Olympics: What to Watch on Day 12 --- Ladies' Short Skate; Ted Ligety Seeks Giant Slalom Gold

Day 12 of the Winter Olympics on Wednesday features the ladies' figure skating short skate and Ted Ligety's best opportunity to snag a medal in Sochi. Here's what you should watch (all times ET).

The 411 on the 12 new Winter Olympic events

All events are live-streamed at NBCOlympics.com. Wednesday's tape-delayed daytime coverage (3 p.m., NBC) includes speed skating and cross-country. Tape-delayed prime-time coverage (8 p.m., NBC) includes alpine skiing, bobsled, figure skating and snowboarding.
Figure skating, ladies' short skate
When: 10 a.m. on NBC Sports (live); 8 p.m. on NBC (tape delay)Kim Yuna kicks off her title defense and will be well-rested since South Korea did not compete in the team event. Kim, who won last year's world championships by a margin of 20.42 points — the largest ever between first and second — ought to be tested by Russian breakout, 15-year-old Yulia Lipnitskaya, won the short and free skates in the team event, and her longtime rival, Japan's Mao Asada. Asada, however, has struggled with her triple Axel in recent seasons, falling on it in her team short skate. The U.S. will field Gracie Gold, 15-year-old Polina Edmunds and Ashley Wagner.

Olympic hotties: Who's sizzling beneath the parka?

Alpine skiing, men's giant slalom
When: 2 a.m. (live); 8 p.m. on NBC (tape delay)Ted Ligety has had a subpar Olympics so far — finishing 12th in the super combined and 14th in the super G as the reigning world champ in both — but the giant slalom is his best event. The American, who placed ninth in Vancouver, is a four-time World Cup season champ and two-time world champ in the GS, and 20 of his 21 World Cup victories have come in the discipline. Vancouver silver medalist Kjetil Jansrud of Norway, who tore his left ACL a year ago, will look for his third medal of the Games after taking bronze in the downhill and gold in the super G. Snowboarding, men's and women's parallel giant slalom finals
When: Women — 5:33 a.m. (live), men — 5:37 a.m. (live); 8 p.m. on NBC (tape delay) The new event, which features competitors racing head-to-head down a course, will double up with both the women and men competing on the same day. Russia's Ekaterina Tudigscheva and  Slovenia's Rok Marguc are the respective reigning world champions, and world silver medalist, Justin Reiter, who came out of retirement for one last go, is the lone American entrant in either field. Qualifications for start at 12:15 a.m. for the women and 12:42 a.m. for the men.

Olympic stars to watch

Other medal rounds- cross-country skiing, women's team sprint classic (6:45 a.m.)- cross-country skiing, men's team sprint classic (7:15 a.m.)- speed skating, women's 5,000 meters (8:30 a.m.)- biathlon, mixed 2 x 6 + 2 x 7.5-kilometer relay (9:30 a.m.)- bobsled, women's two-man (12:23 a.m.)