A replay of the women鈥檚 freestyle sprint qualifier and fourth-place final of Rosie Brennan 鈥11 led off NBC鈥檚 prime-time Olympic coverage Tuesday, as the two-time Olympian was edged out by U.S. teammate Jessie Diggins for the bronze.
And in live coverage Tuesday night, the first Olympic appearance of AJ Hurt 鈥23 in the woman鈥檚 slalom was overshadowed when teammate Mikaela Shiffrin skied out of the race early and the media attention shifted away from the competition.
Hurt finished 34th with a combined time that was 7.21 seconds behind Slovak Petra Vlhov谩鈥檚 gold medal time of 1:44.98.
Hurt was tapped by Team USA to replace Nina O鈥橞rien 鈥20, who suffered a brutal crash in the women鈥檚 giant slalom on Monday. O鈥橞rien underwent successful surgery to her left leg on Tuesday and is headed home for treatment, NBC reported.
Brennan鈥檚 powerful uphill sprint in the qualifying race from earlier in the day likely was a factor in the network鈥檚 decision to start the Tuesday night show with a replay of that event. NBC analyst Kikkan Randall, who raced with Brennan and won gold with Diggins for the U.S. at the Pyeongchang Games, called out the 33-year-old Brennan鈥檚 strength, stamina, and strategy during the qualifier and medals races.
Julia Kern 鈥19 was also among seven Team USA skiers who advanced to the women鈥檚 sprint quarter finals, finishing 14th in the qualifier and fourth in the quarterfinal.
Brennan told reporters after the race. 鈥淔ourth place is hard. You feel really happy and also frustrated at the same time, so I have a lot of mixed emotions about it. But I did everything I could today.鈥
Brennan races again in the women鈥檚 10km classic race Thursday starting at 2 a.m. ET.
