The line-up of the Today Show looked slightly different this morning, as Savannah Guthrie was away from her usual spot beside co-anchor Hoda Kotb.
The TV host, 51, took the morning off from the news show, as clarified by her co-host, and her colleague Craig Melvin stepped in for her.
"Savannah has the morning off," Hoda explained. "Craig is back, after a harrowing bunch of travel for you."
© Getty ImagesThe NBC News anchor, 44, told Hoda about the arduous road to get back to New York City, after spending some time away on off-site assignments.
"Hoda, I don't say it lightly, it was literally the worst I've ever seen at an American airport. I got stuck in Atlanta yesterday," Craig said.
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The two anchors expanded upon the matter further with the day's very first story, the severe delays in flights nationwide around the 4th of July weekend, caused in part by a lack of air traffic controllers and also due to the severe storms impacting large parts of the country.
© TodayMom-of-two Savannah took some time off the show last week as well, during which Hoda, 58, took it upon herself to make a promise to the day's big guests, the US Olympic figure skating team.
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Speaking on the show for a Today exclusive interview, the skaters discussed how they still had not been awarded their medals from the latest Winter Olympic Games. The US team won silver for figure skating at the Beijing Olympics, but their medal ceremony was canceled after news broke that Kamila Valieva, one of the Russian figure skaters who'd led their team to gold, had tested positive for performance enhancing drugs two months before the competition.
© Getty ImagesVincent Zhou, Alexa Knierim, and Brendon Frazier – three of the nine US figure skating team who are still missing their medals – appeared on the show on June 23 to break down the situation, revealing it still was uncertain whether they'd be awarded silver or gold.
Hoda, in that moment, stepped in to promise a ceremony would at least be offered by Today. As evident in the video above, the star shook hands with the team members present, making it an official promise that the show would help honor their success – the best the US had ever achieved at the Winter Olympics – once their medals are received.
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The morning news anchor was seemingly quite emotionally involved with the story as well, frequently showering them with words of encouragement and support.
© Getty ImagesAs NBC's resident figure skating expert and former Olympic Gold medal winner Tara Lipinski said in an earlier interview during the segment: "These athletes sacrifice so much of their lives for this one moment, and watching these athletes not get that moment is upsetting."
