Olympic Snowboarding Team Cross 2022 TV Schedule, Live Stream and Picks

The United States will go after a third snowboarding gold medal at the 2022 Winter Olympics on Friday night in a new event at the Games. 

The team snowboard cross event features one man and one woman on a team, and their times are combined together for the final leaderboard. 

The United States, Italy, France, Canada and Australia each have two teams entered into the event. 

Women's snowboard cross gold medalist Lindsey Jacobellis is partnering with Nick Baumgartner on the top United States squad. 

Men's snowboard cross champion Alessandro Hammerle headlines the second-seeded Austrian squad in the event. 

Italy won the only team snowboard cross race on the FIS World Cup circuit this season, and Australia is the reigning world champion in the event. 

Team Snowboard Cross Info

Date: Friday, February 11

Start Time: 9 p.m. ET 

TV: NBC

Live Stream: NBCOlympics.com and Peacock

Preview

Italy must be viewed as the favorite to win the first-ever team snowboard cross event based on previous results. 

The Italians won the lone FIS World Cup event this season, and they took second behind Australia at the 2021 World Championships. 

Men's bronze medalist Omar Visintin and 2018 women's gold medalist Michela Moioli make up one of the best teams in the competition. The top-seeded Italian pair has an advantage to get out of the quarterfinal round because there are only three teams in its first heat. 

The other three quarterfinal heats feature four teams. The top two squads from every heat advance to the semifinals. The top two finishers in the semifinal heats move on to the medal round. 

Moioli was viewed as one of the favorites to win the women's competition, but she did not make it to the medal round. That shortcoming could serve as extra motivation to perform well in the team event. 

The top American pair of Baumgartner and Jacobellis should make it out of the quarterfinal round. They are seeded fifth and will go head-to-head with the fourth-seeded Australian squad that features women's finalist Belle Brockhoff. 

The other half of the bracket contains the lone pair of Beijing medalists. Canada's Eliot Grondin took silver in the men's competition, and Meryeta O'Dine finished third in the women's event. 

The top Canadian duo takes on the French pair of Merlin Surget and Chloe Trespeuch in the quarterfinal heat. Trespeuch finished second behind Jacobellis in the women's final. 

Each of the semifinal heats should be loaded if the favorites advance out of the first four heats. Italy, France and Canada could be best poised to advance to the medal round because of the strengths of both competitors. 

The Americans can figure in the medal round, but they need Baumgartner to match the productivity of the other male riders. 

Jacobellis is in fantastic form and can beat out any of her female competitors, but Baumgartner needs to give her an advantage of some sort in the second half of the heats. 

Pick: 1. Italy, 2. Canada, 3. United States