Morning Figure Skating Finals For PyeongChang 2018

(ATR) All figure skating finals will begin at the early hour of 10 a.m. local time during the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics.

International Skating Union president Ottavio Cinquanta confirmed the morning start times to veteran Olympic journalist Philip Hersh, who conveyed the news on his Globetrotting blog.

Considering Korea’s 13-hour time difference with New York, it appears all events will be broadcast live in prime time in the United States. While the scheduling will certainly provide higher TV ratings for U.S. broadcaster NBC, it may not be favorable to Japan and other Asian markets, where figure skating has grown in popularity with recent stars like Mao Asada, Yuzuru Hanyu and Yuna Kim.

Cinquanta said that all competitions will begin at 10 a.m. with day-of-competition final practices held earlier in the morning. The longtime figure skating president said "the Americans" had requested the morning start times.

It appears the start times have been assigned to cater to NBC’s needs, as the American TV rights holder pays the International Olympic Committee substantially higher rights fees than any other national or area broadcaster.

The scheduling was discussed at a recent world broadcasters meeting in South Korea.

NBC would neither confirm nor deny that the morning start times had been approved.

An NBC Sports spokesperson told Around the Rings: "We’re aware of the reports, but it would be premature for us to comment at this time given that the PyeongChang schedule is still a work in progress."

Not all figure skaters are pleased with the morning finals.

Russian Olympic pairs champions Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov were not thrilled about a 10 a.m. free skate start at the European Championships in late January.

"It was a very hard start to the day," Volosozhar said, despite winning gold with her husband and partner. "We had early practice then we stayed here in the rink because we had no time to go to the hotel. Because of this situation, our skating was not the best, but it was not bad."

Austrian Severin Kiefer, who skated pairs with partner Miriam Ziegler, echoed similar sentiments, saying it was "dangerous skating at this time."

"It's really not a great time to be skating a pairs free program," Kiefer said. "I think all the couples agree."

The early start times for Olympic events in Asia are not unprecedented. Track and field final sessions and various swimming finals at the 1988 Seoul Summer Games began in the morning. Swimming finals at the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing were also contested in the morning.

Written by Brian Pinelli

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