FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, February 18th, 2022

2022 OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES – FEB. 18 PRIMETIME HIGHLIGHTS ON NBC & PEACOCK

“It was a terrific, tremendous skate…They came out today and delivered, and showed a renaissance of U.S. pairs’ skating.” – Johnny Weir on Team USA’s Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier’s short program performance

“One of the most talented athletes in the field…It took a toll on her physically and mentally, but Elana is back, and you can tell…now she has caught up.” – Bree Schaaf on Elana Meyers Taylor after recovering from Covid

“It’s just tough when the conditions dictate how good the skiing is that we get to watch.” – Tom Wallisch on the windy conditions at men’s halfpipe finals

Pairs’ Free Skate Presented Tomorrow (Feb. 19) Live at 6 a.m. ET on USA Network and Peacock

STAMFORD, Conn. – Feb. 18, 2022 – NBC Olympics continued its primetime coverage of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, China, tonight on NBC and Peacock. Mike Tirico serves as NBC Olympics primetime host and opened coverage from NBC Sports’ International Broadcast Center in Stamford, Conn.

Highlights of upcoming coverage include:

    • The free skate in the pairs’ competition will be presented tomorrow live at 6 a.m. ET on USA Network and Peacock (encore in primetime on NBC). The pairs’ competition will mark the final medal event in figure skating at the 2022 Winter Olympics
    • The men’s hockey gold medal game between Finland and the Russian Olympic Committee will be presented tomorrow live at 11:10 p.m. ET on USA Network and Peacock
    • The third and final runs in the two-woman bobsled will be presented tomorrow in primetime on NBC and Peacock and will feature two American sleds — piloted by monobob gold and silver medalists Kaillie Humphries and Elana Meyers Taylor — which are expected to be in medal contention: Humphries/Kaysha Love and Meyers Taylor/Sylvia Hoffman. Meyers Taylor/Hoffman are third in the standings and Humphries/Love are in fifth position after two runs

 

Following are highlights from tonight’s primetime coverage of the Winter Olympics on the platforms of NBCUniversal:

FIGURE SKATING – NBC & PEACOCK

Tara Lipinski on Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier’s pairs’ short program (6th place): “That was electric, it was sizzling. They make sure that you never look away. They’ve only been together for two years, and you’d never know it. They’re so good on their own, but so much better together…they were so ready for this moment.”

Johnny Weir on Knierim and Frazier: “It was a terrific, tremendous skate, and exactly what they needed. The U.S. has struggled in pairs’ skating over the years for the most part — even in the team competition it was considered the weakest — but they came out in the team competition and today and delivered, and showed a renaissance of U.S. pairs’ skating. Brilliant.”

Terry Gannon on Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc’s pairs’ short program: “When the music starts, Timothy LeDuc will become the first publicly out non-binary athlete to compete at the Winter Olympics.”

Weir on Cain-Gribble and LeDuc’s performance (7th place): “This was such a majestic performance by Ashley and Timothy. Beautiful, iconic moments throughout…You can see how close they are to the leaders with that technical score, but it’s more than that here for this performance. They were truly exceptional.”

Lipinski on Cain-Gribble and LeDuc: “They were so prepared and well-trained for this moment. They made it look easy – that’s the most difficult thing to do in figure skating. But what I always say about this team, it’s their determination, ambition, that comes through into their skating. That energy is there, you feel it, it’s palpable.”

Lipinski on China’s Wenjing Sui and Han Cong (1st place): “That was so fierce, dramatic. They skated like they weren’t going to let a half a point go. Exactly what they did four years ago, lost that Olympic gold medal by half a point. They’re grabbing tenths of points, they’re stacking them up just in case.”

Weir on Sui and Han: “They skate as an extension of one another, which makes their skating feel so smooth, so velvety in comparison to any other team in the world. It’s like they’re skating as one person. With the pressure of being here to win China’s gold figure skating medal, the gold medal they lost for themselves four years ago, that was impeccable skating.”

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FREESTYLE SKIING – NBC, USA NETWORK & PEACOCK

Tom Wallisch on how the windy conditions at Genting Snow Park impact the halfpipe skiers: “It’s really unfortunate because it brings luck into the round…There’s no way to know if you’re going to be hit by a gust of wind…So, unfortunate conditions out there but for the most part, everybody rides in the same conditions. The wind is always happening…All of these riders just feeling so surprised and so thankful, it looks like, every time they get to the bottom of the halfpipe…We’re seeing some of the best athletes in the world falling on simple things just because of the wind…It’s just tough when the conditions dictate how good the skiing is that we get to watch.”

Tirico on the windy conditions: “If you were wondering, ‘Why not just push it back to tomorrow?’ We’ve checked. What we’re hearing is that the wind conditions for tomorrow are just as bad, if not worse, in terms of a forecast, and then you run out of window because the Games are coming to an end, so that’s part of why…But I heard Tom and Todd talking about it – ‘Can we wait a little while and see if it gets any better?’ — because as you can see at the end, the safety of the athletes was paramount there and perhaps a pause would’ve been called for no matter what the sport usually does.”

Todd Harris on New Zealand’s Nico Porteous’s gold medal: “The Kiwi brought the heat in the middle of the windstorm.”

Wallisch on Porteous: “Talk about technicality. There’s so much in here…Those 1620’s are just so incredibly hard. You go completely blind.”

Wallisch on Team USA’s David Wise’s silver medal, scoring a 90.75 on his first run: “Nails it! Top-to-bottom…David usually has to ride under the pressure, but not today.”

Wallisch on Team USA’s Alex Ferreira’s bronze medal-winning run: “Some massive trick combinations…The sheer technicality of this…Just so smooth, no hands down, grabs on every single hit.”

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BOBSLED – NBC & PEACOCK

Bree Schaaf on Team USA’s Elana Meyers Taylor/Sylvia Hoffman, who finished Heat 2 in 3rd place: “A beautiful run from Elana, one of the most talented athletes in the field. She missed out on the extra training that the other competitors got from being in Covid isolation. It took a toll on her physically and mentally, but Elana is back, and you can tell…now she has caught up.”

Meyers Taylor to Lewis Johnson on being named Team USA’s flag bearer in the Closing Ceremony: “That’s an incredible honor, and it’s very humbling and overwhelming to have that opportunity. I can’t wait to wave the flag, but tonight, I’m going to rest up and focus on tomorrow.”

Schaaf on Team USA’s Kaillie Humphries/Kaysha Love, who finished Heat 2 in 5th place: “Kaillie Humphries is the most talented bobsled pilot in the world…She has a great intuition and feel for these pressures.”

Schaaf on reports Humphries may be dealing with a calf injury: “She did load the sled four steps earlier, it looked like, than the first heat…The difference in times really can come down to that start if she is hurt.”

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ABOUT NBC OLYMPICS

NBCUniversal will provide coverage of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games from Feb. 2-20. The Opening Ceremony will be presented on Friday, Feb. 4, live in the morning and again in primetime on NBC and Peacock. Similar to recent Winter Games, NBC’s primetime Olympic coverage begins the night before the Opening Ceremony on Thursday, Feb. 3. Coverage begins on Wednesday, Feb. 2, on USA Network and Peacock. NBCUniversal is presenting its 18th Olympic Games, 12th consecutive overall, and sixth straight Winter Games, all the most by any U.S. media company.

— NBC OLYMPICS —