Day in and day out over the course of the last 18 months, Devin Logan quietly went about business at the USSA Center of Excellence. Five days a week, under the watchful eyes of PTs and strength coaches, she methodically worked her way back from a devastating knee injury. Tuesday, it was time to celebrate – waving the flag and holding her skis over her head. She was an Olympic medalist in slopestyle skiing – the historic debut of freeskiing.
ALPINE
- Olympic gold medalist Ted Ligety and bronze medalist Andrew Weibrecht arrived in Sochi and participated in their first Olympic downhill training run Tuesday in anticipation of Friday’s super combined.
- Bode Miller won the run with Weibrecht finishing 10th and Ligety 15th.
- Training runs are scheduled for both Wednesday and Thursday in advance of Friday's medal event where Miller is the defending champion.
- Jared Goldberg will also start the super combined, but did not train Tuesday.
- A women's downhill training was also scheduled for Tuesday, but canceled in order to preserve the slope for Wednesday's medal event.
- Four-time Olympic medalist Julia Mancuso will start in addition to Stacey Cook, Laurenne Ross and Jackie Wiles, in her career first Olympic start for Wiles.
Bode Miller
The conditions have changed. Now it is a completely different race course. It is going to be tough, because of all the good slalom skiers out there. The downhill could have done some real separation if the course remained hard and icy.
Ted Ligety
I’m feeling similar to how I did last year at the World Championships. I don’t know if it will equal the same result - that would be nice - but I’m definitely feeling like I’m well prepared.
Andrew Weibrecht
It's great to be back here at the Olympics. It's always an honor to race for the U.S.
CROSS COUNTRY
- Kikkan Randall medal quest in the freestyle sprint was dashed as she came up short in a four racer sprint to the finish, failing to advance past quarterfinals.
- First time Olympian Sophie Caldwell made the medals final with a gritty semifinal run, finished sixth.
- An impressive four U.S. women qualified for the event, with Jessie Diggins finishing 13th, Randall 18th and Ida Sargent 19th.
- The men’s and women’s freestyle sprints air on NBC at 3:00 p.m. EST and can be streamed on NBCOlympics.com.
- The next cross country event is the women’s 10k classic on Thursday, Feb. 13.
QUOTES
Kikkan Randall
I’ve been thinking about this race for a long time and we’ve been planning it out and showed up today ready to go. I was really happy with the way the preparation has been coming into these games. I felt really strong and ready to go today. I’ve always said my number one goal was to come in ready to go and ready to fight for the medal and give it everything I had and I did that today.
FREESKIING
- Devin Logan earned a silver medal in the Olympic debut of slopestyle skiing at the 2014 Sochi Games.
- Logan shot into second with a solid first run, where she stomped a huge cork 720 and scored an 85.4. She wasn’t able to improve that score in her second run.
- All three American athletes advanced to the final round, where Keri Herman finished 10th and Julia Krass 11th.
- In addition to the rowdy crowd in the finish Tuesday, the U.S. halfpipe team was on hand to cheer on their teammates and show support for their sport’s historic debut.
- Spring-like temperatures at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park created slushy snow that slowed down skiers during the transitions between features, bringing added difficulty for all the athletes.
FREESTYLE
- Tuesday the women’s aerials team trained here in Sochi and Ashley Caldwell threw down a full, full, full, a trick no U.S. woman has ever competed in the Olympics.
NORDIC COMBINED
- First competition for nordic combined is scheduled for Wednesday.
- Starters will include Billy Demong, Bryan Fletcher and Taylor Fletcher.
SKI JUMPING
- Jessica Jerome finished 10th to lead the USA in the women’s ski jumping Olympic debut.
- The women put on an amazing show, highlighting the athletic quality and depth present in the sport today.
- Eight nations were represented in the top 10, with six atheltes going 100 meters or more and only two points separating the medalists.
- Jumping continues with the men’s large hill event Saturday night.
SNOWBOARDING
- Two-time Olympic champion Shaun White finished fourth on Tuesday in halfpipe snowboarding, earning the top spot for the USA.
- White’s second run score of 90.25 put him just off the podium behind the new Olympic champion Iouri ‘I-Pod’ Podladtchikov of Switzerland and Japanese riders Ayumu Hirano in silver and Taku Hiraoka in bronze.
- Despite world-class event preparations at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park, a full day of competition plus spring-like temperatures created slushy bumps in the halfpipe and provided an extra level of difficulty for all of the athletes.
- Both Danny Davis and Greg Bretz were not able to put complete runs to their feet and finished 10th and 12th respectively.
- U.S. Snowboarding rookie Taylor Gold qualified for the semifinal but narrowly missed the final, finishing eighth out of six available spots.
- NBC will feature the men’s final in its special Olympic primetime coverage Tuesday night at 8:00 p.m. EST.
- The women are set to take on the halfpipe Wednesday, Feb. 12 with qualification beginning at 5:00 am. EST.
QUOTES
Shaun White
Tonight was just one of those nights. It’s a bummer. I had a game plan. I had a specific run I wanted to land and I didn’t get to put that down. That’s one of the most frustrating things for me. If I land my run and I’m beat then I’m okay with that, but I definitely didn’t get that chance tonight and it happens.
It’s all about the fans, the people that come here to watch. Being an Olympian is nothing to scoff at. I’m definitely proud to be here representing the U.S. I’m proud to be an Olympian. I had a tough night, but I think I affected a lot of people that have never seen the sport before. But I don’t think tonight makes or breaks my career. I’ve been snowboarding for so long. I love it and it’s given me so much. I’m happy to take this for what it is and move on and continue to ride.
WATCH LIVE ON TV
- NBC Olympics launched the most extensive coverage ever of the Olympic Winter Games on Thursday.
- Every event will be streamed live on NBCOlympics.com in addition to 18 straight nights of primetime broadcasts.
- NBCSN will present more than 230 hours of Olympic coverage from Sochi, the most Winter Olympic coverage ever on a cable network.
- NBCSN will air at least one gold medal final live each day through its 16 days of coverage. Most days, live coverage on NBCSN will begin at 3 a.m. ET and continue for 12 hours.
- To check your own TV listings, please visit the NBC Olympic TV listings webpage.
- A full day-by-day Sochi competition schedule can be found here.
Sochi Olympics TV Viewers Guide
For the next 18 days, the world will be captivated by stories of athletic success. American ski and snowboarding fans can watch it all live on NBC Olympics.com along with extensive network broadcast coverage. Comprehensive coverage of the Olympic Winter Games from Sochi kicks off on Thursday, Feb. 6 at 8:00 p.m. ET with preliminary rounds of slopestyle snowboarding and freestyle moguls skiing. Television coverage of the Sochi Games will feature an unprecedented 18 consecutive NBC primetime shows, beginning Thursday, Feb. 6, continuing with Friday night's Opening Ceremony and concluding Sunday, Feb. 23 with the Closing Ceremony.
LIVE STREAM
Throughout the Games, every skiing and snowboarding event will be streamed LIVE on Stream.NBCOlympics.com and via the NBC Sports Live Extra mobile app (iPhone/iPad | Android).
NBC Live Streaming Schedule (all times EST)
12:00 a.m. - Women’s downhill
1:30 a.m. - Women’s halfpipe snowboarding qualification
2:30 a.m. - Nordic combined- ski jumping
3:00 a.m. - Women’s snowboarding halfpipe semifinals
7:30 a.m. - Nordic combined: 10 km
12:30 p.m. - Women’s snowboarding halfpipe finals
