And you know what? That’s probably enough from us for the day. Medals tomorrow in Super-G, Nordic combined, biathlon, moguls, 1000m speed skating, doubles luge, and the free dance figure skating. Come and hang out with us then. Stay cool.
Figure skating: Italian skater Daniel Grassl has gone top of the short program with an astonishing 93.46. There are still nine skaters to go.
Hockey: Safe to say that this game is over now. USA will remain unbeaten at the top of Group A. Canada have second spot locked up, even though they have a game left against bottom-placed Finland.
Hockey: Goal for the USA! Dominance continues, they’re 4-0 now. Abbey Murphy drives down the ice towards the goal line, veers off to the left, spins and flicks the puck back in front of goal for Hannah Bilka to flick across the face of goal inside the right post. Slick movement, too good.
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Hockey: Twice in the last few minutes Canada have been called offside while breaking away down the ice, and this time it’s a 4 on 2 situation with the powerplay on their side.
Hockey: Now a sin bin called against the USA, is that the first time tonight? Kirsten Simms, the goalscorer in that rugby scrum earlier, takes down Laura Stacey with heavy body contact.
Hockey: Another sin bin for Canada, Kristin O’Neill goes flying into the back of Abbey Murphy, who is something of an antagonist it seems. Murphy gets up grinning, because the other player is off the ice for two minutes. Canada’s Claire Thompson was also involved in the collision but gets away with it
Hockey: A glimmer for Canada, Laura Stacey with a breakaway down the ice, flicks a shot from the right but it’s saved.
Hockey: Finland and Switzerland have just got going, as well.
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Hockey: Off the post by USA! Then another defensive block near the line by Canada. They’re under siege here, and Steven Seagal doesn’t play for them.
Hockey: Canada get through the powerplay without further damage on the scoreboard. They’re back to player parity now in the second period.
Hockey: A long replay thanks to a coach’s review for Canada in the women’s game, in an effort to avoid going 3-0 down against USA. He’s claiming goaltender interference, but the review is unsuccessful. It was a real scrum at the goal line with five players all piling into each other in a big mass of meat and padding. The puck was scrambled across, and the failed review mean the USA get another powerplay (meaning there’s a Canadian player on a two-minute suspension from the ice).
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Winter Olympic roundup
What happened today?
Johannes Klaebo did it again, his seventh Olympic gold and his second from two attempts in these games, with his cross-country sprint win. He has four events to go, and winning two would set a new record for winter gold medals.
Sweden swept the women’s version of the event, with Linn Svahn the winner.
Vladyslav Heraskevych says he will appeal an IOC decision to ban him from wearing a helmet showing images of fellow Ukrainian athletes who were killed during Russia’s invasion.
Italy win home gold in the mixed speed skating team event, and their Italian blue speed suits look so good. What a colour.
Birk Ruud won the men’s freeski slopestyle, which is the park-course event with jumps and rails to prove that snowboarders can’t have 100% of the fun, they only get about 95% of the fun.
Breezy Johnson couldn’t get another medal in the teams event after her unexpected solo win in the women’s alpine downhill the other day. She finished fourth with Mikaela Shiffrin. Jaqueline Wiles, the other USA skier who had a great day in the solo race, won bronze with Paula Moltzan for USA in the teams.
Emma Aicher trailed Breezy by four one-hundredths of a second in the solo race, and won silver again here with Kira Weidle-Winkelmann for Germany.
Gold though went to Austria, for Katharina Huber and Ariane Rädler.
Germany got gold in the women’s luge, via Julia Taubitz in an emotional finale after a very calm final run.
Great Britain missed out on bronze to Italy in the curling mixed doubles.
Brother-sister gold medals became a theme (twice is a theme, right?) with the Wranå siblings for Sweden in the mixed curling and the Prevc siblings (and friends) for Slovenia in the ski jumping.
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Hockey: Canada v USA in a women’s group stage game at the moment, which is something of a grudge match in purely hockey terms even in normal times, and might be even more so when one of their governments keeps talking about invading the other. Not that you’d find many of the players endorsing that position, I’d wager. The US are leading 2-0 so far.
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Figure skating: That’s 16 skaters out of 29 in the men’s singles. Cha Junwhan and Andrew Torgashev are the two who’ve gone past Gogolev so far, so the top three are Korea, USA, Canada so far, remembering that this is a qualifying round for the free skate program on a subsequent day.
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🥇 Slovenia take gold in the mixed team's ski jumping
We had a brother-sister gold medal in the curling, and now another, with Nika and Domen Prevc part of that combined team. Four jumpers, accumulated scores, and the Slovenians have romped it in, over 30 points clear.
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Ski jumping: Nikaido Ren anchors the Japanese team’s tilt, after sharing bronze in the individual event last night. Marius Lindvik for Norway lands his jump perfectly to wrap up silver, assuming that the Slovenian champ Domen Prevc does his job… and he does.
Ski jumping: Barring a fall, China have slipped back into last place in the group, then USA, and Finland have jumped two spots. Then Austria, then Germany. Now for the medal spots.
Ski jumping: We have the same standings as earlier after three jumps per team, expect that Germany has jumped Austria into fourth spot.
Curling: The gold medal ceremony is taking place now, with the Wranås singing their anthem on the top of the podium. They’re a delightfully nerdy pair, doing their little jump up and down thing as the crowd cheers them. The Italians have the bronze, one of them wearing the team beanie and the other a team fluffy headband. That’s wardrobe alignment. One of the attendants takes a picture of everyone on the podium, then shows her phone to the TV camera.
Figure skating: I’m on board with Vladimir Samoilov, partly because I love Polish people and partly because he skated to Freestyler by Bomfunk MCs. Now we’re talking. One of the great music videos, a time-travel twist that with really ushered in the MP3-player era. Samoilov has qualified.
Ski jumping: Here’s another event. The finals of the mixed team jump are underway. We have teams of four, two men and two women, jumping for a combined score. The scores are marked partly on distance and partly on a judged mark of form and execution of the jump. After one jump apiece, it’s Slovenia leading from Norway and Japan, then Austria, Germany, China, USA, and Finland.
Figure skating: We have 29 skaters in the men’s short program, and 24 will advance to the free program. The tenth is on the rink now, so five have qualified. Stephen Gogolev is top so far, doing his routine in a very sharp fitted suit, but more impressively (or not, depending how you look at it) with one bootlace coming untied for most of the duration. Thankfully it didn’t cause him to fall. Perhaps he didn’t notice. The whole thing looked perfect, it scores him an 87.41.
🥇 Sweden's Wranå siblings win gold in the mixed curling
It needed nerves of ice on the ice. Rasmus Wranå has competed in two previous Olympics in the Swedish men’s team, winning gold last time and silver before that. His sister, Isabella had never been to a Games. She’d won a women’s junior championship, then a mixed world championship a couple of years ago, but never been to the peak.
Now, she is there, walking around the rink pumping fists at the crowd. And not just there, but delivering the winning stone with impeccable composure, having nailed several absolutely crucial throws to score points for Sweden in previous ends.
The final score was 6-5, as the deflated Americans leave the arena.
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Curling: Sweden have the second and third best stones, USA have the best, but if Isabella Wranå can remove it… and she does! Curls around the right-hand side of the rink, arounds the guards, and knocks the USA stone clear!
Impressive from Dropkin in the background, applauding them sincerely along with the crowd as the spectators erupt.
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Curling: It doesn’t take much. A slight error from Dropkin, just too much weight on his throw as he tries to set up a stone at the back of the house, but the Swedes are able to sweep it a long way towards the back. Their second-last stone in reply, though, is another error, this one from Rasmus Wranå, trying to get it around a yellow at the front of the house and nestle in with two reds closer in. But the stone curls too much and clips that yellow, stopping too far away to be much use to the Swedes.
One stone each remaining.
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Curling: Some sharpshooting from Korey Dropkin manages to get around the Swedish guard stone and take out their one stone in the house. The USA now have three stones clinging on to the outside rings of the house, meaning that if Sweden go in with their last stone, then have it knocked out, USA could score three or four points. The defensive option is to cannon two of the yellow stones out of play, meaning the Americans can score a max of two. Isabella Wranå does exactly that. Smashes those two yellows with her red, a powerful drive, and concedes the two points as Cory Thiesse lands the final stone.
It’s USA 5-4, but Sweden with last stone in the final end.
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Curling: Right, back to the gold medal mixed doubles match. It’s been a grind so far, scores in units of one, and into the seventh end out of eight, it’s Sweden leading 4-3. Isabella Wranå nailed another cold-blooded throw at the end of the sixth to sneak that lead. She starts the seventh by setting up a guard in advance of the house, then her brother lands one in the centre circle. The Americans drop one just in front of that last stone. Rasmus knocks out a wider American stone.
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Hockey: Germany beat Italy 2-1 earlier in the women’s group game. The winners are second in Group B.
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🥇 Julia Taubitz wins comeback gold in women's luge
She was devastated four years ago in Beijing, after recording a track record and then crashing out of contention. This time, there are no mistakes. She’s an island of calm out there on her sled at 116 kilometres an hour, not trying to push her speed to the absolute max given she already has a big lead.
Bota got up to 121.9 kph on her last run, and Farquharson up to 123, gunning for their eventual silver and bronze spots. Taubitz just has to get through clean, and she does, tight in the chicane but otherwise untroubled.
Gold is going to Germany.
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Luge: Elina Bota of Latvia the second-last slider. A much slighter frame than some of the others, not sure what that means for momentum, but she’s fast at the top of the course and also holds on during the chicane. She’s now top, with the German Julia Taubitz the only one left, needing to hold her nerve for gold.
Luge: That error won’t come from Ashley Farquharson, who almost clips the chicane, the one section of track that has brought so many undone today, but doesn’t lose any speed through there, and finishes strongly. She can’t do worse than bronze with that.
Luge: Verena Hofer is pumped! The Italian goes top of the list, with three racers to come. So if one mistake comes in the next three runs, she’s in the medals. Another aggressive run, and she scores 3.926.
Luge: Ouch, Emily Fischnaller almost crashes on the way down. Rebounds from one wall to another after an early clip. The American was hoping to challenge the last few but will now finish well back in the back. That opens things up a touch.
Luge: The results largely going on start order so far, though Anna Berreiter is pretty happy at gaining one place when Lisa Schulte loses a few fractions having to correct. That’s Germany v Austria. Berreiter top of the list for now, six racers to go though. And the Italian Sandra Robatscher goes past her with a very aggressive run. Five left.
Our expert winter sport email correspondent Beau Dure checks in. “I’ve taught a couple hundred new curlers over the past five years or so, and some of them simply won’t get into that squat. They try to remain partially upright and then somehow slide. It never works.”
Ya gotta do the squat, Jerry! He won’t do the squat!
Curling: Some low-scoring ends, the Americans take one before the Swedes reply, so it’s 3-2 to Sweden after four.
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Luge: Summer Britcher of the USA is pretty annoyed after clipping a couple of walls on the way down, after a really promising first half of the run. She’s gone top for now, but not with a time that will give her enough to defend.
Luge: Delightful response from Yulianna Tunytska: third to race, goes top of the three so far though, with a very fast time. The Ukrainian racer is absolutely beaming. Not going to win today, but so happy to have made the final 20 here and to have competed with the best in the world.
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Luge: Final round of the women’s singles! This is where the medal will be decided. Their fourth run, and the times are all added together, so you need more than just one blazing run to win this event. Consistency is key. The race order of the 20 lugers today goes from slowest to fastest times after their first three rounds, so the main contenders will be last.
Figure skating: The men’s single short program is about to begin, the first round before the free program to follow. We’ll keep an eye on that over the next little while.
Curling: What a shot from Isabella Wranå, with last stone in this end, and her brother barely even needs the broom as a perfectly weighted delivery nestles up against the other red rock at the centre of the house. Two for Sweden, 2-1 up.
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Curling: Cat and mouse with the Swedes trying to build a wall, the Americans knocking bits of out, but shooting last, eventually with a cannon from one stone to another, they knock traffic around a busy house such that the USA team emerges with the first point of the encounter.
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Curling: We are away. I love that creepy little squatting move that they do when they first send a stone down the ice, looking like a supernatural bird trying to hatch life from that stone egg. The nature of Monkey was irrepressible. The Swedish feller, Rasmus Wranå, does a particularly impassive magic-mother-hen move.
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Thanks Daniel. Hello, you. Are you ready to curl? I was born to curl.
So I’m going to leave you with Geoff Lemon, who’ll chill with you until the close. Peace out, people.
We’re five minutes away from the gold-medal match in the curling mixed doubles, USA v Sweden. It should be a belter.
In the ice hockey, Germany have equalised against Italy. It’s 1-1 with 6.30 left in the second.
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Dolour is a great word. Capello, Andy Bull.
Run three of the luge is over and Julia Taubitz of Germany is a merely poor run away from gold; the other medals could go anywhere. But spare a thought for poor Merle Frabel, who made a terrible error which has cost her a medal.
In the hockey, Italy have scored, leading Germany 1-0 with 18.30 to go in the second.
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“Why does Mikaela Shiffrin always struggle in the Winter Olympics?” wonders Kurt Perleberg.
I’m afraid I’ve not a clue, but two gold medals isn’t terrible; let’s see what happens in the slalom and giant slalom.
With the potential medal contenders finished in round three of the luge, it’s time to look forward.
At 5.05pm, we’ve got the final of the curling mixed doubles, USA taking on Sweden; at 5.34pm, it’s the final run of our luge; at 7pm, the final round of the mixed team, normal hill ski jumping; and at 7.10, Canada meet USA in the women’s ice hockey, the match a probably gold-medal match rehearsal.
Now Fischnaller of USA goes and throws everything at it She moves up to fifth, and is in with a shout of a medal.
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Back with the ice hockey, it’s Italy 0-0 Germany with 15s to go in the first period.
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Gosh, now Farquharson of USA zooms past Frabel … and Hofer, into the bronze-medal position. And, once Robatscher and Schulte have been, Frabel is seventh. She’ll be feeling extremely poorly.
Hofer of Italy goes next, takes a risk at the start, it almost ruins her, but she keeps going, just, ands her time of 52.977 takes her past Frabel into third.
That kind of thing, we’re told, might happen once in a World Cup season and, as we watch a replay, the German coaching team have heads in hands. Frabel will take this regret to her grave and, as I type, Bota of Latvia records her slowest run so far, 52.939, but still moves second.
Here she goes and from the start down the ramp, she makes a terrible error, going up into the wall, then into the one on the other side! That will surely cost her any chance at gold! Gosh, she looks haunted as she finishes, her time of 54.144 1.475s slower than Taubitz, whose choice to play it safe looks a wise one now. She has the gold in her hand; the battle for silver in on.
Taubitz goes first and she’s pelting down the track but, on fresh ice, she plays it pretty safe, recording her slowest time of 52.730. What has Frabel got for her?
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This is our top 10 after two runs:
It’ll take something for oner of the top two to avoid taking gold; there’s a battle for that, then a battle for bronze.
Anyroad up, it’s 0-0 with 10 to go in the first; elsewhere, we’re four minutes away from the resumption of the women’s luge singles.
I should say, currently Italy lead Germany by a point, so if this match is a draw they’ll finish higher and take on second place in Group A.
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Both teams are already into the last eight, but the winner will avoid the winner of Group A – though you’d not back either to even run USA or Canada, the two teams in contention, close.
We’re under way in our Italy v Germany Group B women’s ice hockey…
Goodness me.
The medal table is currently led by … Norway.
We’ll see how it goes, but given how well the men’s football team are doing – the women’s side were always good – Norwegian sport is enjoying something of a moment.
I think they enjoyed the moment.
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I’ve just rewatched Austria’s gold in the team combined; leading with Mikaela Shiffrin to come, she and Breezy Johnson looked great, impregnable almost. What an effort from Radler and Huber to beat them.
I mean a gold’s a gold, right? Is the medals breaking anything more than quite funny?
What a feeling this must be.
So, in the meantime, get a load of these.
That’s it with the live sport until 3.40pm, when Italy meet Germany in Group B of the women’s ice hockey. Then after than, at 4pm, we’ve run three of the women’s single luge – four, the last, is at 5.34pm – and at 5.05pm Sweden face USA in the mixed doubles curling gold-medal match.
Ultimately, they played really well today, but Constantini was just too good.
The GB lads are as disappointed as you’d expect; having come fourth in Beijing, they hoped to go one better here and started so well, only to no-show yesterday. “So close but yet so far, same as last time really,” offers Dodds, saying she doesn’t “want to ugly cry,” so she’ll stop there.
Mouat, taking over, is also tearful, saying it’s rough but they played so much better than for years ago. They’re both resilient people and spoke last night saying how lucky there are to play at the Olympics with your best mate. They grew up curling together with no idea how far they could take it, enough to send Dodds, and their relationship is really affirming.
Back to Dodds, she thanks the National Lottery for it’s financial support, and off they go; both won silver in the team at Beijing, neither are finished here yet.
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The home crowd greet their bronze medalists. It’s not the gold they wanted, having taken it last Games, but they enjoy the moment nonetheless.
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Italy win bronze in the mixed doubles curling, beating Great Britain 5-3
The stone is barely out of Constantini’s hand ad the crowd are whooping – it’s perfect, and no more than she deserves as the best player on the ice.
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Mosaner isn’t having a great time out there and another poor stone allows GB to calculate how they might steal this end. Dodds hits the button, but if Constantini knocks it out of the road, the bronze is Italy’s. The way she’s been playing, you can’t back against her.
Powerplay for Italy and, after two stones each, GB have three that didn’t reach the house, with Mosaner taking one away, leaving one of his own on the side.
Constantini sends her final stone and Dodds must now try to send hers one into another of hers, taking both closer than the Italian. Here she goes … and she doesn’t catch enough of it. It’s one for GB and they trail 4-3 going into the final end.
GB with the hammer and look nicely positioned with reds in front of yellows; Italy take a timeout before Mosaner goes again, a poor shot taking one of his and one of GB’s stones away. Mouat wonders if he and Dodds can manage three this end, which’d certainly pigeon the cat. It’s good stone too; Italy have 1, but GB have 2, 3 and 4.
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GB go again and lands their stone on the button, knocking one of the Italian ones out, but might a hard one up the middle get rid of everything? Mosaner goes for it, but this isn’t good at all, and he leaves two reds in the in the green, his own yellow ones naewhere. So Dodds rolls one to the button, and here comes Constantini with Italy’s final go of the end. This could be pivotal, as she attempts to pass through a tiny gap and nick and end that looked lost … and has she given it enough … oh she has, that is perfection! She takes the middle, Italy lead 4-2 and, with two ends to go that might be the medal.
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GB are looking good in this end, calling a timeout to debate what to do. They’ve one stone half of which is on the button, and another on the edge of the green; Italy have two inside the green.
Indeed so; thanks Yara and hi again all. Italy have the hammer and the 3-2 lead, but GB are closer in this third end.
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That is all from me but Daniel Harris is back to take you through the rest of the curling.
Curling: GB pull one back and Italy lead 3-2. GB could have got another on the board but Constantini’s throw manages to push a red away. Will the Italians use their power play?
Curling: GB have been on the defensive so far … they need to start playing a bit more aggressively and need to get something on the board in this fifth end.
Mouat knocks his red into the button then, with his next throw, pushes Mosaner’s attempt away. Italy now must respond.
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Curling: Italy take a 3-1 lead before the break. Constantini, who is competing for bronze here in her hometown, delivers a decent final stone and Dodds, once again, is faced with a big pressure moment … Her throw hits the cluster of stones but Italy still manage the point.
Dodds’s accuracy is at 69% compared to Mouat’s 81%. Constantini is at 94% and Mosaner is at 96%.
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🥇Austria win gold in women's alpine skiing team combined
Katharina Huber loses time as she comes down the mountain but she hangs on to the lead, giving her and her partner Ariane Rädler the lead with a combined 2:21.66.
Here comes Mikaela Shiffrin of Team USA … she has a six-hundredths of a second lead in the start gate but her turns are too wide. Breezy Johnson and Shiffrin finish fourth, off the podium. Instead it is their compatriots, Jackie Wiles and Paula Moltzan, who win bronze. Kira Weidle-Winkelmann and Emma Aicher of Germany win silver.
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Curling: Fourth end and Italy get us underway. Both teams find the button with their second throw with neither side letting up.
Figure skating: The US figure skater Amber Glenn said Tuesday that she has resolved copyright concerns with the Canadian recording artist Seb McKinnon after the musician expressed surprise that one of his songs appeared in her Olympic free skate program, closing a brief dispute that underscored the growing complexity of music rights in figure skating.
McKinnon, who releases music under the name CLANN, posted on social media after Glenn performed to his track The Return during the Olympic team event, questioning whether the music had been cleared. He later congratulated Glenn on her team gold medal, and both sides have since described the episode as a misunderstanding rather than a conflict.
Read the full story below.
Biathlon: France’s Fabien Claude beats Ukraine’s Dmytro Pidruchnyi with a time of 55:46.9 (4 misses). But his lead is short lived as Italy’s Patrick Braunhofer betters his mark, crossing the finish line in 55:01.7 (1 miss).
Curling: Italians make a mistake with their third throw, it lacks quite a bit of power. Mouat almost overhits his throw but he moves Team GB into pole position … Only for Italy to pull off a fantastic shot to finish on the button. Italy 2-1 Great Britain.
Curling: Great throw from Amos Mosaner for Italy’s third, landing right on the edge of the button. Another great throw for the Italians lands right in the centre and it looks like it will be an uphill battle for Mouat and Dodds.
But Team GB manage to respond with Mouat hitting it in the centre. The Italians prevent their opponents taking the lead but we are all tied at 1-1.
Alpine skiing: The women’s team combined (slalom) is also underway and the tricky course has caught a lot of our slalom racers out. Five DNFs and one DSQ after 16 runs. Switzerland’s Jasmine Flury and Wendy Holdener are the team to beat.
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Curling: Italy have a yellow right between two reds and Dodds’ throw just needed a bit more power on it. Italy steal and lead 1-0 in the first end, much to the joy of the crowd.
Curling: Dodds and Mouat were imperious in the round-robin stage with eight wins from nine matches. Only Switzerland managed to defeat Team GB in the earlier stages which meant Dodds and Mouat defeated the other three teams going into the semi-finals. But it wasn’t meant to be, losing to Sweden on Monday.
Dodds and Mouat are hoping they can go one better than at Beijing 2022 and win bronze.
Medal drama: After days of embarrassing stories about Winter Olympic medals cracking, snapping, and even breaking in two after falling in the snow, organisers say they have finally fixed the problem.
Officials have also promised to repair any of the medals that were awarded in the opening three days of competition in Milano Cortina, after identifying on Monday that the issue stemmed from the medal’s cord, which is fitted with a breakaway mechanism required by law.
The system is designed to release automatically if pulled with force, preventing the wearer from being choked. However it led to problems that began on Saturday when the American downhill skiing champion Breezy Johnson revealed that her gold medal had fallen off her ribbon as she jumped in celebration.
Read the full story below.
Curling: Here we go! Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat are about to fight for Great Britain’s first medal of the Games against Italy in the mixed doubles bronze medal match.
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🥇Ruud takes gold in freeski slopestyle
Birk Ruud’s final run is just a formality, with the gold already secured. He has fun with it but has a bit of a slip and falls. He is OK, gets up and finishes with a gorgeous backflip. Fantastic performance overall for the Norwegian, winning his first gold.
Alex Hall of the United States wins silver and Luca Harrington of New Zealand takes bronze. The Kiwi was quite emotional when his third place was confirmed on his Olympic debut. Great scenes.
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Freestyle skiing: The highest Alex Hall can finish in the men’s freeski slopestyle is silver. Norway’s Birk Ruud is currently in a gold medal position but has a final run. Luca Harrington of New Zealand is hanging on for the bronze.
🥇Klæbo speeds to gold in sprint skiing in fantastic race
We just witnessed one of the best of all time win another gold. Johannes Høsflot Klæbo was away and clear so early on, after a brilliant attack on the hill. He blew the world class field apart. At the final strait, he took a look behind him and saw just how far ahead he was.
Ben Ogden takes silver, a huge moment for the American team, and Oskar Opstad Vike of Norway takes bronze.
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Cross-country skiing: Men’s sprint final is up next. Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klæbo will aim for his second gold of these Games after winning the 20 km skiathlon.
Ben Ogden, was fantastic in the semis, he is aiming for the first US medal in this event in 50 years.
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🥇Svahn takes gold in sprint skiing ahead of Swedish compatriots
Sweden win gold and silver and bronze! What a performance from Linn Svahn, who pipps her teammate Jonna Sundling, who has dominated this sport for the last five years. Maja Daglqvist wins the bronze.
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Cross-country skiing: The women’s sprint finals is down to the wire … Sweden may be aiming for a 1-2-3 here but will Jonna Sundling defend her gold? She is currently in second.
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Freestyle skiing: Alex Hall of the United States puts down a clean run to move into second in men’s slopestyle finals, with a score of 85.75.
The defending champion gets a likened to Eric Cantona of Manchester United by the commentary team. Cool, aggressive and a legend of the sport. He has a lot of American fans here, and maybe even some local support. His mother is from Bologna.
Norway’s Birk Ruud still leads with a score of 86.28.
🥇Italy win gold in short track speed skating (mixed relay)
What a moment! The Italians were patient, they waited for the right moment and as soon as they saw the opportunity, they pounced, finishing with a time of 2:39.019. Canada, the top-ranked team, take silver and what a moment for Belgium, who take bronze. China, the defending champions, finish fourth. That mistake cost them a place on the podium.
That is the second gold for Italy at these Games and Arianna Fontana’s 12th Olympic medal. She was skating at Turin 2006 at just 15 years old.
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Speed skating: China speed to the front but all of a sudden a mistake from them and suddenly Italy are in the lead! They speed by as the home crowd erupts, Belgium in second, Canada third …
Thanks Daniel and hello all. Let’s get to this short track speed skating final.
Righto, I’m off for a little break; here’s Yara El-Shaboury to chill with you for the next bit.
Now then. Konnor Ralph of USA records a decent run and he’s chuffed to have landed everything, going sixth wit a score of 36.20 that’s far lower than what he’ll have hoped for. And his speed-skating brethren are also disappointed, falling in the B final, won by the Netherlands.
Gubser of Switzerland goes incomplete again; on the ice, our racers are out for the mixed team finals, Arianna Fontana pursuing a fourth Olympic gold, and they’re off in the B race, Netherlands leading…
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OK, I like Birk Ruud’s jumper – no softlad’s coat for him – and he delivers a pretty nifty jig, landing a colossal jump at the end too, and with 86.28, he’s comfortably in the lead for Norway at the end of run one.
And that was pretty ridiculous, some outrageous rail behaviour, backflipping on to one, followed by all manner of improbable jump, and his 77.21 takes him second.
Austria’s Matej Svancer starts beautifully, doing video-game stuff says our commentators, then he spins on the first jump, clockwise and anti-clockwise … but he can’t land it. But her comes Jesper…
Ah this is more like it, our old pal Ragettli laying down something proper. I doubt 78.65 is a winning score, but it’s a tone-setter, and he leads for Switzerland.
Ben Barclay of New Zealand is the first to complete his run in the slopestyle, so leads with 69.40, then USA’s Mac Forehand , one of the favourites and surely the favourite name, also fails to complete, falling off the first rail for a score of 1.25, only 1.25 more than you or I would get.
Back on the rink, USA fall again, with Korea already gone, and is there a route back this time? Canada lead from Belgium and both qualify for the final.
While all that was going on, Hall went in the slopestyle, the fifth in a row to make a mess of an incomplete run; he goes into the lead but his 52.65 is miles off what medal-standard will be.
Eeee, Fontana’s Italy lead in the speed skating, and the Netherlands fall! Italy lead China home.
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Can anyone who read Judy Blume’s Forever as an impressionable tween see the name Ralph without feeling a way? I submit not.
The slopestyle is also under way, Konnor Ralph of USA leading with 36.20 after three incomplete runs.
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The speed skaters are on the ice for the mixed team event; Fontana, who wasn’t involved in the quarter-finals, is out for Italy and in the first race with Netherlands, China and France.
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Jesper Tjader of Sweden is another wonderful loon – and a big medal threat.
In latest these people need help, so very much help news, how about Andri Ragettli, soon to go in the slopestyle? I can’t walk down the stairs without clipping my hip on the bannister.
After Kirsty Muir yesterday, we all know how the slopestyle works, right? Competitors boust down a course, using rails then three big jumps, to be judged according to the quality, variety and originality of their tricks. Each of them take three goes, with the best one counting.
Back to the speed skating, Canada and China qualify from the third quarter, with Belgium and France going through as fastest losers; the semis are at 11.34, the finals at 12.03.
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Alex Hall, the defending champion in the slopestyle, is 27 and still has curtains. Biggup!
Oh! In the second heat, USA fall, metaphors abounding, with Korea leading from France from Japan. But Japan crash, two French skaters collide, and at the bell USA are second behind Korea … qualifying in second place.
The quarter-finals of the men’s short track, speed skating, mixed team relay might not need commas, but it’s impenetrable otherwise, so here we are. Netherlands win the first race from Italy, just, with Poland and Hungary way behind.
Ah, BBC visit with Wilf O’Reilly, in their commentary box – a blast from the past for those who remember Calgary 88. Speed skating was a demo event then, and he won two golds, but back to today, sort of, I forgot to note that Arianna Fontana was only 15 when she competed in Turin, ridiculous behaviour – and also one of the beauties of sport, which allows you to watch a person grow up and become who they are.
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That was a really nice interview, really capturing the best aspects of this new event. For people who have to rely on themselves almost uniquely, getting to enjoy the camaraderie of being in a team must be great.
Ah, here’s Breezy, who tells us she’s happy with her run. The pressure of holding someone else’s Olympic dream is a lot, but it’s freeing to pass the torch ; “you just get to be a passenger on the amazing ride that is an Olympic race … double-pressure but also half the pressure”.
There was one moment on her run when she thought “Mikaela deserves this”. They spoke yesterday, deciding to go out and do their best, no expectations, and says you get to be a superfan, while also going out and having fun for someone else, adding that it’s special to share a medal with someone else.
From here, we’re building to the men’s slopestyle final, coming up at 11.30. Why not get acquainted with defending champion, Alex Hall.
We’ve finished in the women’s team combined, and Vlhova can simply get acclimatised; Srobova, her partner, came 26 out of 26 finishers, 10.07s off the lead, held by Breezy Johnson with Mikaela Shiffrin to come; Raedler and Huber are second 0.06s down, with Pirovano and Peterlini a further 0.27 down. Emma Aicher, silver medalist in the individual downhill, has 0.74 to make up with her slalom.
Richard Grenell, the Kennedy Center head who was the US ambassador to Germany during Trump’s first term, criticized Hess on social media, suggesting he “move to Canada if you aren’t proud to wear USA”.
“The guy said he has mixed emotions about representing America,” Grenell said. “[H]e is a loser for saying that while representing the greatest country in the history of the world.”
“The greatest country in the history of the world”; are you six?
Arianna Fontana, one of very few Italians to already compete in a home Games, in Turin 06, and a national hero having won 500m gold in the last two Olympics, is back involved, age 35. The heats were earlier this morning and she qualified for the next round, finishing second in her heat.
Ukrainian accuses IOC of ‘betrayal’ for banning helmet
A Ukrainian skeleton racer has accused the International Olympic Committee of “betrayal” after it banned his racing helmet, which showed images of athletes and his friends that were killed following Russia’s invasion, from the Winter Olympics.
On Tuesday morning, Ukraine launched an appeal against the decision, arguing that Vladyslav Heraskevych should be allowed to use his “helmet of memory”, showing the weightlifter Alina Peregudova, boxer Pavlo Ishchenko, ice hockey player Oleksiy Loginov at the Winter Olympics.
However, in messages posted to social media late on Tuesday and on Wednesday, Heraskevych made clear his frustration with the IOC’s stance. “A decision that simply breaks my heart,” he wrote. “The feeling that the IOC is betraying those athletes who were part of the Olympic movement, not allowing them to be honoured on the sports arena where these athletes will never be able to step again.”
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For those wondering, Breezy was born Breanna – Americans love that name – but after she took the nickname, her parents changed her name legally. I’m laughing to myself imagining my parents doing that with any of the various things my mates have called me over the years.
So much so that BBC have cut away from the slopes and returned to the studio. I can’t wait to see what Shiffrin makes of the course; I daresay Breezy is confident of a second gold.
The top two are still well ahead and we’re through 20 competitors now; none of those left are expected to trouble to podium.
In for Lindsey Vonn, Bella Wright crashes out, so no slalom porton for Nina O’Brien, who’ll return for the Super G.
We’ve got a pair of Swiss teams out next, both of whom have serious slalomers – Camille Rast, the second of them, is the only person to beat Shiffrin this season. But Jasmine Flury isn’t loving her run, leaving Wendy Holdener with a lot to do after finishing 1.54 off the lead in 11th place.
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Email! “My normal criteria is spending an night in the country and seeing some sights,” says Björn Björnsson “So an airport hotel doesn’t count. I’m tempted to say seeing some sights so that my few hours on the Zambian side of Victoria Falls counts.”
What about driving through a country? I’ve driven through Belize going from Guatemala to Mexico, so seen some of it, but don’t quite feel like I have.
Easy, Breezy, beautiful. Her time isn’t as good as her winning one, but she zooms over the line to lead by 0.06s – ominous for the rest with Shiffrin to come in the slalom.
A slower section three and Johnson is down by 0.28, but can she sort herself in the final portion?
And she’s 0.01 outside Raedler down section one, but 0.02 inside at the end of two.
Now here comes Breezy…
Next out is Kira Weidle-Winkelmann, whose partner Emma Aicher took silver in the individual event; she almost goes at the end, but ends up fifth, giving her partner a shot at a medal but probably not the gold.
We’re on to our 12th runner, Lie of Norway, who came seventh in the individual event, on the course. But she’s way off this, finishing 0.71 off the Raedler to go fifth. For comparison, the leader recorded 1:36.65; Johnson’s winning time was 1:36.10.
All this remains true.
Aaarrggghhh, Goggia goes for too much, cutting an angle, and she thinks about trying to save it but takes the safe option, going down! She’s fine but what an expletive for Lara Della Mea, her partner, who won’t get a run at the slalom.
And she finishes in third; that time from Raedler looks better with every run but out now is Goggia, individual bronze medalist, and she’s hurtling through the first sector.
Out now, Jaqueline Wiles of USA, and she’s inside the lead down the first two sections, then outside it.
Question: what constitutes visiting a country? I ask because I was just thinking Austria is one of few central European countries I’ve not visited, then remembered that interailing from Paris to Prague, we changed trains in Vienna, so does that count?
We’ve our first Italian pelting down the course, and Laura Pirovano is threatening the lead … but finishes 0.21s off it. Raedler still leads for Austria.
This might be the earliest in the morning – having slept – that I’ve ever heard early internet legend, Sandstorm by Darude, pumping over the PA. And you know what? In any circumstance, it’s a tune.
People have a lot to say about stuff they don’t understand, that doesn’t concern them. See Biles, S.
Ooooh, Ariane Raedler of Austria, eighth in the individual event, nails 1:35.65, a time that would’ve been good enough for bronze; she takes the lead, giving Katharina Huber, her partner, a chance in the second portion.
Miradoli of France lays down a quicker time than she did coming 16th in the individual downhill, 1:37.37; I guess she’s used to the course now. Our big names, though, don’t come out for a while: Goggia, who took bronze in the individual event is ninth, Aicher who claimed silver, is doing the slalom portion, and Johnson is 14th with Srobova, Vlhova’s partner, going 28th and last.
Righto, we’re at the top of the mountain, and ready to go in women’s team combined. There’s no sun, but it’s bright and snowing.
Here’s our briefing for today…
What I didn’t realise about Vlhova is that she’s literally not raced since jiggering her ACL. Perhaps for her, this event is a warm-up for the individual slalom, but people like her tend not to view anything as a warm-up for anything.
Goodness us, what a team USA have in the combined. Breezy Johnson, the downhill champ, partnering Mikaela Shiffrin, perhaps the greatest slalomer ever. This is going to be a helluva ruckus.
This is so cool. And also hot.
On BBC, they’re talking about Petra Vlhová, Ggold-medal winner in the Beijing slalom. She’s been out injured for two years, but is back now, competing in the team combined. That’s a lot of pressure for her partner, Katarina Srobova, who’ll need to leave her in the contest with a strong downhill contribution.
Today's highlights
9.30am – Alpine skiing, women’s team combined, downhill
11.30am – Freestyle skiing, men’s slopestyle, final
12.03pm – Short track mixed team relay, finals
12.24pm – Cross-country skiing, women’s sprint classic style
12.30pm – Biathlon men’s 20lm individual
12.38pm – Cross-country skiing, men’s sprint classic style, final
1pm – Alpine skiing, women’s team combined, slalom
1.05pm – Curling mixed doubles, bronze medal game, GB v Italy
5.05pm – Curling mixed doubles, gold medal game, Sweden v USA
5.34pm – Luge, women’s single, run four
7pm – Ski jumping, mixed team, normal hill, final round
7.10pm – Group A women’s ice hockey, Canada v USA
Preamble
Buongiorno a tutti e benvenuti alle Olimpiadi invernali 2026 – quarto giorno!
And it’s another dead busy day in Milan Cortina. We begin our coverage with the downhill aspect of the women’s team combined, a new event that those who enjoyed it yesterday know is a terrific addition; the slalom section comes later in the day.
In the meantime, we’ve got the men’s slopestyle final in the freeski, USA’s Alex Hall hoping to retain his title; his mum is from nearby Bologna, so he’ll have family watching, presumably a far scarier proposition than twizzling upside down a million miles in the air.
We’ve also got medals being handed out in short track mixed team relay and in a load of cross-country events, biathlon too, after which Bruce Mouat and Jen Dodds compete for bronze in the mixed doubles curling, the only event in which Great Britain have yet to win a medal; they face Italy, who won gold four years ago, with USA v Sweden to follow in the final.
Then, this evening, we’ve the final run of the women’s luge, the mixed team normal hill ski jumping, a probable dress rehearsal for the women’s ice hockey final when Canada take on USA – and a whole lot more.
Esattamente! Andiamo!
