TRENDING FIGURE SKATING | SIMONE BILES | TRACK AND FIELD
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What to watch at U.S. Figure Skating Championships on Wednesday

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

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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

Simone Biles returns to the gym, going from mental drain to physical pain

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By OlympicTalkMay 28, 2020, 8:18 PM EDT
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For Simone Biles, this was supposed to be the stretch run of a legendary career.

Instead, she returned to her gym on May 18 with long-term thoughts of waiting 14 months until the Tokyo Olympics. And the immediate aches of a world-class gymnast who just missed nearly two months of regular training.

“After that amount of time off, it kind of sucks because your body hurts and then you get really sore,” Biles said in a pre-recorded ESPNW interview that aired Thursday. “So you just have to get back into the swing of things. But it felt nice to see my coaches, my teammates, and just to be back on the equipment and in the environment.”

In that same Texas gym three months ago, Biles had a far different outlook. One that would have put fear into any gymnast who still harbored ambition of ending her near-seven-year win streak.

“I never felt more ready this early in the season,” she said. “I was so ready for the Olympics to be this year.”

Biles repeated in interviews the last two months that the Olympic postponement to 2021 was devastating. Thoughts zig-zagged: How do I go on another year, at age 23, in a sport recently dominated by (but not limited to) teenagers?

“I’m getting pretty old,” she said in the interview published Thursday. “Will I be at the top of my game?”

Biles proved the last two years — after a year off — that she can win — and comfortably — while not at her best. She grabbed the 2018 World all-around title by a record margin — with two falls. Last year, she became the most decorated gymnast in world championships history. In Tokyo, she can become the first woman to repeat as Olympic all-around champion, and the only one older than 20, in more than 50 years.

This for a gymnast whose early goal was to earn a college scholarship. Biles did, to UCLA, but had to give it up by turning professional.

“So I’ve exceeded that,” Biles said. “And then I wanted to go to world championships and Olympics, and I’ve been to five worlds and one Olympic Games. So, I’d be more than happy [to walk away].”

After gymnastics, Biles has another goal — to be a voice for foster kids. She was in foster care multiple times before being adopted at age 6 by grandparents Ron and Nellie.

Those plans, along with so much else for Biles and so many others, have been pushed back a full year.

“I was already being mentally drained and almost, not done with the sport, but just going into the gym and feeling tired and being like, OK, I’m going to get my stuff [done], get out,” she said. “We have this one end goal, and now that it’s postponed another [year], it’s just like, how are we going to deal with that? We’re already being drained, and so it’s to keep the fire in the sport within yourself alive.”

MORE: Top U.S. gymnasts disagree with Tokyo Olympic age rule

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2022 Pan Pacific Championships canceled as swimming calendar shifts

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By Nick ZaccardiMay 28, 2020, 3:51 PM EDT
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The Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, a quadrennial major international meet, will not be held in 2022 “out of respect for the recent changes to the international sporting calendar,” according to a press release.

The Pan Pacs’ charter nations — the U.S., Australia, Canada and Japan — agreed to the move. The 2026 event will be held in Canada, which was supposed to be the 2022 host.

The decision came after the 2021 World Championships were moved to May 2022, following the Tokyo Olympics moving from 2020 to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The quadrennial multi-sport Commonwealth Games — which includes Australia and Canada, but not the U.S. or Japan — are scheduled for July 27-Aug. 7, 2022.

“Organizing a third major championships in that window presented several challenges,” according to the Pan Pacs release.

Pan Pacs mark the third-biggest major international meet for U.S. swimmers, held in non-Olympic, non-world championships years.

MORE: Caeleb Dressel co-hosts a podcast. It’s not about swimming.

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