Women’s sports received more airtime than men’s sports by more than a 2 to 1 margin during NBC’s primetime Olympic broadcast on Thursday, February 12, 2026.

Five men’s events had more than one minute of coverage. 

Men’s Snowboarding had nearly 18 minutes of airtime for the snowboard cross semi-final and final, plus Shaun White taking a run down the halfpipe.

Men’s Freestyle Skiing had more than 10 minutes of coverage for the moguls final.

Men’s Ice Hockey had more than 2 minutes of airtime covering the US victory over Latvia and the Canadian victory over Czechia.

Men’s Skeleton had just over 2 minutes of coverage focused on the disqualification of Ukrainian athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych for refusing to change his “helmet of remembrance.”

Men’s Figure Skating had just over 1 minute of coverage with promos for the free skate event happening Friday. 

Three women’s event received more than one minute of airtime.

Women’s Snowboarding had more than 29 minutes of coverage for the halfpipe final, where Team USA’s Chloe Kim won silver, as well as a conversation between Kim and Snoop Dogg. Korea’s Gaon Choi won gold and Japan’s Mitsuki Ono won bronze. 

Women’s Alpine Skiing had more than 29 minutes for coverage of the Super-G event.

Women’s Cross Country Skiing had more than 10 minutes of airtime for the 10 km event where Team USA’s Jessie Diggins won bronze, making her the first American to win cross country medals in three Olympiads and the first American to win four cross country medals. Sweden’s Frida Karlsson and Ebba Andersson won gold and silver, respectively.

No mixed events had more than one minute of coverage. 

Overall, coverage of men’s events accounted for 27.15% of NBC’s primetime Olympic broadcast. Women’s events received 72.41% of the coverage. Mixed sex events (e.g., ice dancing) received 0.44% of NBC’s coverage.

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When mixed sex events are excluded, men’s sports received 27.27% of NBC’s coverage compared to 72.73% for women’s sports.

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Regular updates about NBC’s primetime coverage of men’s and women’s sports will be posted throughout the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Games on FiveRingTV.com. Updates are also be posted on the @FiveRingTV X feed and the @FiveRingTV Bluesky feed. A mid-Olympic report, with complete sport-by-sport coverage breakdowns, will also be issued.

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Method: The percentage of primetime devoted to men’s, women’s and mixed sex sports is calculated by a single researcher, utilizing a stopwatch and DVR or DVD time codes, measuring (to the millisecond) the total amount of time devoted to each event. Any time spent at the actual athletic site, on a profile about an athlete, promos about a specific athlete or sport, and host commentary about a specific sport or athlete is recorded. Split screens combining commercials and live coverage are included in the calculations, but commercial breaks are not included. The NBC broadcast network East Coast feed is used for the calculations. Olympic coverage on cable networks and live streaming are not included. Network overruns beyond 11:00pm up to the break for local news are included within the calculations.

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