COPPER MOUNTAIN, CO (Dec. 19) – The race for spots on the 2014 Olympic snowboarding and freeskiing team will continue with broadcast coverage on NBC and NBCSN plus live streaming at each tour stop beginning with this weekend’s event at Copper Mountain. NBC and NBCSN will combine for 16 hours of coverage on the Sprint U.S. Grand Prix including live broadcasts from the tour finales for freeskiing at Park City Mountain Resort and snowboarding at Mammoth Mountain. Live streaming of each finals event at Copper Mountain will available throughout North America at ussnowboarding.com and usfreeskiing.com as top stars of the sport look to clinch the first spots on the 2014 Olympic Team. As International Ski Federation World Cups, the field sizes are among the largest ever with around 35 nations expected.
HIGHLIGHTS
- NBC and NBCSN will provide 16 hours of broadcast coverage of the Sprint U.S. Grand Prix beginning this weekend at Copper Mountain.
- Each finals event at Copper Mountain will be streamed live on usfreeskiing.com and ussnowboarding.com.
- The Copper Grand Prix will feature star-studded international fields far larger than what will be on hand for the Olympic Winter Games with 35 nations for freeskiing and 33 for snowboarding and some of the largest field sizes in history.
- Copper is sanctioned as an International Ski Federation (FIS) World Cup, Association of Freeskiing Professionals (AFP) Platinum Level event and a World Snowboard Tour 5-star event.
- Copper broadcast coverage kicks off with halfpipe skiing finals Saturday, Dec. 21 at 2:00 p.m. EST. A two-hour special on Sunday, Dec. 22 will showcase slopestyle skiing and halfpipe snowboarding from 2:00-4:00 p.m. Slopestyle snowboarding will air Friday, Dec. 27 at 10:00 p.m.
- The season finales for freeskiing at Park City Mountain Resort and snowboard at Mammoth Mountain will be televised live on NBC and NBCSN.
- The race for the 2014 Sochi team for freeskiing and snowboarding started last weekend at the Dew Tour and continues through each stop of the Sprint U.S. Grand Prix. Snowboarders must have a top four finish against the full international field with freeskiers needing a pair of top threes. From there, athletes are nominated based on best two of five events using a points system comparing only eligible U.S. riders. Athletes who were top Americans at the Dew Tour have an opportunity to mathematically clinch a spot with a win at Copper Mountain.
- U.S. freeskiers swept the top spots in the Dew Tour including David Wise (Reno, NV) and Maddie Bowman (S. Lake Tahoe, CA) winning halfpipe while Nick Goepper (Lawrenceburg, IN) and Devin Logan (West Dover, VT) took slopestyle titles. A win in Copper would send them to Sochi for the historic Olympic debut of freeskiing.
- In a stunning upset at Dew Tour, Olympian Greg Bretz (Mammoth Mountain, CA) took the top halfpipe spot over Shaun White (Carlsbad, CA). White tweaked his ankle in a halfpipe crash but still took second. He did choose to drop out of slopestyle despite leading qualifiers. White still needs a top 30 World Cup finish plus 100 FIS points to be Olympic eligible in slopestyle. He can mathematically seal that with a top 20 in the Copper slopestyle, which doubles as a FIS World Cup.
- Kelly Clark (West Dover, VT) was second but the top American and can clinch a spot for her fourth Olympics with a win, as can slopestyle winner Jamie Anderson (S. Lake Tahoe, CA) and top American man Chas Guldemond (Reno, NV) in the first-ever Olympic appearance of slopestyle snowboarding.
SPRINT U.S. GRAND PRIX BROADCAST SCHEDULE
(all times EST)
SPRINT U.S. GRAND PRIX, COPPER MOUNTAIN
Sat. Dec. 21 – 2:00 p.m. - NBCSN – Halfpipe Skiing Finals
Sun. Dec. 22 – 2:00 p.m. – NBC – Slopestyle Skiing Finals
Sun. Dec. 22 – 3:00 p.m. – NBC – Halfpipe Snowboarding Finals
Fri. Dec. 27 – 10:00 p.m. – NBCSN – Slopestyle Snowboarding Finals
Live Streaming
Fri. Dec. 20 – 9:00-10:30 p.m. – Halfpipe Skiing Finals
Sat. Dec. 21 – 1:00-2:30 p.m. – Slopestyle Skiing Finals
Sat. Dec. 21 – 9:00-11:00 p.m. – Halfpipe Snowboarding Finals
Sun., Dec. 23 - 1:00-3:00 p.m. – Slopestyle Snowboarding Finals
SPRINT U.S. GRAND PRIX, NORTHSTAR CALIFORNIA
Sat. Jan. 11 – 4:30 p.m. – NBCSN – Slopestyle Skiing Finals
Sun. Jan. 12 – 1:30 p.m. – NBC – Slopestyle Snowboarding Finals
Mon. Jan. 13 – 9:00 p.m. – NBCSN – Halfpipe Skiing Finals
Mon. Jan. 13 – 10:00 p.m. – NBCSN – Halfpipe Snowboarding Finals
VISA U.S. FREESKIING GRAND PRIX, PARK CITY MOUNTAIN RESORT
Fri. Jan. 17 – 11:00 p.m. – NBCSN – Halfpipe Skiing Finals #1
Sat. Jan. 18 – 2:30 p.m. – NBC – Halfpipe and Slopestyle Skiing Finals #1 – LIVE
Sat. Jan. 18 – 4:30 p.m. – NBCSN – Slopestyle Skiing Finals #2
Sun. Jan. 19 – 5:30 p.m. – NBCSN – Halfpipe Skiing Finals #2/Olympic Team Announcement
SPRINT U.S. GRAND PRIX, MAMMOTH MOUNTAIN
Fri. Jan. 17 – 3:00 p.m. – NBCSN – Slopestyle Snowboarding Finals #1
Fri. Jan. 17 – 4:00 p.m. – NBCSN – Halfpipe Snowboarding Finals #1 - LIVE
Sun. Jan. 19 – 3:00 p.m. – NBC – Halfpipe Snowboarding Finals #2 - LIVE
Mon. Jan. 20 – 1:00 p.m. – NBCSN – Slopestyle Snowboarding Finals #2
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