2018 Winter Olympics closing ceremony: how to watch and what to expect

Two weeks of patriotism, jaw-dropping athleticism, and countless figure skating heartbreaks later, the 2018 Winter Olympics are almost over for good.

This year’s games will officially end with the closing ceremonies, which will be held on February 25. Since Pyeongchang is 14 hours ahead of the United States’s East Coast, you’ll have to get up at the crack of dawn if you want to watch the ceremonies live, which will be streaming at 6 am Eastern/3 am Pacific on NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app without commentary.

But this time, the commentary just might be worth the wait, since NBC announced on Wednesday that their glam figure skating team of Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir will be helming the network’s primetime coverage. NBC will be airing their commentary with fully produced coverage of the event at 8 pm Eastern/5 pm Pacific, until the Olympic torch has officially been passed.

As per Oh Jang-hwan, Pyeongchang’s director of ceremonies, the closing ceremonies will be all about looking forward with a “Next Wave” theme. “We have created a show that looks towards the future,” he says. “It includes quite a lot of traditional Korean humour and fun elements to add to the party feel.”

The flag bearer for the US Olympic team — a position that each country’s Olympians choose as a group — will be Jessie Diggins, whose last-minute charge across the cross-country skiing team sprint’s finish line to beat the Swedish team by .19 seconds earned the US its first gold medal for cross-country skiing. (The US currently has earned 21 medals, including eight gold.) The US delegation, meanwhile, will be led by Ivanka Trump.

And then that will be a wrap for the Winter Olympics until 2022, when Beijing will host the games and, inevitably, a whole mess of inspiring redemption stories. (See you there, Nathan Chen.) Until then, we’ll just have to make do with Olympians’ Instagrams and NBC’s attempts to keep up with Adam Rippon’s RuPaul’s Drag Race references — so you know what, it could be worse.

Here’s how you can tune in for the 2018 Winter Olympics Closing Ceremonies.

On TV: The closing ceremonies, produced and with Lipinski and Weir’s commentary, will air on primetime at 8 pm Eastern/5 pm Pacific on NBC.

Live stream: The closing ceremonies will be broadcast live online on NBC’s website and on its app at 6 am Eastern/3 am Pacific. As an alternative to NBC’s apps, you can use an over-the-top device or subscription streaming service that carries NBC — including Fubo, Sling TV, YouTube TV, and DirecTV Now.