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(Photo: Team USA)
What to watch this week
Here are just a few of the things we have circled in our schedules, in case you need to take a sick day from work...
TODAY: ⛸️ Ice dancing - After some questionable scoring (?) in the short program, the French team & the gold medal-favorite American duo — who, yes, are married — are virtually tied going into the ice dancing final
🎿 Moguls - The U.S. women are so good that just getting one of the team's four spots to Milan was a tough fight (and there's a documentary about it); can any of them beat defending champ, Australia's Jakara Anthony?
THURSDAY: ⛷️ Super-G - Lindsey Vonn is out for the rest of the Olympics, but downhill gold medalist Breezy Johnson will be among those tackling the Super-G — which is more technical, with more gates and turns, than the downhill but is still a "speed" discipline compared to the slalom events.
🎿 10km Cross-Country Ski - All we have to say is 'Go Jessie Diggins!'
💨 Short-track 500m - Long-track speed skating is you against the clock, no interference. Short-track is you against everyone else, and it is wild! After messy qualification rounds, where favorites crashed and took out other favorites, who knows what will happen in tomorrow's semis and finals.
SATURDAY: 🛷 Women's skeleton - Luge is feet first on your back; skeleton is face-first on your stomach. Both are terrifying.
SUNDAY: 🎿 Giant slalom - After an uncharacteristic-ly slow slalom run in the team event, Mikaela Shiffrin (the best slalom skier ever in history) will take on the GS — just don't ask her about her missing eyebrow
⛷️ Ski jumping - The women take on the large hill ⛰️ Favorite Nika Prevc was upset in the normal hill, but took the team title (with her brother) and will want gold on the bigger jump.
⛸️ Speedskating 500m final - The 1,000m featured a ton of heavyweights: Leerdam (who won that race), her teammate Femke Kok (who is known for being even better in the sprints), Erin Jackson (who won the 500m in 2022), and Brittany Bowe (who is the world record holder in the 1,000m). We'll now see them face off AGAIN in the shorter 500m race.
MONDAY: 🎿 Freestyle Skiing Big Air - The next of defending champ Eileen Gu's medal possibilities and one of her best events.
🏒 Hockey - The assumption 🤔 has been that the final will be U.S. v. Canada — but will it...? Semi-finals are on Monday.
TUESDAY: ⛸️ Figure Skating - 3x world champ Kaori Sakamoto, who looked untouchable in the team event! Last year's world champ Alysa Liu, back to the sport after a break! 3x U.S. champ Amber Glenn! So many stars (!) and they start with the short program.
📺 HOW TO WATCH: In the U.S. you can watch on NBC (see the full schedule here). In Canada it's on CBC & CBC Gem. See the full list of broadcasters globally here.
😂 AND JUST FOR FUN: Because it's not all serious. We collected a few of our favorite weird, funny, odd bits so far from the Games.
Tip of the week
Last week, Norwegian gold medalist triathlete Kristian Blummenfelt allegedly set the highest VO2 max on record ever with a 101.1. The highest women's VO2 max ever recorded is believed to be Joan Benoit Samuelson's 78.6 ml/kg/min — though it should be noted 77-year-old Jeannie Rice (who owns countless age group world records) is believed to have the highest for a woman over the age of 75 at 47.8.
What is VO2 max? The number is an absolute measurement of oxygen (in milliliters) you consume per minute per kilogram of bodyweight. Why? Because your body and muscles require oxygen, and require more of it as you exercise. The number reflects your ability to take in oxygen and use it, and is essentially a measure of aerobic fitness.
How can you improve yours? Good question. VO2 max is highly trainable, especially when you're starting out, with improvements of 15-20% seen with aerobic endurance training mixed with some higher intensity. However, it does decline as we age.
📚 READ MORE: Maintaining VO2 max in women over 40 |
