Winter Olympics TV schedule: What to watch Wednesday, Feb. 19

The women's figure skating competition kicks off with the short program, and Americans are medal favorites in bobsled and alpine skiing.

Olympics coverage heats up today with several fan-favorite events, including women’s figure skating and men’s alpine skiing.

Medals will be awarded in eight events, including cross-country team sprints, women’s bobsled, speed skating, snowboard parallel slalom, and biathlon.

NBC will air a tape-delayed afternoon broadcast from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. EST and a primetime broadcast at 8 p.m. EST. Its affiliate networks, including NBC Sports, MSNBC, and CNBC, will broadcast events throughout the day, and all events can be live-streamed by cable subscribers at nbcolympics.com. 

You don’t want to miss:

Men’s alpine ski giant slalom

American Ted Ligety is the reigning World Cup champion in this event. He’s skiing for his first medal of the Sochi Games after disappointing off-podium finishes in earlier races. No American has ever won gold in this event in the Olympics. Ligety will have to fend off challenges from on-fire racers including Austrian Marcel Hirscher and Frenchman Alexis Pinturault.

The event streamed live at 5:30 a.m. EST and will replay on NBC primetime. Find results here. 

Women’s bobsled

Two American teams are in contention for a medal: Team USA 1 and Team USA 2 sit in first and third place, respectively, after the first two heats yesterday. They’re separated by the Canadians, who aim to play spoiler to a one-two US finish. Two of the US bobsled pairs have Summer Olympians serving as brakemen: Lauryn Williams on Team 1 aims to become the first American to win a gold medal in the Summer and Winter Olympics. Her teammate Lolo Jones, a hurdler in Beijing and London, is on Team 3 (which is currently in 11th place).

The event will stream live at 11:15 a.m. EST and replay on NBC primetime.       

Women’s figure skating

The Winter Olympics marquee event is shaping up to be a classic showdown of top talent. Defending Olympic and World champion Kim Yu-na of South Korea is back to reclaim her title. But 15-year-old Yulia Lipnitskaia of Russia, the newly crowned European champion, stunned the crowd (and the judges) with her near-flawless performances during the team competition in Sochi. Mao Asada of Japan, the silver medalist in 2010 and only woman who plans on performing a triple axel in competition, is also a top contender. Then there are the Americans, Gracie Gold and Ashley Wagner, who realistically look to be battling for bronze at best. Keep an eye on their American teammate, Polina Edmunds, who may be a medal contender in 2018. 

The event will stream live at 10 a.m. EST and replay on NBC primetime. 

Snowboard parallel giant slalom

In this event, “two athletes engage in a head-to-head competition on parallel courses," according to Sochi organizers. "The athletes with the best results in the qualifying round advance to the finals, and then compete on an elimination basis. The snowboarder who wins all the races wins the competition."

Both men and women will compete in separate events today. Medal favorites heading into the event are Patrizia Kummer (Switzerland), Amelie Kober (Germany) and Tomoka Takeuchi (Japan) for the women, and Benjamin Karl (Austria), Lukas Mathies (Austria), and Rok Marguc (France) for the men. 

The event will be replayed on NBC late-night at 1:30 a.m. EST.  

What else is on:

NBC 3-5 p.m. EST: Speed Skating (Women's 5000m), Cross-Country (Men's and Women's Team Sprints)

NBC 8 p.m. EST: Alpine Skiing (Men's Giant Slalom), Bobsled (Women's Runs 3 and 4), Figure Skating (Ladies' Short Program)

NBC Sports Network: 3 p.m. EST Men’s ice hockey: Finland vs. Russia; 5 p.m. men’s ice hockey USA vs. Czech Republic