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What to watch at U.S. Figure Skating Championships on Wednesday

By Nick ZaccardiJan 3, 2018, 6:53 PM EDT
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More: Figure Skating

Daisuke Takahashi ends four-year figure skating retirement Ashley Wagner, Gracie Gold Ashley Wagner takes figure skating break; Gracie Gold set to return Olympic figure skater lands quadruple Axel in harness

Ashley Wagner headlines the field as U.S. Figure Skating Championships senior competition starts Wednesday night with live coverage on NBCSN and streaming on NBCOlympics.com.

The women’s short program starts at 9:35 p.m. ET, streaming on Icenetwork.com for subscribers.

NBCSN and NBCOlympics.com coverage starts at 11 p.m. ET from San Jose.

NBCOlympics.com STREAM LINK | START LIST/LIVE RESULTS

The key skaters going Wednesday night:

Polina Edmunds — 9:49 p.m. ET
Bradie Tennell — 10:41 p.m.
Mariah Bell — 11:35 p.m.
Mirai Nagasu — 11:42 p.m.
Ashley Wagner — 12:15 a.m.
Karen Chen — 12:47 a.m.

The three-woman Olympic team will be named after Friday night’s free skate, but it might not be the top three finishers. A committee chooses the team, looking at results from the past year.

Wagner has the most experience as three-time U.S. champion and a Sochi Olympian.

But Tennell is the highest-scoring U.S. woman this season, Nagasu plans a triple Axel and Chen is the defending champion.

Gracie Gold, the top U.S. woman in Sochi, is sitting out nationals after receiving treatment for depression, anxiety and an eating disorder. Gold is in San Jose to support the competing skaters.

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PREVIEWS: Men | Women | Dance | Pairs | TV Schedule | Olympic Selection

Date Time (ET) Program Network
Wednesday 11 p.m.-1 Women’s Short NBCSN | STREAM | SKATE ORDER
Thursday 4-5 p.m. Pairs Short Olympic Channel | STREAM | SKATE ORDER
5-6:30 p.m. Pairs Short NBCSN | STREAM
8:30 p.m.-12 Men’s Short NBCSN | STREAM | SKATE ORDER
Friday 4-6:30 p.m. Short Dance NBCSN | STREAM
8-11 p.m. Women’s Free NBC | STREAM
Saturday 4-6 p.m. Pairs Free NBC | STREAM
8-11 p.m. Men’s Free NBCSN | STREAM
Sunday 3-6 p.m. Free Dance NBC | STREAM
Jan. 13 4 p.m. Exhibition Gala NBC | STREAM

Erin Hamlin to run New York City Marathon

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By Nick ZaccardiJul 18, 2018, 5:28 PM EDT
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Erin Hamlin, the first U.S. Olympic singles luge medalist and Team USA flag bearer at the PyeongChang Olympic Opening Ceremony, will run the New York City Marathon on Nov. 4.

Hamlin, a 2014 Olympic bronze medalist who retired after her fourth Olympics in PyeongChang at age 31, is running to fundraise for the Women’s Sports Foundation. So is Marlen Esparza, who in 2012 became the first U.S. Olympic women’s boxing medalist (flyweight bronze).

Hamlin has no marathon experience, according to the Women’s Sports Foundation.

“Being challenged in sport is something I am very familiar with,” Hamlin said in a mass email Wednesday, according to TeamUSA.org. “Long distance running is something I most certainly am not!! It will be difficult, mentally and physically daunting, but a way to test my abilities in a sport so far out of my comfort zone.”

Many Olympians in non-running sports have raced the New York City Marathon.

Bill Demong, the 2010 U.S. Olympic Closing Ceremony flag bearer and only U.S. Olympic Nordic combined champion, ran the 2014 NYC Marathon in 2:33:05, crushing eight-time Olympic medalist Apolo Ohno‘s 3:25:14 from 2011.

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MORE: Top luge moments from PyeongChang Olympics

Softball set to return to Olympics as first event on Tokyo 2020 schedule

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By Nick ZaccardiJul 18, 2018, 4:53 PM EDT
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More: Olympics

Erin Hamlin to run New York City Marathon Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics add seven new events U.S. Olympic, USA Gymnastics leaders set for another Senate hearing

Softball, returning to the Olympics after a 12-year absence, is scheduled to kick off the 2020 Tokyo Games, two days before the Opening Ceremony.

The preliminary master schedule for the Tokyo Olympics was published Wednesday, with the first softball game scheduled for 10 a.m. local time on the Wednesday before the Opening Ceremony.

The first game is scheduled to be held in Fukushima, the site of 2011 nuclear plant meltdowns caused by an earthquake and tsunami 155 miles north of Tokyo. The International Olympic Committee and Tokyo organizers have been eager to use the Games as a symbol of recovery from the 2011 disaster

Traditionally, soccer has been the first sport to have action at a Summer Olympics, one or two days before the Opening Ceremony. While soccer is again scheduled to have matches that same Wednesday, they start later than 10 a.m.

The Tokyo 2020 schedule is subject to change and certainly not a final version — swimming, diving and synchronized swimming schedules are still to be determined, but those sports do not typically start before the Opening Ceremony.

Softball was added in 1991 to the Olympic program to debut at the 1996 Atlanta Games. The U.S. won the first three gold medals before softball and baseball were narrowly voted off the Olympic program in 2005/06 (a 52-52 IOC vote for softball, with a majority needed to stay in the Olympics), with the 2008 Beijing Games being the last edition. Japan won the last Olympic softball gold medal 10 years ago.

Then on Aug. 3, 2016, baseball and softball were among five sports added for the 2020 Tokyo Games only, at the request of Tokyo Olympic organizers. Baseball and softball are not guaranteed to remain on the Olympic program in Paris in 2024.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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MORE: Seven events added to 2022 Winter Olympics