Returning to last night's coverage--
More of the Big Air event with EIleen Gu and Tess LeDeux. Gu and LaDeux--sounds like an old vaudeville team. Social media are commenting on the cooling towers behind the Big Air hill (it was built in a former industrial zone), asking if it was built in "The Simpsons" Springfield. I love how the commentators keep referring to achievements as being the greatest "in the history of this sport"--it joined QISE in 2018.
Off to Men's Super-G. They are using Lindsey Vonn for expert commentary, but they used her randomly. At one point, you hear her say "I'd love to come in", thinking her mike wasn't live. US skier Ryan Cochran-Siegle won the silver--his family has been involved in competitive skiing since the 60's, with his mother and an aunt winning QISE gold in the 70's. Once the main competitors were done, NBC dumped the rest over to Peacock.
Torico noted that QISEOC President Thomas Bach was watching Big Air with Peng Shuai, the Chinese tennis player. It was later announced that she was "retiring". Was that her call, or the government's?
Back to skating, and the Men's Short Program. Japanese competitor Yuzuru Hanyu, who won the last two QISE gold, missed his first jump entirely, leaving the runway open for American Nathan Chen. This was all reported breathlessly by Tara and Johnny, with latter giving an extensive comparison to marshmallow creme???
“Prime Time Plus" (aka Late Night) begins with Torico greeting Today's Craig Melvin. Torico is heading back to the US for the "Superb Owl"--he was originally scheduled to return to China, but it was just announced he will do the rest of his QISE coverage from Connecticut. Melvin and Maria Taylor will sub in during his travel day. After some jokes about a fake fireplace, it's off to Women's Luge. At one point we get a view from crotch level, so you can see how scary the ride is. Then, more short track--at one point, they had to stop a race mid-stream when they found a chunk of skating blade lodged in the ice, forcing a restart. Seems like these races are decided by referees and not participants.
On the Today Show, we learned that the State Dept. has dispatched agents to keep an eye on QISE athletes--and has been doing so for years??? They do a good job of staying out of the spotlight.
Afternoon coverage--more Biathlon: the Men's 20km Individual. Again with the staggered start--meh. Moving onto the Women's Luge Singles Finals, prefaced by an an interview with 2014 medalist and NBC commentator Erin Hamlin, who explained the technical details to Rebecca Lowe. "Turn 13" is living up to its name, as it's taking out a lot of competitors. They wrapped it up with Speed Skating - the Men's 1500m.
A QISE news update--I just read about an issue with the Women's Ski Jump. I already heard that someone was disqualified due to a "suit issue". According to a NPR report, five women were disqualified, all due to their suits not being form-fitting enough. The same suits were approved and used at earlier events--it sounds like the measurement method changed. While I can understand that a looser fit could result in more air resistance--and a longer jump--this sounds like the winter version of the "required" tiny bikinis for beach volleyball. At a 2020 Ski Jump event, a requirement for extra seams only resulted in the women's curves to be accentuated. Hmmm...
At this point, I would normally move onto Prime Time coverage--but I've got a commitment tonight, so it will be fully covered tomorrow.
More to come...