Winter Games Round-Up: Must-see Olympic events for Friday, Day 8

Sure, you may not have a hot date lined up for Valentine’s Day, but now that we know that Sochi is a hotbed of casual sex for Olympians, take heart! You can live vicariously through them! Or maybe you can cackle gleefully as they wipe out and their dreams of medalling are dashed (although it turns out falling more than once in a routine doesn’t actually ruin your chances of getting a big shiny medal to take home, at least not in men’s ice skating). 

3:00 p.m. ET – 5:00 p.m. ET – NBC – Biathlon, freestyle skiing 

* We’re number one! We’re number one! First women’s bobsledding team to crash? U.S.A.! Elana Myers crashed Friday taking her first bobsled trip down the Sanki Sliding Center track. Nobody was injured, though. 

* The good news? Olympic first-time biathlete Susan Dunklee had the best ever Olympic sprint by an American female. The bad news? She came in 14th. Given that Dunklee is the daughter of a two-time Olympic cross-country skier, don’t count her out yet. She’s got pursuit on Tuesday. 

* Aerial freestyle skater Joselane Santos came in dead last, but that isn’t why she cried at the finish line. The woman she replaced for her spot was her friend Lais Souza, who was paralyzed in a skiing accident in Utah. Santos’ performance is worth watching for another reason — she only switched over from gymnastics to to skiing seven months ago.

8:00 p.m. ET – 11:00 p.m. ET – NBC – Alpine Skiing, Skeleton, Figure Skating

* If you’re all about team USA, don’t get too excited about super-combined alpine skiing. That’s all I’m saying.

* Canadian figure skater Patrick Chan had a good shot at the gold given that Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan kept falling and stuff, but go figure. Still, you won’t want to miss Yuzuru becoming the first Asian man to win an Olympic title. 

* Guess what? Mother-of-two Noelle Pikus-Pace, who came out of retirement for another run at a medal after a near miss in Vancouver four years ago, does pretty darn well! 

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