Winter Olympics late night: What to watch/stream

By OlympicTalkFeb 14, 2018, 5:00 PM EST

Getty Images

An absolutely jam-packed session awaits on Wednesday evening (or Thursday morning, depending how you look at it).

Snowboarding and alpine skiing will usher us into the early hours of the morning, as the quarterfinals and semifinals begin for the former. Should the winds let up and officials deem it safe, then the final of the two runs for the women’s giant slalom will conclude.

Elsewhere, biathletes will endure a difficult 20km race. To close things out, the Canadian men take to the rink as they challenge Norway in their hockey opener.

Scroll down below to find out what else is on tap.

Snowboard Cross

The snowboard cross competition continues. Pierre Vaultier of France should be the man standing on top of the podium when all is said and done, but this program does have a tendency for the dramatic.

Men’s quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals Stream Live Here 11:30p.m.. EST / 9:30p.m. PST

Alpine Skiing

Mikaela Shiffrin is in action, weather permitting, as the second and final run of the women’s giant slalom concludes.

Stream Live Here 11:15p.m. EST / 8:15p.m. PST

Biathlon

A grueling 20km race awaits the men. Martin Fourcade performed exceptionally well in the 10km Pursuit, overcoming a near-30 second gap at the start to win gold. Now that his confidence is back, the Frenchman could very well be unbeatable.

Men’s 20km Individual Stream Live Here 6:20a.m. EST / 3:20a.m. PST

Cross-Country

Following a postponement because of fierce winds, athletes should feel a bit more refreshed with that extra day off. Norway’s Marit Bjorgen has already made history earlier in the Games by winning her 11th Olympic medal. She’s just one of three strong competitors from Norway looking to medal. Look out for Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla as well.

Women’s 10km Free Stream Live Here 1:30a.m. EST / 10:30p.m. PST

Curling

If curling is your thing, then you’re in luck: both men and women’s competitions continue this morning, eight games in total. The U.S. men started off strong in their opening round victory, and will look to continue their good start against Italy. Meanwhile, the women will be looking to bounce back after they were thumped by Japan.

Game to watch: Women’s Curling, Canada vs. Sweden. The Canadians swept the competition in last year – literally and figuratively – and remain heavy favorites to do so again. Sweden, the 2014 runners-up, will be Canada’s main competition this year.

Men’s Tournament

DEN vs. SUI Stream Live Here 12:05a.m. EST / 9:05p.m. PST

USA vs. ITA Stream Live Here 12:05 a.m. EST / 9:05p.m. PST

NOR vs. CAN Stream Live Here 12:05a.m. EST / 9:05p.m. PST

GBR vs. JPN Stream Live Here 12:05a.m. EST / 9:05p.m. PST

Women’s Tournament

CAN vs. SWE Stream Live Here 6:05a.m. EST / 3:05a.m. PST

KOR vs. JPN Stream Live Here 6:05a.m. EST / 3:05a.m. PST

USA vs. SUI Stream Live Here 6:05a.m. EST / 3:05a.m. PST

CHN vs. GBR Stream Live Here 6:05a.m. EST / 3:05a.m PST

Luge

Minus David Gleirscher’s surprising gold medal in the men’s individual, the Germans have performed as expected in the luge.

Chris Mazdzer, though, is back in action. Can he win a second Olympic medal?

Team Relay Stream Live Here 7:30a.m. EST / 4:30a.m. PST

Hockey

We get our first look at the Canadian men’s national team as they take on Switzerland. The reigning gold medalists will be looking to get off to a quick start while hosts South Korea face a difficult opening round versus the Czech Republic.

CAN vs. SUI Stream Live Here 7:10a.m. EST / 4:10a.m. PST

KOR vs. CZE Stream Live Here 7:10a.m. EST / 4:10a.m. PST

Speed Skating

Jorritt Bergsma set a World Record in 2014 in this event. Considering how dominant the Dutch have been in PyeongChang, it would be a major surprise if he didn’t win gold again.

Men’s 10,000m Stream Live Here 6:00a.m. EST / 3:00a.m. PST

Freestyle Skiing

Stream Women’s Aerials Qualifying Live Here 6:00a.m. EST / 3:00a.m. PST

Elena Fanchini, medal-winning Alpine skier, dies at 37

Associated PressFeb 8, 2023, 2:45 PM EST

Getty

Italian skier Elena Fanchini, whose career was cut short by a tumor, has died. She was 37.

Fanchini passed away Wednesday at her home in Solato, near Brescia, the Italian Winter Sports Federation announced.

Fanchini died on the same day that fellow Italian Marta Bassino won the super-G at the world championships in Meribel, France; and two days after Federica Brignone — another former teammate — claimed gold in combined.

Sofia Goggia, who is the favorite for Saturday’s downhill, dedicated her win in Cortina d’Ampezzo last month to Fanchini.

Fanchini last raced in December 2017. She was cleared to return to train nearly a year later but never made it fully back, and her condition grew worse in recent months.

Fanchini won a silver medal in downhill at the 2005 World Championships and also won two World Cup races in her career — both in downhill.

She missed the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics because of her condition.

Fanchini’s younger sisters Nadia and Sabrina were also World Cup racers.

USA Boxing to skip world championships

By OlympicTalkFeb 8, 2023, 12:30 PM EST

Getty

USA Boxing will not send boxers to this year’s men’s and women’s world championships, citing “the ongoing failures” of the IBA, the sport’s international governing body, that put boxing’s place on the Olympic program at risk.

The Washington Post first reported the decision.

In a letter to its members, USA Boxing Executive Director Mike McAtee listed many factors that led to the decision, including IBA governance issues, financial irregularities and transparency and that Russian and Belarusian boxers are allowed to compete with their flags.

IBA lifted its ban on Russian and Belarusian boxers in October and said it would allow their flags and anthems to return, too.

The IOC has not shifted from its recommendation to international sports federations last February that Russian and Belarusian athletes be barred, though the IOC and Olympic sports officials have been exploring whether those athletes could return without national symbols.

USA Boxing said that Russian boxers have competed at an IBA event in Morocco this month with their flags and are expected to compete at this year’s world championships under their flags.

“While sport is intended to be politically neutral, many boxers, coaches and other representatives of the Ukrainian boxing community were killed as a result of the Russian aggression against Ukraine, including coach Mykhaylo Korenovsky who was killed when a Russian missile hit an apartment block in January 2023,” according to the USA Boxing letter. “Ukraine’s sports infrastructure, including numerous boxing gyms, has been devastated by Russian aggression.”

McAtee added later that USA Boxing would still not send athletes to worlds even if Russians and Belarusians were competing as neutrals and without their flags.

“USA Boxing’s decision is based on the ‘totality of all of the factors,'” he said in an emailed response. “Third party oversite and fairness in the field of play is the most important factor.”

A message has been sent to the IBA seeking comment on USA Boxing’s decision.

The women’s world championships are in March in India. The men’s world championships are in May in Uzbekistan. They do not count toward 2024 Olympic qualifying.

In December, the IOC said recent IBA decisions could lead to “the cancellation of boxing” for the 2024 Paris Games.

Some of the already reported governance issues led to the IOC stripping IBA — then known as AIBA — of its Olympic recognition in 2019. AIBA had suspended all 36 referees and judges used at the 2016 Rio Olympics pending an investigation into a possible judging scandal, one that found that some medal bouts were fixed by “complicit and compliant” referees and judges.

The IOC ran the Tokyo Olympic boxing competition.

Boxing was not included on the initial program for the 2028 Los Angeles Games announced in December 2021, though it could still be added. The IBA must address concerns “around its governance, its financial transparency and sustainability and the integrity of its refereeing and judging processes,” IOC President Thomas Bach said then.

This past June, the IOC said IBA would not run qualifying competitions for the 2024 Paris Games.

In September, the IOC said it was “extremely concerned” about the Olympic future of boxing after an IBA extraordinary congress overwhelmingly backed Russian Umar Kremlev to remain as its president rather than hold an election.

Kremlev was re-elected in May after an opponent, Boris van der Vorst of the Netherlands, was barred from running against him. The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled in June that van der Vorst should have been eligible to run against Kremlev, but the IBA group still decided not to hold a new election.

Last May, Rashida Ellis became the first U.S. woman to win a world boxing title at an Olympic weight since Claressa Shields in 2016, taking the 60kg lightweight crown in Istanbul. In Tokyo, Ellis lost 3-0 in her opening bout in her Olympic debut.

At the last men’s worlds in 2021, Robby Gonzales and Jahmal Harvey became the first U.S. men to win an Olympic or world title since 2007, ending the longest American men’s drought since World War II.

The Associated Press and NBC Olympic research contributed to this report.

OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!

Follow @nbcolympictalk

More: Olympics