Olympic Events Set to Begin

Events are beginning before the opening ceremonies at the Sochi Winter Games.

On the schedule today are qualifying rounds in freestyle skiing and team figure skating, with the men's short program followed by the pairs.

— Slopestyle snowboarding has made its debut. Canadian Max Parrot grabbed the lead among all riders in the qualifying runs while American Jamie Anderson is the women's top qualifier.

— Hannah Kearney's bid for another Olympic gold medal in women's moguls is off to a flawless start. The defending champion cruised through qualifying on Thursday, posting a score of 23.05, well clear of Canada's Chloe Dufour-Lapointe for the top spot. Justine Dufour-Lapointe took third and Maxime Dufour-Lapointe finished eighth, assuring all three sisters a spot in the finals. The top 10 finishers automatically advanced to the finals, with the remaining competitors returning for a second qualifying run on Saturday to fill out the rest of the field.

— Everything's cool and running with Jamaica's bobsled team. They're back inside the Olympic rings, and back on the track. After their equipment was delayed in arriving to the Sochi Games, driver Winston Watts and his teammates got in their first two runs down the Sanki Sliding Center track on Thursday. The Jamaicans, who qualified for the first time since 2002, couldn't train Wednesday because they arrived ahead of their luggage, which was on a later flight to Russia.