Olympics Live: NBC’s Tirico leaving earlier than planned

BEIJING (AP) — The Latest on the Beijing Winter Olympics:

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NBC primetime Olympics host Mike Tirico will have a shorter stay in Beijing than originally planned.

Tirico’s final show from Beijing will be Monday night. He will fly from China to NBC Sports headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, to host on Wednesday and Thursday before heading to Los Angeles Friday to anchor Olympics and Super Bowl coverage through Sunday.

Tirico will then head back to Stamford for the final week of Olympics coverage. The Games end on Feb. 20.

Maria Taylor, who signed with NBC on the eve of last July’s Tokyo Olympics, will host Tuesday night’s show while Tirico is flying back.

Tirico was originally slated to stay in Beijing through Thursday before going to Los Angeles. NBC officials though have reiterated that Tirico’s schedule was subject to change based on COVID-19 and other factors.

NBC said in January that it would not send its announcers and most hosts to the Beijing Olympics due to continued concerns about rising COVID-19 cases worldwide and China’s strict policy about those who test positive.

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Defending Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin has missed a gate early in the first run of the giant slalom at the Beijing Games on Monday and been disqualified from the event.

Coming around a left-turn gate, she lost control, slid and fell on her side.

The 26-year-old Shiffrin is trying to become the first Alpine ski racer from the United States to win three Olympic golds across a career.

She arrived in China as one of the most-watched athletes in any sport at the Winter Olympics, a superstar who has dominated ski racing for long stretches in recent years. She has said she hoped to enter all five individual events at Yanqing Alpine Skiing Center.

Her next race is the slalom on Wednesday. Shiffrin won that at age 18 at the 2014 Sochi Games.

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