Olympic Update: Downhill Training Starts Thursday, Moguls Qualifying Friday

ALPINE
Men's Downhill Training Starts Thursday
Bryce Bennett (Squaw Valley, Calif.) kicks out of the start gate with bib 2 in the first of three scheduled downhill training runs Thursday leading up to Sunday's race. Also starting the first training run for Team USA will be Jared Goldberg (Holladay, Utah); Ryan Cochran-Siegle (Starksboro, Vt.); Wiley Maple (Aspen, Colo.); Tommy Biesemeyer (Keene, N.Y.); Andrew Weibrecht (Lake Placid, N.Y.); and Ted Ligety (Park City, Utah).
Men’s Downhill Training Run 1 start list

FREESTYLE
Moguls Qualifying Friday
Things are shaping up on the Phoenix Park Resort moguls course. The U.S. Olympic moguls team arrived in the athlete village over the weekend, participated in an opening press conference and got down to work with three productive nights of training. The team will have a morning training session on Thursday (Wednesday night in the USA) before the first rounds of qualification for men and women on Friday.
The top 10 athletes from Friday’s qualification rounds will advance to finals. 

CROSS COUNTRY
Team USA Opens Training at Alpensia
The first group of Team USA cross country athletes have hit the trails at the Alpensia Nordic Centre. It may be a golf course in the summertime, but this course layout is tough. Athletes hit the trails for the first time Tuesday and Wednesday. Most of Team USA’s 20 athletes are in Alpensia including Jessie Diggins (Afton, Minn.), Sadie Bjornsen (Anchorage, Alaska), Kikkan Randall (Anchorage, Alaska), Rosie Brennan (Anchorage, Alaska), Ida Sargent (Craftsbury, Vt.) and Erik Bjornsen (Anchorage, Alaska), who held a press conference Wednesday. Starters for Saturday's opening women’s skiathlon will be decided on Friday.

SKI JUMPING
Training Begins at Alpensia Nordic Centre
The view of the towering jumps at the Alpensia Nordic Centre illuminated at night is becoming the iconic look of the PyeongChang Olympics as ski jumping training began on Wednesday. Team USA skipped the morning sessions but was out on the HS106m hill Wednesday evening. Kevin Bickner (Wauconda, Ill.) led the team with two strong rounds including a 102.5m ride on his second jump. Bickner was joined by teammates Michael Glasder (Cary, Ill.), Casey Larson (Barrington, Ill.) and Will Rhoads (Park City, Utah) – all first-time Olympians.  
The women will get their first look at the jumps on Thursday with veteran Sarah Hendrickson (Park City, Utah) plus new Olympians Abby Ringquist (Park City, Utah) and Nita Englund (Florence, Wisc.). The men have a final training Thursday before the qualifying round where the top 40 finishers in a single jumping round will make the field for Saturday’s medal event. They will be joined by the top 10 in the world, who are pre-qualified.
It was a long day for Team USA with processing in Seoul and a long trip to Alpensia. “We are pretty satisfied with the first training for Team USA,” said team director Clint Jones. “ All four of our athletes made some improvements over the three jumps and are starting to get comfortable on the hill.”

SNOWBOARD
Big Features, Big Event
Team USA’s slopestyle athletes had a chance to ride the course Wednesday that includes some Olympic sized features. In Tuesday’s opening press conference, defending gold medalist Jamie Anderson’s eyes were big as she talked about the course. The team had an opportunity Tuesday for a quick course review and were hitting the jumps in Wednesday’s first full training session. The athletes will continue training daily leading up to Sunday’s opening medal event with women’s slopestyle snowboarding.  
The halfpipe snowboarding team including Shaun White (Carlsbad, Calif.), Kelly Clark Folsom, Calif.) and Chloe Kim (Torrance, Calif.) are in town and will open with a press conference Thursday before hitting the pipe at Phoenix Park. The first halfpipe event is set for Monday with women’s qualifying.

HOW TO WATCH
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 7
NBCSN
11:00 p.m. - 2:00 a.m. - Men's downhill training - NBCSN

NBCOlympics.com - Live Streaming
11:00 p.m. - 2:00 a.m. - Men's downhill training (Thursday)

THURSDAY, FEB. 8
NBCSN
9:00-11:35 p.m. - Men's normal hill ski jumping qualifying
10:05 p.m.-1:35 a.m. - Moguls qualifying, men's downhill training

NBCOlympics.com - Live Streaming
7:30-8:40 a.m. - Men's normal hill ski jumping qualifying
8:00-8:45 p.m. - Women's moguls qualifying (Friday)
9:45-10:30 p.m. - Men's moguls qualifying (Friday)
9:00-11:00 p.m. - Men's downhill training (Friday)

SATURDAY, FEB. 9
NBC
8:00-11:00 p.m. - Opening Ceremony

NBCOlympics.com - Live Streaming
6:00-9:00 a.m. - Opening Ceremony
8:00 p.m.-12:30 a.m. - Men's slopestyle snowboarding qualifying
9:00-11:00 p.m. - Men's downhill training (Saturday)