FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, February 27th, 2020

2018 OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST JESSIE DIGGINS & 2020 U.S. OLYMPIC MARATHON TRIALS HEADLINE THIS WEEK’S PROGRAMMING ACROSS NBC SPORTS

HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series in Los Angeles Live on NBCSN & NBC Sports Gold starting Saturday, Feb. 29 at 12:45 p.m. ET

Two-Time Olympic Gold Medalist Ted Ligety and Two-Time Olympian Tommy Ford To Compete in Men’s Alpine Skiing World Cup Giant Slalom in Hinterstoder, Austria; Live TV Coverage Airs Sunday, March 1 at 6:40 a.m. ET on Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA

2016 Olympic Silver Medalists Jennifer Valente and Chloe Dygert Headline the World Track Cycling Championships; TV Coverage Continues Tonight at 8 p.m. ET on Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA

All Olympic Sports Coverage Televised and Streamed Across NBC Sports Platforms is Presented by Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA

STAMFORD, Conn. – Feb. 27, 2020 – This week’s Olympic sports programming across NBC Sports is highlighted by the Cross-Country Skiing World Cup and Alpine Skiing World Cup, the 2020 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials, and the World Track Cycling Championships.

2018 Olympic team sprint gold medalist Jessie Diggins and two-time U.S. Olympian Sadie Maubet Bjornsen headline the women’s cross-country skiing field from Lahti, Finland, and are in fifth and seventh place respectively in the overall season rankings.

Live coverage of cross-country skiing events begins this Saturday at 5 a.m. ET on NBC Sports Gold and OlympicChannel.com with the women’s 10km. Coverage continues on Sunday at 4:10 a.m. ET with the women’s relay, and Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA will present broadcast coverage starting at 10:30 a.m. ET. Bill Doleman and Chad Salmela will call the cross-country events. For a full schedule, click here.

The 2020 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials will take place this weekend from Atlanta, Ga. The top three male and female finishers will be named to the U.S. Olympic team. The race is headlined by two-time Olympic medalist Galen Rupp, two-time Olympian Desiree Linden and Jordan Hasay, who has finished third in all three marathons she has completed and is the second-fastest American female marathoner of all time.

Live coverage begins on Saturday at Noon ET on NBC and NBC Sports Gold. For more information, click here.

The HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, an annual series of international rugby sevens tournaments featuring national teams from 17 countries in men’s and women’s competition, continues in the United States with a men’s stop at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, Calif., the current home stadium of the LA Galaxy (MLS) and future venue for the 2028 Olympic Games.

Led by 2016 Rio Olympians Carlin Isles and Perry Baker, the American men are currently sixth in the season standings after finishing with a season-best third place at the most recent tournament in Sydney.

NBC Sports will have extensive live coverage throughout the tournament, with pool play beginning this Saturday at 12:45 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Gold. On Sunday’s live NBCSN coverage, the quarterfinal and semifinal matches will start at 11:30 a.m. ET and medal matches air at 6 p.m. ET. For a complete schedule, click here.

Ahmed Fareed will anchor this weekend’s coverage alongside play-by-play announcer Rupert Cox and rugby analysts Alex Corbisiero, who played internationally for England, and Brian Hightower, a former USA Rugby World Cup participant and USA Sevens captain.

The men’s alpine skiing World Cup will be held this weekend in Hinterstoder, Austria, where two-time Olympic gold medalist Ted Ligety and two-time Olympian Tommy Ford, who posted the second podium finish of his career in the giant slalom at Yuzawa, Japan, last weekend, are expected to headline the U.S. men in giant slalom.

Live coverage of the giant slalom begins with the first run on Sunday, March 1 at 3:30 a.m. on NBC Sports Gold and OlympicChannel.com. Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA, NBC Sports Gold and OlympicChannel.com will follow with live coverage of the second run starting at 6:40 a.m. ET.

The women’s alpine skiing World Cup will be held this weekend in La Thuile, Italy, with Super-G and super combined events. 2018 PyeongChang Olympians Breezy Johnson and Alice Merryweather, who finished eighth last weekend at the World Cup super combined in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, are expected to lead the American women. Two-time Olympian Alice Mckennis is also expected to compete in the event.

Super-G live coverage begins this Saturday on Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA, NBC Sports Gold and OlympicChannel.com at 4:30 a.m. ET. Television coverage continues with the second run of the super combined, airing live at 8 a.m. ET on Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA.

Steve Schlanger will call the action with former U.S. ski team racer Steve Porino for both events. For more information, click here.

The globe’s best track cycling specialists are competing in the World Track Cycling Championships in Berlin, Germany. Olympic quota spots are awarded to nations based on a two-year qualification period that ends on Sunday, the final day of the World Championships (though there will still be an internal selection process by USA Cycling to determine the U.S. Olympic team).

2016 Olympic team pursuit silver medalist Jennifer Valente won silver in the scratch race on Wednesday. Today she will team up with Olympic teammate Chloe Dygert in the team pursuit; the team set an American record in yesterday’s qualifying race. She also has potential to make the podium in Friday’s omnium. Dygert, who won the world time trial championships in road cycling last fall, is also expected to compete in the individual pursuit (which is not an Olympic event).

Coverage of the five-day event continues today at 12:20 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Gold and OlympicChannel.com, with additional coverage later in the day on Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA at 8 p.m. ET. For a complete schedule, click here.

All coverage on NBC and NBCSN will stream on NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app. All coverage on Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA will stream on OlympicChannel.com and the Olympic Channel app, in addition to NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app. Coverage of Olympic Sports on NBC Sports Group platforms is a presentation of Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA.

Click here for more information on NBC Sports Gold programming and pricing.

Additional Olympic sports programming this week includes:

FREESTYLE SKIING WORLD CUP

NBC SPORTS GOLD & OLYMPICCHANNEL.COM BEGIN LIVE COVERAGE TOMORROW AT 2:30 A.M. ET

The freestyle skiing World Cup season continues this weekend with aerials and dual moguls in Kazakhstan, and big air events in Destne, Czech Republic.

From Kazakhstan, 2018 Olympians Tess Johnson and Jaelin Kauf, who currently ranks sixth overall in the World Cup moguls rankings and owns two top-three finishes in dual moguls this season, are expected to lead the American moguls contingent in dual moguls. Joining Johnson and Kauf is Hannah Soar, who sits fifth overall in the World Cup moguls standings.

The aerials team is led by three-time Olympian Ashley Caldwell and Megan Nick, who recently earned her first career World Cup podium with a second-place finish in Deer Valley earlier this month.

NBC Sports Gold and OlympicChannel.com present live coverage from Kazakhstan each day at 2:30 a.m. ET with aerials tomorrow and dual moguls on Sunday, March 1. Television coverage will also air on Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA this Friday with aerials at 12:30 p.m. ET and dual moguls on Sunday starting at 9:30 a.m. ET.

Two-time Olympic ski slopestyle medalist Nick Goepper is coming off his first podium finish in nearly two years, and Alex Hall, who currently sits in second in the World Cup big air standings, headline the big air event in the Czech Republic.

Live coverage will be presented on Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA, NBC Sports Gold and OlympicChannel.com at 2 p.m. ET each day, beginning tomorrow with the women’s field and concluding Saturday with the men.

Trace Worthington calls the action alongside analyst Sean Smith for both events this weekend.

WORLD ALLROUND & SPRINT SPEED SKATING CHAMPIONSHIPS – HAMAR, NORWAY

LIVE COVERAGE BEGINS TOMORROW AT 11:10 A.M. ET ON NBC SPORTS GOLD

2018 Olympic team pursuit bronze medalist Brittany Bowe, who had won six straight World Cup 1000m races earlier this year, is expected to lead the Americans in the World Allround & Sprint Speed Skating Championships in Hamar, Norway. This marks the first time in history that both the allround and sprint championships will be held together. The sprint championships are Friday and Saturday, while the allround takes place Saturday and Sunday. Bowe will compete in the sprints only.

The sprint championships consist of four races (the 500m and 1000m twice, on two consecutive days), with cumulative times determining the final results. In the allround, each skater in the women’s competition will race a 500m, 1500m, 3000m and a 5000m, while the men in the men will race a 500m, 1500m, 5000m and 10,000m.

NBC Sports Gold will present live coverage, beginning with sprints on Friday at 11:10 a.m. ET and conclude with the allround on Sunday at 7 a.m. ET. Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA will also air television coverage starting this Friday at 8 p.m. ET (sprints) and ending Sunday at 9 p.m. ET (allround). Jason Knapp and 2006 Olympic gold medalist Joey Cheek call the action for the weekend. For a complete schedule, click here.

WORLD BOBSLED AND SKELETON CHAMPIONSHIPS – ALTENBERG, GERMANY

OLYMPIC CHANNEL: HOME OF TEAM USA RESUMED COVERAGE EARLIER TODAY AT 4 A.M. ET

The World Bobsled and Skeleton Championships continue this weekend in Altenberg, Germany. The U.S. is coming off a world title in women’s bobsled, where two-time Olympic gold medalist Kaillie Humphries won her first world title representing Team USA after winning two world titles while representing Canada. Brakewoman and 2018 Olympic silver medalist Lauren Gibbs captured her first world title after winning bronze with Elana Meyers Taylor at the 2016 World Championships.

Coverage on Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA and OlympicChannel.com resumed early today at 4 a.m. ET with the first two (of four) runs in men’s skeleton. Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA and OlympicChannel.com will continue coverage early tomorrow at 3:30 a.m. ET with the first two runs of women’s skeleton. The day concludes with the final run of men’s skeleton at 9 a.m. ET.

NBCSN will conclude the event with the four-man bobsled’s final run on Monday, March 2 at 1:30 a.m. ET. For a full schedule, click here.

PAN-AMERICAN SPORT CLIMBING CHAMPIONSHIPS – LOS ANGELES, CALIF.

OLYMPIC CHANNEL: HOME OF TEAM USA PRESENTS FINALS COVERAGE STARTING THIS SATURDAY AT 7 P.M. ET

The Pan-American Sport Climbing Championships will take place from Los Angeles, Calif., with Olympic spots on the line The competition concludes this weekend with the highly anticipated combined finals. The men’s and women’s winners – if their nation’s quota places have not been filled already – will earn Olympic bids.

American Nathaniel Coleman has already secured his qualification to Tokyo. Zach Galla and Sean Bailey are the favorites to earn the last spot for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Both U.S. women’s sport climbing spots have already been filled by Brooke Raboutou and Kyra Condie.

Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA airs coverage this weekend beginning with the women on Sunday at 7 p.m. ET and men on Monday, March 2 at 6 p.m. ET.

LUGE WORLD CUP – KOENIGSSEE, GERMANY

LIVE COVERAGE BEGINS SATURDAY AT 4 A.M. ET ON OLYMPICCHANNEL.COM

The Luge World Cup concludes this weekend in Koenigssee, Germany.

Live coverage of the doubles begins this Saturday with the first run at 4 a.m. ET on OlympicChannel.com, following later that day with television coverage of the final run on Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA at 8:30 a.m. ET. The event concludes with men’s singles, Sunday, March 1 at 11:30 a.m. ET on Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA. For a complete schedule, click here.

SNOWBOARDING WORLD CUP – BLUE MOUNTAIN, ONTARIO

COVERAGE BEGINS SATURDAY AT 1 P.M. ET ON NBC SPORTS GOLD AND OLYMPICCHANNEL.COM

The Snowboarding World Cup continues this weekend with coverage of parallel giant slalom in Blue Mountain, Ontario. NBC Sports Gold and OlympicChannel.com will have coverage on Saturday and Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.

–NBC SPORTS–