Bobsled world championships headline winter sports TV schedule

By OlympicTalkFeb 2, 2021, 9:20 AM EST

IBSF/Viesturs Lacis

The first weekend of the world bobsled and skeleton championships highlights upcoming winter sports programming on NBC Sports, Olympic Channel and Peacock Premium.

The two-woman bobsled and two-man bobsled world titles will be decided in Altenberg, Germany, on Saturday and Sunday.

Kaillie Humphries, the two-time Olympic champion for Canada, won a world title last February in her debut season as an American. No American has won a world title in any Winter Olympic event since, in part due to the coronavirus pandemic wreaking havoc with schedules.

Humphries, with dual Olympian Lolo Jones as her push athlete, won the most recent World Cup on Sunday. Fellow American and triple Olympic medalist Elana Meyers Taylor took second in that race, heading into her first world championships since 2019. Meyers Taylor missed all of last season due to pregnancy and is traveling the European circuit with husband Nic and son Nico.

German Francesco Friedrich is the clear favorite in the two-man after winning 11 of 12 World Cup races and the last six world titles in the event.

Also this weekend, the U.S. hosts its only winter sports World Cup of the season — an aerials and moguls competition in the 2002 Olympic site of Deer Valley in Park City, Utah. The U.S. women’s aerials team looks to extend a historic early season.

In Alpine skiing, it’s the final World Cup races — a men’s super-G and downhill — before the world championships start on Monday.

World Bobsled and Skeleton Championships — Altenberg, Germany

Day	Time (ET)	Event	Network
Friday	4:30 a.m.	Two-Woman Bobsled Runs 1/2	OlympicChannel.com \| STREAM LINK
	4 p.m.*	Two-Woman Bobsled Runs 1/2	Olympic Channel \| STREAM LINK
Saturday	4 a.m.	Two-Man Bobsled Runs 1/2	OlympicChannel.com \| STREAM LINK
	8:30 a.m.	Two-Woman Bobsled Runs 3/4	OlympicChannel.com \| STREAM LINK
	6 p.m.*	Two-Man Bobsled Runs 1/2	Olympic Channel \| STREAM LINK
	8 p.m.*	Two-Woman Bobsled Runs 3/4	Olympic Channel \| STREAM LINK
Sunday	8:30 a.m.	Two-Man Bobsled Runs 3/4	OlympicChannel.com \| STREAM LINK
	6 p.m.*	Two-Man Bobsled Runs 3/4	Olympic Channel \| STREAM LINK
	11:30 p.m.*	Two-Woman Bobsled Run 4	NBCSN \| STREAM LINK
Monday	12:30 a.m.*	Two-Man Bobsled Run 4	NBCSN \| STREAM LINK

*Delayed broadcast

Alpine Skiing World Cup — Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany

Day	Time (ET)	Event	Network
Friday	5:30 a.m.	Men’s Downhill	Olympic Channel \| Peacock Premium \| STREAM LINK
	7 p.m.*	Men’s Downhill	NBCSN \| STREAM LINK
Saturday	5:30 a.m.	Men’s Super-G	Olympic Channel \| Peacock Premium \| STREAM LINK

*Delayed broadcast

Cross-Country Skiing World Cup — Ulricehamn, Sweden

Day	Time (ET)	Event	Network
Saturday	6:50 a.m.	Sprint Finals	Peacock Premium \| STREAM LINK
Sunday	6:45 a.m.	Team Sprint Finals	Peacock Premium \| STREAM LINK

Freestyle Skiing World Cup — Deer Valley, Utah

Day	Time (ET)	Event	Network
Thursday	4 p.m.	Moguls	Olympic Channel \| Peacock Premium \| STREAM LINK
Friday	2:30 p.m.	Dual Moguls	Olympic Channel \| Peacock Premium \| STREAM LINK
	8:30 p.m.*	Dual Moguls	NBCSN \| STREAM LINK
Saturday	4:30 p.m.	Aerials	Olympic Channel \| Peacock Premium \| STREAM LINK
Sunday	9:30 p.m.*	Aerials	NBCSN \| STREAM LINK

*Delayed broadcast

Luge World Cup — St. Moritz, Switzerland

Day	Time (ET)	Event	Network
Saturday	2:40 a.m.	Doubles	OlympicChannel.com
	5:55 a.m.	Men	OlympicChannel.com
Sunday	4:05 a.m.	Women	OlympicChannel.com
	7:20 a.m.	Team Relay	OlympicChannel.com
	10:30 p.m.*	Highlights	NBCSN \| STREAM LINK

*Delayed broadcast

Nordic Combined World Cup — Klingenthal, Germany

Day	Time (ET)	Event	Network
Saturday	3 a.m.	Men’s Ski Jump	Peacock Premium \| STREAM LINK
	4:55 a.m.	Men’s 10km	Peacock Premium \| STREAM LINK
Sunday	3:30 a.m.	Men’s Ski Jump	Peacock Premium \| STREAM LINK
	5:30 a.m.	Men’s 10km	Peacock Premium \| STREAM LINK

Ski Jumping World Cup — Hinzenbach, Austria (Women) and Klingenthal, Germany (Men)

Day	Time (ET)	Event	Network
Friday	6 a.m.	Women	Peacock Premium \| STREAM LINK
	9 a.m.	Men’s Qualifying	Peacock Premium \| STREAM LINK
Saturday	6:45 a.m.	Women	Peacock Premium \| STREAM LINK
	9 a.m.	Men	Peacock Premium \| STREAM LINK
Sunday	6:15 a.m.	Women	Peacock Premium \| STREAM LINK
	9 a.m.	Men	Peacock Premium \| STREAM LINK

Snowboarding World Cup — Lake Bannoye, Russia

Day	Time (ET)	Event	Network
Saturday	3 a.m.	Parallel Giant Slalom	Peacock Premium \| STREAM LINK
Sunday	3 a.m.	Parallel Slalom	Peacock Premium \| STREAM LINK

OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!

Follow @nbcolympictalk

Coco Gauff rallies past 16-year-old at French Open

By OlympicTalkJun 3, 2023, 10:30 AM EDT

Getty

Coco Gauff rallied to defeat 16-year-old Russian Mirra Andreeva in the French Open third round in Gauff’s first Grand Slam singles match against a younger opponent.

The sixth seed Gauff, the 2022 French Open runner-up, outlasted Andreeva 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-1 to reach the fourth round, where she will play Slovakian Anna Karolina Schmiedlova or American Kayla Day.

“She’s super young, so she has a lot to look forward to,” Gauff, 19, said on Tennis Channel. “I’m sure we’re going to have many more battles in the future. … I remember when I was 16. I didn’t care who I was playing against, and she has that kind of game and mentality, too.”

Gauff could play top seed and defending champ Iga Swiatek in the quarterfinals. Swiatek on Saturday thumped 80th-ranked Wang Xinyu of China 6-0, 6-0, winning 50 of the 67 points in a 51-minute match.

FRENCH OPEN DRAWS: Women | Men | Broadcast Schedule

This week, Andreeva became the youngest player to win a French Open main draw match since 2005 (when 15-year-old Sesil Karatantcheva of Bulgaria made the quarterfinals). She was bidding to become the youngest to make the last 16 of any major since Gauff’s breakout as a 15-year-old.

The American made it that far at 2019 Wimbledon (beating Venus Williams in her Grand Slam main draw debut) and the 2020 Australian Open (beating defending champion Naomi Osaka) before turning 16. At last year’s French Open, Gauff became the youngest player to make a Grand Slam final since Maria Sharapova won 2004 Wimbledon at 17.

This was only Gauff’s third match against a younger player dating to her tour debut in 2019. It took Gauff 50 Grand Slam matches to finally face a younger player on this stage, a testament to how ahead of the curve she was (and still is).

While Gauff is the only teenager ranked in the top 49 in the world, Andreeva is the highest-ranked player under the age of 18 at No. 143 (and around No. 100 after the French). And she doesn’t turn 17 until next April. Andreeva dropped just six games in her first two matches at this French Open, fewest of any woman.

Gauff is the last seeded American woman left in the draw after No. 3 Jessica Pegula, No. 20 Madison Keys and No. 32 Shelby Rogers previously lost.

The last U.S. woman to win a major title was Sofia Kenin at the 2020 Australian Open. The 11-major span without an American champ is the longest for U.S. women since Monica Seles won the 1996 Australian Open.

OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!

Follow @nbcolympictalk

Rafael Nadal expected to miss rest of 2023 season after surgery

By OlympicTalkJun 3, 2023, 8:54 AM EDT

Getty

Rafael Nadal is expected to need five months to recover from arthroscopic surgery for a left hip flexor injury that kept him out of the French Open, effectively ruling him out for the rest of 2023 ATP tournament season.

Nadal underwent the surgery Friday night in Barcelona on the eve of his 37th birthday. He posted that, if all goes well, the recovery time is five months.

The timetable leaves open the possibility that Nadal could return for the Nov. 21-26 Davis Cup Finals team event in Malaga, Spain, which take place after the ATP Tour tournament season ends.

Nadal announced on May 18 that he had to withdraw from the French Open, a tournament he won a record 14 times, due to the injury that’s sidelined him since January’s Australian Open.

Nadal also said he will likely retire from professional tennis in the second half of 2024 after a farewell season that he hopes includes playing at Roland Garros twice — for the French Open and then the Paris Olympics.

When Nadal returns to competition, he will be older than any previous Grand Slam singles champion in the Open Era.

Nadal is tied with Novak Djokovic for the men’s record 23 Grand Slam singles titles.

While Nadal needs to be one of the four-highest ranked Spanish men after next year’s French Open for direct Olympic qualification in singles, he can, essentially, temporarily freeze his ranking in the top 20 under injury protection rules.

OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!

Follow @nbcolympictalk

More: Olympics

More: Olympics

More: Olympics