling all of the remaining action on NBCSN will be 1988 Olympic ice dance bronze medalist Tracy Wilson, alongside 2006 Olympic ice dance silver medalist Ben Agosto and 2011 U.S. champion Ryan Bradley.

2016 ISU WORLD FIGURE SKATING CHAMPIONSHIPS PREVIEW

LADIES: Representing the U.S. are reigning and two-time U.S. champion Gracie Gold, three-time U.S. champion Ashley Wagner, and 2008 U.S. champion Mirai Nagasu. Highlighting the international field are 2016 Grand Prix Final champion Yevgenia Medvedeva,  reigning World and Grand Prix Final bronze medalist Yelena Radyonova of Russia, and 2010 Olympic silver medalist and three-time World champion Mao Asada of Japan.

Lipinski on the U.S. ladies: “I think that the American ladies are strong.  Gracie and Ashley have the technical content. They’re doing the triple triples.  Someone like Gracie, skating clean, skating lights out, adding the emotion, selling a program – I think a medal is not just a maybe, it’s a should be. It’s hers to lose.”

Weir on the ladies’ field: “Ashley and Gracie, who have that international respect and the ability to skate well, and made the Grand Prix Final, certainly have a chance to really ignite the audience. Yelena Radionova from Russia is so strong this season and has performed so well. She has even won major titles with mistakes, and seems to be the clear front-runner.”

MEN: Reigning U.S. champion Adam Rippon will make his fourth World Championships appearance for the U.S., along with 2013 U.S. champion Max Aaron, making his third appearance, and Grant Hochstein, who will make his Worlds debut. The international field will feature the last three World champions: Javier Fernandez of Spain (2015), 2014 Olympic gold medalist Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan (2014), and Patrick Chan of Canada (2011-2013).

Weir on Adam Rippon: “Adam is so artistically evolved that should he land that quad – and I think the majority of that arena will be waiting for a quad from Adam – he could blow the roof off of the building and really make quite a statement.”

Lipinski on the depth of the men’s field: “Once you get out on a world stage and you have guys putting three quads as if it’s nothing…that is a big difference.”

PAIRS: 2016 U.S. pairs champions Tarah Kayne and Daniel O’Shea will make their World Championships debut, while 2015 U.S. champions and 2016 U.S. silver medalists Alexa Scimeca and Chris Knierim will compete for the third time. Highlighting the international field are reigning Olympic champions Tatyana Volosozhar and Maksim Trankov of Russia, reigning World champions Megan Duhamel and Eric Radford of Canada, and reigning Grand Prix Final champions Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov of Russia.

Lipinski on the pairs’ competition: “The technical bar is being raised every single year, whether it’s throws, twists, side-by-side triple-triples. I feel like the competition is going to be so strong.”

Weir on the pairs’ competition: “The pairs’ event is actually what I’m most looking forward to at the World Championships simply because the title really is up for grabs…. The pairs definitely will be a high flying, high twisting, crazy competition that’ll just be a constant state of one-upmanship. It’s really exciting.”

ICE DANCE: 2016 U.S. champions Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani the 2011 World bronze medalists, will compete at their sixth straight World Championships, along with 2015 U.S. champions and World silver medalists Madison Chock and Evan Bates, and 2016 U.S. bronze medalists Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue. Highlighting the international field are defending World champions Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron of France, and two-time World medalists Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje of Canada.

Below is the schedule for NBC Sports Group’s coverage of the 2016 ISU World Figure Skating Championships:

Date Time (ET) Program Network
Wed., Mar. 30 Noon Ice Dance Short Dance (LIVE) NBCSN
Wed., Mar. 30 Midnight Men’s Short Program NBCSN
Thurs., Mar. 31 4 p.m. Ladies’ Short Program (LIVE) NBCSN
Thurs., Mar. 31 8 p.m. Ice Dance Free Dance (LIVE) NBCSN
Fri., April 1 3 p.m. Pairs’ Short Program (LIVE) NBCSN
Fri., April 1 9 p.m. Men’s Free Skate (LIVE) NBCSN
Sat., April 2 2 p.m. Pairs’ Free Skate (LIVE) NBCSN
Sat., April 2 9 p.m. Ladies’ Free Skate (LIVE) NBC
Sun., April 3 2 p.m. Gala Exhibition (LIVE) NBCSN
Sat., April 9 1 p.m. Encore Universal HD
Sun., April 10 3 p.m. World Figure Skating Championships Recap NBC
Mon., April 18 5 p.m. Encore Universal HD

NBC Sports Live Extra — NBC Sports Group’s live streaming product for desktops, mobile devices, tablets, and connected TVs — will stream coverage via “TV Everywhere,” giving consumers additional value to for their subscription service, and making high quality content available to MVPD customers both in and out of the home and on multiple platforms. The NBC Sports Live Extra app is available on the iTunes App Store, Google Play, Windows Store, Roku Channel Store, Apple TV and Amazon Fire. For desktops, NBC Sports Live Extra can be accessed at NBCSports.com/liveextra.

–NBC SPORTS GROUP–