Here’s a look at the compelling events, athletes and storylines of the Sochi Olympics on Friday, Feb. 14. A complete list of every Friday event can be found here.
WHAT TO STAY UP LATE FOR ...
Men’s super combined, 1 a.m./6:30 a.m. ET -- CLICK HERE TO WATCH EVENT LIVE
Americans Bode Miller and Ted Ligety could both win medals in this event, which starts with one downhill run in the morning and concludes with an afternoon slalom. Miller is the defending Olympic champion. Ligety is the reigning world champion and also won the 2006 Olympic combined (which was one downhill and two slaloms).
If Miller wins a medal, he will move into solo second on the all-time Olympic Alpine medals list with six, trailing Norway’s Kjetil Andre Aamodt, who won eight. Ligety seeks his second Olympic medal.
The top international contenders include Croatia’s Ivica Kostelic, 34, who is the reigning Olympic and world silver medalist. He is also the older brother of Janica Kostelic, the most decorated female Olympic Alpine skier ever who is retired. Don’t lose sight of France’s Alexis Pinturault, either. Both Kostelic and Pinturault will be behind after the downhill.
Even speed racer Aksel Lund Svindal has a shot here. He better be faster than Miller, Ligety and Kostelic in the downhill though. Much faster.
Men’s hockey, Czech Republic-Latvia, 3 a.m. ET -- CLICK HERE TO WATCH EVENT LIVE
The Czechs and Latvians both lost their openers, so both teams are looking to avoid being the last-place team in Group C.
This is a meeting of three guys who used to face each other in the NHL in the 1990s -- Jaromir Jagr (41, Czech), Petr Nedved (42, Czech) and Sandis Ozolinsh (41, Latvia).
WHAT TO WAKE UP EARLY FOR ...
Men’s hockey, Sweden-Switzerland, 7:30 a.m. ET -- CLICK HERE TO WATCH EVENT LIVE
This matchup is for the top spot in Group C after two games. The Swedes are coming off a 4-2 win over the Czechs, while the Swiss blanked the Latvians 1-0 behind Jonas Hiller.
The Swiss have opted not to start Hiller though. Instead, they will go with Reto Berra of the Calgary Flames.
Regardless, Sweden is the favorite here as it hopes to follow a path to its third straight gold at a European Olympics (if we’re counting Sochi as a European Games).
WHAT YOU CAN’T MISS DURING THE DAY ...
Figure skating men’s free skate, 10 a.m. ET -- CLICK HERE TO WATCH EVENT LIVE
As expected, the top two men in the short program were Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu and Canada’s Patrick Chan. Hanyu leads Chan by 3.97 points after breaking his own record with a 101.45-point short program.
Hanyu and Chan are both looking to become their nations’ first Olympic men’s figure skating champions.
American Jason Brown, is in sixth place but just .98 of a point behind third-place Javier Fernandez of Spain. Brown, who will skate last, could become the youngest Olympic figure skating medalist since Viktor Petrenko in 1988.
The other American, Jeremy Abbott, struggled in his short program for the second straight Olympics and is in 15th, far out of the medal picture.
Russian Yevgeny Plushenko, a four-time Olympic medalist, withdrew prior to his short program with a back injury Thursday.
Women’s skeleton runs 3 and 4, 10:40 a.m. ET -- CLICK HERE TO WATCH EVENT LIVE
Americans Noelle Pikus-Pace and Katie Uhlaender could both win medals here, but gold will be very tough to grab.
Great Britain’s Lizzy Yarnold leads by .44 of a second after two of four runs. She’s the World Cup season champion and looking to make it two straight women’s skeleton golds for Great Britain after Amy Williams’ 2010 title.
Pikus-Pace, who had limited training this week due to a back injury, is in second place. She finished fourth in 2010, retired, had her second child and returned for a final Olympics.
Russian Elena Nikitina came from nowhere for third place Thursday, .55 back of Yarnold. Nikitina, 21, has one career World Cup podium and would be the youngest skeleton medalist since 1928.
Uhlaender is .14 behind Nikitina. She is the 2012 world champion and the silver medalist on this track in a World Cup event last year but hasn’t been better than sixth in any World Cup this past season, missing time due to post-concussion effects.
The first two runs of men’s singles will precede the women.
Men’s hockey, Canada-Austria, 12 p.m. ET -- CLICK HERE TO WATCH EVENT LIVE | Norway-Finland, 12 p.m. ET -- CLICK HERE TO WATCH EVENT LIVE
Canada eased into the Olympics by beating Norway 3-1 on Thursday. Austria shouldn’t pose any threat, either, in its first Olympic men’s hockey tournament since 2002.
The key will be how Roberto Luongo fares in net after Carey Price beat the Norwegians. You have to think the man named starter for the group finale against Finland will be in the driver’s seat to stay there for the bracket-round games.
Like Canada, Finland should be able to dispose of Norway. It scored eight times on 52 shots against Austria, making up for Tuukka Rask giving up four goals on 20 shots. Finland matched its highest goal output since 1992.
Canada and Finland will likely be playing for Group C supremacy Sunday.
Women’s aerials finals, 2:30 p.m. ET -- CLICK HERE TO WATCH EVENT LIVE
China is the world’s deepest nation in aerials, which shouldn’t be shocking given the gymnastics nature of the flipping, twisting event.
It sends the 2010 Olympic silver medalist, 2013 world champion and two other women who have won World Cup events this season into qualification in the early evening.
The top 12 women overall advance to the first round of finals at 2:30. The top eight from there will go to the second final, and the final four to the last final.
Australia boasts the defending Olympic champion in Lydia Lassila, one of three non-Chinese women to make a World Cup podium in five events this season.
The U.S. has two-time Olympian Ashley Caldwell and three-time Olympian Emily Cook. Caldwell, back from two torn ACLs, was second at the first World Cup event this season.