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Costas plans to be back Monday for NBC

Olympic host has been off air for week with eye infection

2/16/2014

SOCHI, Russia — NBC's Bob Costas plans to make his return to NBC on Monday after being off the air for a week with an eye infection.

NBC said Sunday that Today host Matt Lauer will sub for Costas one last time on NBC's Sunday night telecast, and that Costas is preparing for his return in prime-time today.

The long-time Olympics host started duty in Sochi with one eye reddened from an infection that he hoped would clear up quickly. Instead, it spread to his other eye. It made his vision sight blurry and it was difficult for him to work, and his red eyes were a popular topic on social media.

Lauer and Meredith Vieira have filled in for him.

NEUREUTHER’S DECISION: Felix Neureuther could skip Wednesday's Olympic giant slalom after getting whiplash from a car crash in Germany.

Neureuther says he plans his first training runs today and a full session on Tuesday.

The German slalom specialist says "depending on the results, I'll know if it makes sense to start."

Ted Ligety of the United States and Marcel Hirscher of Austria are the giant slalom favorites, though Neureuther has also won this season on the World Cup circuit.

Neureuther was driving to the Munich airport Friday when he hit a patch of ice, lost control, and hit a barrier. Prosecutors briefly investigated whether he fled the scene of an accident.

BOBSLED: Alexander Zubkov has a commanding lead at the halfway point of men's Olympic two-man bobsled.

Along with brakeman Alexey Voevoda, Zubkov drove through a light fog and set a track record on his first run and completed two trips down the Sanki Sliding Center course in 1:52.82.

He leads Switzerland's Beat Hefti by 0.32 seconds and has a 0.36-second advantage over Steven Holcomb of Park City, Utah.

Russia has not won gold in two-man since 1988.

TEAM TRAINING: Most of the top-ranked ski jumpers at the Sochi Olympics didn't bother to take part in three training rounds on Sunday evening ahead of today’s team gold medal final.

The top three from Saturday's large hill individual final — Kamil Stoch of Poland, Noriaki Kasai of Japan, and Peter Prevc of Slovenia — were busy at an official medal presentation ceremony down on the Black Sea coast.

Nordic combined athlete Evgeniy Klimov did jump Sunday, drafted into the Russian ski jumping team as a replacement for Mikhail Maksimochkin, who broke two ribs in a training fall on Wednesday.