SOCHI, Russia — U.S. Olympic leaders are sounding out international officials in Sochi about a potential American bid for the games, and the feedback is positive.

The U.S. Olympic Committee is weighing a possible run for the 2024 Summer Games. If that’s ruled out, the 2026 Winter Olympics would be an option.

Sochi is giving USOC chairman Larry Probst and CEO Scott Blackmun the chance to talk informally with the voting members of the International Olympic Committee.

“We can get some really good input: Is it time for a U.S. bid and if so, where should it come from?” Blackmun said. “I think people genuinely would like to see a U.S. bid. There are some that think winter would be better than summer and some who think summer would be better than winter.

“There’s a recognition that the U.S. is an important market and at some point in the future the games should go back there.”

Shani Davis, the two-time defending Olympic champion in the 1,000 meters who got shut out of a medal Wednesday, has three days to clear his mind and make adjustments before he skates in the 1,500 on Saturday.

Davis has never won the 1,500 at the Olympics, earning silver medals in 2006 and 2010. But it’s his other strong event, one of his “babies” as he calls the two sprint races.

GOLD MEDALIST Kamil Stoch of Poland and Russian ski jumper Mikhail Maksimochkin were injured after crashing during landings while training for the individual large hill event.

THE AUSTRIAN Olympic Committee filed a complaint with the IOC after Alpine skier Elisabeth Goergl was drug-tested the night before the women’s downhill.

The Austrian committee said doping officials visited the 2010 bronze medalist at 10:55 p.m. for an unannounced test and it interrupted her preparations.

AN ACTIVIST who shed light on the environmental impact of Olympic construction in Sochi was ordered to serve three years in prison for spray-painting a fence.

A court in the regional capital of Krasnodar converted the suspended sentence given to Yevgeny Vitishko in 2012 into a prison term, according to his lawyer, Alexander Popkov.

AN EYE INFECTION kept Bob Costas off NBC’s prime-time Olympic broadcast for a second straight night.

Costas said his eyes are so sensitive that they are tearing up even in dim light. Matt Lauer again replaced him.

JONATHAN QUICK will start in goal in Team USA’s opening game against Slovakia on Thursday. Quick got the nod for the opener over Jimmy Howard and Ryan Miller.