Righto, what a night that was. I’m goosed and have barely moved off my sofa for the last four hours never mind trained every day for four years.
We’ll be back tomorrow for more Winter Olympic drama, there’s nothing like it. Congratulations to the medal winners and commiserations to those that missed out.
Goodnight.
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Men’s Figure Skating Final: Shaidorov’s win should be celebrated. He skated brilliantly. He may be Malinin’s rival for years to come.
But it’ll be impossible to remember this event as anything other than a catastrophe for the world’s best skater over the past three years by a wide margin.
The flip side is that Malinin came through in the team event, which means several US skaters will leave Italy with gold medals. That may be of little consolation at the moment.
No other sporting event has the drama of the Olympics. Not the World Cup, where the players all immediately turn around and return to lucrative and high-profile professional careers. Only here. When it goes well, it’s enthralling. In this case, it’s heartbreaking.
Ilia Malinin speaks in the moments after losing out on the Gold… and any medal at all:
Speaking to NBC he says he “felt ready”. “Maybe too confident” he says.
“I think it was definitely mental,” Malinin says when asked if it was physical or mental. He says the Olympics are just different.
What was his first thought when the music ended?
“I blew it!” Malinin says with a smile.
🥇Kazakhstan's Mikhail Shaidorov wins Gold in the men's figure skating final
We’ve just seen the biggest shock of these Olympic Games.
There is pin drop silence in the arena as Ilia Malinin falls twice and effectively drops the Gold medal that everyone thought was a foregone conclusion. The commentators, the crowd… there’s surreal silence as everyone tries to compute what they have just seen with their own eyes. Malinin’s routine is so bad that he finishes in 8th position overall.
The beauty and cruelty of sport writ large.
Yuma Kagiyama and Shun Sato of Japan take the Silver and Bronze.
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The Malinin dilemma …
Malinin could play it safe and take the gold medal. Or he could go out and land a quad axel as one of seven quads.
Which would you do?
Men’s Figure Skating Final: Drama in the latter stages as France’s Adam Siao Him Fa and Italy’s Daniel Grassl both feel the pressure of a possible podium finish and make big mistakes, both men end up falling!
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This is a wonderfully entertaining round up:
Phew. We’ve still got more action for you y’know – the Men’s Figure Skating Final is getting down to brass tacks and the business end.
Ilia Roman Malinin will skate for a second Gold of these games very shortly, Simone Biles and Jeff Goldblum are in the audience cheering on their fellow American.
We’ll keep an eye on it here but if you want all the details then do join Beau Dure and the dedicated live blog here:
Clad in a thick blue training coat underneath the stars. Matt Weston is given his gold medal and lets out a guttural roar into the Italian night sky.
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Matt Weston’s medal ceremony is just beginning on a crisp Cortina night. What a moment for him personally and for the Great British team who have waited a week for a medal in these games.
He got faster with each run!
Run one: 56.21 seconds
Run two: 55.88
Run three: 55.63
Run four: 55.61
Time to crank this, I’m not saying it is better than the National Anthem… actually I definitely am.
Matt Weston is being interviewed on the BBC right now, he is absolutely elated and just about managing to hold it together.
He joins Amy Williams and Lizzy Yarnold as Skeleton Gold medallists and Yarnold is teetering on the brink of tears with Claire Balders in the BBC studio.
“Every single one of the four runs were absolute perfection. Incredibly impressive from Matt Weston. What stands out for me is each and every time Matt Weston stood at the start block he was looking down the track, he excelled, he accelerated, he was so focused. I really can’t find the words to describe how incredibly impressed I am with his performance.”
🥇 Matt Weston wins Gold in the Men's Skeleton!
What a final run! Weston finishes with a faultless ride and actually increases the gap between himself and the rest of the field. It is there! He finishes in a time of 55.61 seconds which is a new course record to boot.
Weston falls to his knees on the ice. He then removes his helmet and his mouthguard and is visibly emotional, he punches the air and lets out a howl of joy. Well done that man, Great Britain have their first medal of this Winter Olympics and it is GOLD courtesy of Matt Weston.
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Men’s Skeleton Final Run: The camera lingers on Matt Weston. We are moments away from his run. Christopher Grotheer just guaranteed himself a medal with a fast final run, his German teammate Axel Jungk is on the ice now… and just clings on for silver!
Right. The time is now. Matt Weston pushes off…
Men’s Skeleton Final Run: Top final run from Great Britain’s Marcus Wyatt. He finishes with his best time of all of his runs - 56.24 and is guaranteed a top ten finish. He’ll be disappointed overall but pleased with that run to end with.
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Men’s Skeleton Final Run: Tension mounting as seven competitors have gone and there are 17 to go. A reminder in case you didn’t know, Great Britain have only bagged 12 Gold medals in total since the Winter Olympics began in 1924.
That gives you a bit more of a flavour of the pressure resting on Matt Weston’s shoulders, notwithstanding the fact Great Britain have yet to win a medal of any colour at these games so far.
Scores on the Doors Ice:
Matt Weston (Great Britain) - 2:47.72
Axel Jungk (Germany) - 2:48.11 (+0.39)
Christopher Grotheer (Germany) - 2:48.47 (+0.75)
Wenhao Chen (China) - 2:48.64 (+0.92)
Amedeo Bagnis (Italy) - 2:48.67 (+0.95)
Men’s Skeleton Final Run: Right then, I don’t know if you’ve heard but Great Britain have not yet won a medal at these games. Matt Weston has the chance to change that in the next 45 minutes. Weston is in first position in the men’s skeleton after three runs and has a healthy lead over the chasing German pair of Axel Jungk and the defending Olympic champion Christopher Grotheer.
It is very much Weston’s to lose. He’s trained for years for this moment and will go last as the competitors go in reverse order for this final run, with the current fastest pushing off last.
The temperature has dropped meaning the course is even faster. Go and get the colander from the kitchen and don some lycra if you really must, whatever you do, don’t go anywhere.
🥇 Gold for Yuto Totsuka in the men's snowboarding halfpipe!
Scotty James tumbles at the very last and he falls onto the snow with his head in his hands. If he landed the final trick the Gold was likely his but instead Japan’s Yuto Totsuka takes it! Incredible scenes on the halfpipe, The BBC’s Tim Yarwood says that the final has was “the best halfpipe final I’ve seen. The standard was absolutely through the roof.”
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Snowboarding – Men’s halfpipe final: Drama! Japan’s Yuto Totsuka falls on the final trick of his run. His second score of 95 is still the one that Aussie Scotty James needs to beat to claim that elusive Olympic Gold medal. Can James – the ‘Boxing Kangaroo’ so named because of his red gloves – get the job done? Here we go…
Men’s Figure Skating Final: Emotional scenes as USA skater Maxim Naumov takes to the ice. He lost his parents - former world champion pairs skaters Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova in the tragic Washington DC plane crash less than a year ago.
Follow the dedicated blog right here:
Snowboarding -Men’s halfpipe final: The BBC’s Ed Leigh and Tim Warwood are losing their minds in the commentary box! I do enjoy these two, they are like an inverse Statler and Waldorf.
An example of the repartee:
“Watching the tricks that Yamada just did is the equivalent of putting The Shining on when home alone. The judges are absolutely terrified.”
and
“Get me a Yuto Totsuka beach towel immediately”
Scotty James has just done some wild stuff but it still isn’t enough to get him into the Gold position, he’s currently in silver and there is one run left. There are rumours he’s got a never before seen trick up his sleeve, he might well need to deploy it and nail it to take the Gold.
As they stand, with one attempt to go:
Gold: Yuto Totsuka (Japan) - 95.00
Silver: Scotty James (Australia) - 93.50
Bronze: Ryusei Yamada (Japan) - 92.00
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Snowboarding: The Men’s halfpipe final is underway and as it stands Japan hold all the medal positions. Yamada Ryusei sits top on 92.00, Totsuka Yuto 91.00 and Hirano Ruka 90.00.
The legendary Aussie boarder Scotty James is chasing an elusive Gold in this event after winning Bronze and Silver in 2018 and 2022 respectively. The five time World Champion flunks his first run though, catching the lip and hitting the snow for just 48.75 points.
My US colleague Beau Dure is following the men’s figure skating final and you can follow him at the dedicated blog here:
Turns out it was a cover version of Eleanor Rigby! Sir Macca, sort it out mate.
As I feared, that was a cover version of Eleanor Rigby. No McCartney tonight.
It’s a clean program for Li Yu-Hsiang, but the jumps certainly aren’t at the level of the other skaters’ routines. The most dazzling part of his routine is a closing spin in which he changes position several times and seems to hang on forever. He finishes with a smile, then lies down on the ice as if making a snow angel.
But it’s nearly five points off his season best – 141.92, for a total of 214.33. Malinin will be hoping to score somewhere in that vicinity in his free skate alone.”
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Men’s skeleton: Matt Weston’s GB Teammate Marcus Wyatt has a disappointing third slide and drops from seventh to tenth. He’s +1.81 from the bronze and thus out of medal contention.
Men’s skeleton: Weston’s run was so good that he has put even more distance, well time*, between himself and the chasing German pair of Axel Jungk and the defending Olympic champion Christopher Grotheer. All shimmering ice roads lead to Matt Weston breaking Great Britain’s medal drought just after 8pm GMT.
*+0.46 and +0.75 seconds respectively.
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Men’s skeleton: What a run from Matt Weston! A great start and a fast, smooth ride to the finish line. He’s down in sub 56 seconds. He dismounts and punches the air, fair to say he’s happy with it! The commentators on the BBC have just said the rest of the field “may as well pack up and go home”. Yikes!
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Men’s skeleton: Matt Weston is going to be first out of the traps and down the track in the third heat. Stand by your Sleds!
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Figure skating: The men’s singles final is underway with the 24 strong line-up vying for the three medal places. American Ilia Malinin, the blonde haired ‘Quad God’ is the overwhelming favourite with a 5.09-point lead already established.
Li Yu-hsiang of China is the first competitor and is performing to 'Eleanor Rigby by The Beatles, one of the Fab Four’s more haunting numbers. Which Beatles song would I have gone for instead?! I thought you’d never ask!
I reckon a bit of Hey Bulldog or Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except For Me and My Monkey. Let’s make it Easy!
Ice Hockey: A shock over in the ice hockey arena as Sweden have knocked out Bronze medal hopefuls Czech Republic by two goals to nil in the women’s quarter finals. Sweden were outsiders coming into the games and have had to graft their way out of the unseeded group.
Hanna Olsson and Hilda Svensson got Sweden’s goals while goalie Ebba Svensson Traff starred with a 29-save shutout.
Men’s Skeleton: We’ve got just over half an hour before Matt Weston attempts his third of four runs in the men’s skeleton. He currently sits in first place and teammate Marcus Wyatt is in seventh. The fourth and final run will be at 20.05 GMT. Loins iced and girded for that.
Women’s Skeleton: Realistically Great Britain’s three sliders won’t be challenging for the medal positions tomorrow but they do have three competitors in the top nine.
The standings going into the tomorrow’s final medal slides:
Janine Flock (Austria)
Susanne Kreher (Germany)
Jacqueline Pfeifer (Germany)
Hannah Neise (Germany)
Tabby Stoecker (Great Britain)
Great Britain’s Freya Tarbit is sixth and Amelia Coltman is ninth.
Women’s Skeleton: Here comes Great Britain’s Tabby Stoeker who is in currently third place after the first run… gah a few mistakes from Stoeker on her nicknamed ‘Fred the Sled’ and that sees her drop down into fifth position.
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Women’s Skeleton: What a run from Tarbit! Smooth as silk, no mistakes. She beats her first by 0.36 seconds and puts some serious heat on the competitors in front of her, she’s currently in sixth place!
Women’s Skeleton: Brazil’s Nicole Rocha Silveira has a fetching green parrot on her helmet and has just screeched her way down the track in a time of 1:55.78. which puts her in first place currently.
Reigning world champion Kimberley Bos of the Netherlands has a scruffy slide, hitting the corners at least twice which slows her right down and she’s out of the top ten after that.
Great Britain’s Amelia Coltman and Freya Tarbit are about to slide, Tarbit is from my home county of Derbyshire, the delightfully named Ockbrook and Borrowash I believe, I’m obviously journalistically neutr… go on my duck!
Tanya slides off into her Friday evening and I’ve taken the live blogging seat for the rest of today’s action. Plenty going on, will update from the women’s skeleton shortly. It is Friday 13th… can Great Britain break their hoodoo/medal drought in these games today?
Their best bet will surely come from Matt Weston, he will attempt to become Britain’s first male Olympic skeleton champion (and as mentioned the first medallist of any kind in Milano Cortina thus far) with the final two runs of the skeleton competition happening this evening – at 18:30 and 20:05 GMT.
Weston is the reigning world champion and currently holds an advantage of 0.30 seconds over his next nearest rival, that sounds massive, right? Nailed on Gold. Right, right?
Skeleton: run two of the women’s skeleton starts, with three British sliders in the top ten. And time for me to hand over my bobble hat to Jim Wallace, who will guide you through to the close. Thanks for your company, bye!
Cas dismisses Vladyslav Heraskevych's appeal for reinstatement
Full story below:
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🥇 Teenager Metodej Jilek wins gold in the 10,000m speed skating
Hugs for a delighted Jilek, who adds gold to his silver from the 5000m, as both Loubineaud and Eitrem slip out of the medals.
Vladimir Semirunniy of Poland wins silver, and 40 year old Jorrit Bergsma takes bronze and the love of the crowd.
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Speed skating: but now both men are slipping way behind the clock and Timothy Loubineaud draws level, then overtakes, Eitrem.
Speed skating: The tension ratchets up. Sander Eitrem, 5000m Olympic champion, covers the ice in long, loping strides. At half way he is ahead of the clock
Speed skating: The final pair know what they have to do. After 2000 metres both Norway’s Sander Eitrem and Timothy Loubineaud of France are ahead of the clock, but there are still 20 laps left.
Speed skating: teenage dreams! At the bell Jilek is over five seconds ahead, he looks in agony but holds on to raise his arms as he crosses the line in first place. He bends over in complete exhaustion, but with two skaters to go, Jilek is guaranteed a medal.
Blemen arrives some time behind and lies seventh.
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Heraskevych's appeal for reinstatement rejected
The Court of Arbitration dismisses Ukranian skeleton racer Heraskevych’s appeal for reinstatement to the Winter Olympics.
more to follow…
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Do look at these fabulous photos collected by our picture desk.
Speed skating: The penultimate pairing of Ted-Jan Bloemen and Metodej Jilek take to the ice. Nineteen year old Jilek is like a sapling, Bloemen a tree-trunk – and the commentator says that young skaters coming through are build differently to the older men.
Speed skating: The orange-dominated crowd lift their flying Dutchman, who crosses the line in second place; a disappointed Ghiotto trails in behind and out of medal contention.
Bersma pulls off his hood, grins, and reveals a luxuriant squirrel tail mullet.
Speed skating: Bersma is closing on Ghiotto who is swaying like a Christmas Eve miscreant. And with four laps to go, Bersma takes the lead and streaks ahead.
Speed skating: at 5000m, neither Ghiotto or Bersma are ahead of the clock. Arms clasped behind their backs they bend and stride, left, right, left, right. Nine laps to go.
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Speed skating: The first of the final three pairs are off: world champion Davide Ghiotto and former Olympic champion, 40-year old Jorrit Bergsma.
Fun fact – the skaters soak their suits in cold water before they start to keep themselves cool.
Ice hockey: It’s knockout time in the women’s ice hockey, with Czechia and Sweden currently goal less in the first half.
While in group A of the men’s competition, Czechia are 2-0 up against France, and are dominating shots on goal.
Speed skating: there’s a gold medal waiting for the fastest man to cover 10,000m of ice. It takes over 12 minutes to complete so a balm to those overstimulated by the scream of the sliding events.
Five athletes have already skated, seven to go, with Poland’s Vladimir Semirunniy currently in gold medal position. Three pairings are yet to lace their boots, including Italian Davide Ghiotto and 19 year old phenomenon Metodej Jilek. They’re polishing the ice over in the Milano rink, and will restart in 20 minutes.
Skeleton: name of the games, Mystique Ro, has just navigated the skeleton track, but doesn’t dominate as her name suggests and currently lies in 15th. With most of the top names done, the top three is still: Janine Flock, followed by Susanne Kreher, with GB’s Tabby Stoecker in third.
Oooof, Sujung Hong has a horrible run down, sliding into the walls, knocking all parts of her body, braking with her toes, skeleton squealing, fingernail down blackboard. It’s a relief to see her in one piece at the bottom.
Curling: GB duly lost to South Korea, 9-3, making it two losses from two for the British women, with an intimidating role-call of opponents to come.
The other three round-robin games are still going: Canada lead the USA 8-7, Switzerland are on top against China 7-3, and it’s a Scandi-thriller, with Denmark and Sweden currently drawing 5-5.
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A cracking tale – Rich Ruohonen, the USA’s oldest Winter Olympian.
GB's Charlotte Bankes rues mistakes in the snowboard cross
Rotten luck for Bankes – back to the drawing board.
Women’s skeleton: full of admiration for these women’s neck muscles and core as their tea-trays scream across the ice. With seven athletes down the shute, GB’s Tabby Stoecker is still in second place.
Women’s Skeleton: Austria’s Janine Flock flies down the track at 77mph to place an excellent marker down for the rest to follow.
Britain’s best hope Tabby Stoecker follows soon after, in a bright white helmet and all in one blue suit. She sprints off and is ahead of the clock half way down the track but a brush with the wall slows her down and she finishes second.
Britain’s Amelia Coltman will go ninth and Freya Tarbit 11th in this first run.
Curling: things are looking dismal for the GB quartet, now 7-3 down to South Korea after seven ends. Lots of worried looking faces.
Prior to these Games, there were a number of reports on the future of the Winter Olympics and Paralympics in a world of climate instability. ,
Torched looked the scale of the threat facing winter sports and the incogruity of Milan-Cortina being sponsored by fossil fuel giant Eni.
There is also a great read by Mattias Goldmann, CEO of the Swedish 2030 Secretariat, for Forbes, which concludes: “In the last five years alone, Italy lost 265 ski resorts, and France which is hosting the next Winter Olymipcs, has lost over 180.”
Before the games began, president Kirsty Coventry said the IOC must “be better” on climate change after being delivered a petition signed by over 21,000 people calling for the end to fossil fuel companies sponsoring winter sports.
🥇Quentin Fillon Maillet pips Norwegians to men's biathlon gold
A second gold of the week for the delighted Maillet, who pushes Norway’s Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen and Sturla Holm Lægreid into silver and bronze in sharp-shooting on skis.
Britain’s Jacques Jefferies was 81st.
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10m skiing: More kudos to Britain’s Andrew Musgrave, who not only pocketed Britain’s best position in an Olympic cross-country skiing competition earlier today (6th), but was so wrung out that he threw up half way through his post match interview.
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Curling: Back at the Cortina curling stadium, Britain’s women have just taken a point at the fifth end and are now tying 3-3 with South Korea. Earlier today, a BBC expert said that if the women come back home with more wins than losses, that would be a good result.
Some cross-pollination from Our Man in Cortina, Andy Bull. He has found out from a colleague at Gazetta that they have a reporter on the ground in India for the men’s T20 World Cup and were very chuffed about the win over Nepal.
Thanks Yara. A surprising win there for Josie Baff in the snowboarding, but it is the kind of high-voltage craziness where unexpected things happen.
That is all from me today. Tanya is back to take you through the rest of the afternoon.
Ice hockey: The buzzer ends Sweden’s misery against Finland but not before Mikko Ratanen scores an empty-net goal at the end of the third. Final score: Finland 4-1 Sweden.
Free condoms for competitors at the Winter Olympics have run out within a record-breaking three days, according to La Stampa.
“The supplies ran out in just three days,” an anonymous athlete told the Italian newspaper. “They promised us more will arrive, but who knows when.”
It blamed the Olympic organisers, saying they had not been “particularly generous with the numbers”. “In Paris the athletes received 300,000 condoms — two per day each— but the numbers for these Winter Games were significantly lower: not even 10,000,” La Stampa’s report states.
Just under 3,000 athletes are competing at the Winter Olympics, compared to around 10,500 in the Paris Games two years ago.
Read the full story below.
🥇Australia's Josie Baff wins snowboard gold in the women's cross final
The two youngsters want to tear up the script as Noemie Wiedmer and Josie Baff speed out but Eva Adamczykova is patient in third and waits just behind Baff … Michela Moioli is in fourth, can she come from behind again.
Adamczykova picks up speed into second as Wiedmer makes an error and finds herself in the back. Baff stays calm though and crosses that line before screaming out in joy. Adamczykova takes silver and Moioli bronze.
Baff, the 17th seed, is an Olympic champion!
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Biathlon: Tomas Mikyska of the Czech Republic sets the early standard at 25:05.3 (one miss), but has been passed by Finaland’s Olli Hiidensalo, who takes the lead at 24:02.4 (zero misses).
Snowboard: A downcast Charlotte Bankes speaks to BBC Sport after her quarter-final exit:
I feel like I’ve done exactly the same as four years ago. We have worked incredibly hard to improve that but I haven’t made any difference today. I have been struggling with the track all the week but we thought we found solutions. I really wanted this one. Too many mistakes.
In the pack behind I didn’t manage to make the right choices. Everyone is racing incredibly well and I just didn’t manage it.
I am normally good at making the overtakes and I kind of made a good start until I made a mistake and that killed my speed. Didn’t manage to find the space.
Sorry, was hoping to put on a better show. It can be cruel. We have worked incredibly hard over the last four years to get a good result. Unfortunately, the team did all the work behind me and I didn’t manage to pull it off. We will regroup for Sunday [team event] and hopefully put on a better show.
Snowboard: Unreal! Michela Moioli of Italy is through to the final after coming behind from fourth place. A mistake on the opening strait does not help but she never gives up and speeds by at the end to finish the second semi-final in front.
Joining her in the last round is Noemie Wiedmer of Switzerland, Josie Baff of Australia and Eva Adamczykova of Czech Republic.
The IOC would be open to reviewing guidelines governing the rights of athletes to freely express themselves at the Winter Games but the rules have been embraced by competitors, the IOC president, Kirsty Coventry, said today.
The case of Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych, who was disqualified yesterday over a helmet depicting athletes killed since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, has brought Games rules on freedom of expression back into focus. He has since appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Coventry, who was elected to the top IOC post last year, had led a review of the guidelines governing expression in the Games as head of the athletes’ commission back in 2021.
“[Any new review of guidelines] would fall within the working group looking at all fundamental principles of Olympism,” Coventry told a press conference. “I have had a number of conversations with athletes over the last couple of days. They still feel strongly that we should be able to keep part of our Olympic movement, and their Olympic experience, safe.“
Under current rules, athletes can raise issues of interest or concern to them at any of the Games press conferences, mixed zones, team meetings, interviews or on social media. But they cannot do it on the field of play or the medal ceremonies, with the IOC saying it wants to keep the fields of play free from any distraction.
“If our athletes would like us to look at [the rules], we are open to everything,” Coventry said. “But the rules are the rules as of today, and I believe they are good rules. “They keep our athletes safe from being used. The athletes believe the guidelines are relevant in today’s world.”
Snowboard: Huge cheers as Italy’s Michaela Moioli advances alongside Switzerland’s Noemie Wiedmer. And in the final quarter-final France’s Lea Casta and Pia Zerkhold are through. Semi-finals are next.
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Snowboard: France’s Julia Nirani-Pereira and Faye Thelen of the US advance, knocking out the Beijing 2022 silver medallist, France’s Chloe Trespeuch. This is a brutal sport and all about the fine margins.
GB drought goes on as Bankes goes out of snowboard cross
Snowboard: Bankes does not start well and she is in fourth … all to do here. She tries to get ahead but then over jumps a hill. Right on the end at the finish line she gets clipped by Siegenthaler.. Eva Adamczykova and Josie Baff qualify for the semis. Bankes is so disappointed, her face says it all as the four snowboarders line up to see their final position. The hunt for the GB medal continues.
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Snowboard: Charlotte Bankes is in the first quarter-final against Australia’s Josie Baff, Sina Siegenthaler of Switzerland and Czech Republic’s Eva Adamczykova. Here we go!
Snowboard: Austria’s Pia Zerkhold, Germany’s Jana Fischer, France’s Lea Casta and Italy’s Sofia Groblechner are the final four to advance to the quarter-finals, coming up right now.
Biathlon: This sport has brought quite a bit of drama at these Games, and we are back for more in the men’s 10km sprint.
Biathletes will fire 10 shots, and each miss is punished with one trip around the much-dreaded penalty loop.
The home favourite Tommaso Giacomel and 20km individual Olympic champion Johan-Olav Botn are medal contenders but they have 87 other athletes to get through.
Snowboard: Oof, Anouk Doerig of Switzerland takes a stumble in this heat. Think she is OK though. Michela Moioli of Italy, the gold medalist in Pyeongchang 2018 is through alongside Australia’s Mia Clift.
Snowboard: France’s Julia Nirani-Pereira keeps her lead from the start to advance from heat four alongside the United States’s Stacy Gaskill.
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Ice hockey: Joel Armia of the LA Kings has given Finland a 3-1 lead against a struggling Sweden. Slovakia now lead Italy 2-1.
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Snowboard: Chloe Trespeuch of France wins the third heat, very impressive race given her start was quite slow. Faya Thelen of the US joins her in the quarter-finals.
Snowboard: Great start from all four snowboarders after a bit of a wait. Charlotte Bankes and Abbey Wilson are toe to toe before the former makes the move and takes the lead. She closes the door early on Sina Siegenthaler right at the end and finishes first in her heat! A good race for the Team GB hopeful before the quarter-finals.
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Snowboard: The sun is shining beautifully in Livigno. Josie Baff of Australia and Eva Adamczykova of the Czech Republic advance from the first heat.
Charlotte Bankes is about to to race. She is in gate three, which has traditionally been the fastest gate …
Snowboard: Right, we are moments away from the women’s snowboard cross. Team GB’s Charlotte Bankes is in heat 2. She is attempting to make the Olympic finals for the first time.
We have eight heats with four snowboarders. The top 2 in each heat qualify to the quarter-finals.
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ISU defends ice dance scoring after French scoring row
The International Skating Union says it stands by the judging of ice dance, where the scores from the French judge earlier this week played a big role in the French couple of Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron beating the American team of Madison Chock and Evan Bates.
The judge, Jezabel Dabouis, favoured Beaudry and Cizeron by nearly eight points over the three-time world champions in the free dance, a margin so large that if her score was removed from the equation entirely, Chock and Bates would have won gold.
“It is normal for there to be a range of scores given by different judge in any panel and a number of mechanism are used to mitigate these variations,” the ISU said, adding it has “full confidence in the scores given and remains completely committed to fairness”.
There is little recourse for the US. team if the global governing body is unwilling to investigate the scoring discrepancy.
This is not the first time Dabouis has turned in questionable scores for Beaudry and Cizeron. At the Grand Prix Final in December, when Chock and Bates beat them in their only other head-to-head matchup, the judge had the Americans narrowly beating them in the free dance despite two deductions, including an egregious fall. The French team wound up with a silver medal.
Dabouis also had a wide margin favoring the French couple in the Olympic rhythm dance, when they also beat the US team.
“Any time the public is confused by results, it does a disservice to our sport,” said Chock, who along with Bates won a second straight team gold medal earlier in the Games. “I think it’s hard to retain fans when it’s difficult to understand what is happening on the ice.
“People need to understand what they’re cheering for and be able to feel confident in the sport that they’re supporting.”
More than 10,000 people had signed a Change.org petition by Friday asking the ISU and IOC to investigate the latest scoring controversy.
“We did speak to our coach, and we did talk to each other, and we know how we felt on centre ice after we skated,” Bates said. “We felt like we delivered our absolute best performance that we could have. It was our Olympic moment. It felt like a winning skate to us and that’s what we’re going to hold on to.”
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Ice hockey: Sweden get one back against Finland. Rasmus Dahlin makes it 2-1. The defenceman is captain for the NHL team Buffalo Sabres and was the No 1 draft pick in 2018.
Italy’s state broadcaster, Rai, has been accused of censorship after removing the genitals from the image of Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man in the opening credit for its Winter Olympics coverage.
The image of the 500-year-old drawing appears at the start of the clip before transforming into the bodies of ice-skaters, skiers and other winter sports athletes.
The imperfection was first picked up by Corriere della Sera, which asked: “What happened to the Vitruvian Man’s genitals?”
The newspaper noted that all the other attributes of the Vitruvian Man’s body appeared to have been faithfully reproduced, “except for that one detail”, which appeared to have been “redacted”.
Backlash from the Italian opposition, which often accuses Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government of dominating the public broadcaster, was swift.
Read the full story below.
Angela Giuffrida reports from Rome
Thanks Tanya and hello all. There has been another goal in the ice hockey – Slovakia now lead against Italy thanks to Libor Hudacek.
Women’s snow-board cross: The elimination rounds will start at 12.30pmGMT at the Livigno Snow Park where the sky is its usual dazzling Italian blue. Time for me to go and clean the bathroom, I’ll hand over to Yara who will be your eyes for the next two hours.
Men’s ice hockey: A couple of games are underway on the rink. Finland are 2-0 up against their Scandi rivals Sweden, while it’s 0-0 between Italy and Slovakia.
🥇Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo wins his third gold of the Games - in the men's 10km cross-country skiing
Klaebo is now the joint most decorated Winter Olympian in history! And there are three more chances of gold to come, in the men’s relay, men’s team sprint and 50k marathon.
France’s Mathis wins silver, and Einar Hedegart bronze. Britain’s Andrew Musgrave finishes a fantastic sixth, bare arms and all.
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Key event
10km skiing: Oh! Hedegart runs out of puff. Can’t find the energy to keep his pace and collapse over the line behind both Klaebo and Desloges of France. Klaebo goes over, pats him on the back, helps him off with his skies. This now looks very much like Klaebo’s third gold.
10km skiing: Brilliant sunshine, glorious snow, Hedegart hauls himself up the hill, now only .7 of a second ahead of Klaebo. Musgrave has been pushed out of bronze position.
10km skiing: With just 1.4km to go, Hedegart is 2.8 seconds ahead of Klaebo. In his chair, Klaebo, sips from his water bottle and looks like a pensive Stefan Edberg.
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10km skiing: Klaebo pulls his gloves off as he sits in the leader’s chair, grimacing in pain. Meanwhile, half way around the course, Norway’s Hedegart is ahead of where Klaebo was.
Team GB’s Musgrave is currently in bronze position! If he holds onto it, he will become the highest placed British cross-country skier in history.
10km skiing: Klaebo is currently the quickest man out on the course, long elegant strides up the hill, and he crosses the line in first place, 30 seconds clear of second placed Musgrave – for now. Klaebo collapses onto the snow, and must wait.
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Men’s 10km ski-ing : This isn’t the most elegant event, even the best in the world look like frantic ducks on ice as they set off. It is also time trial, rather than a scramble for the line, and not Klaebo’s best event.
The current leader is Matyus Bauer, who finished in 21.40.8, and collapsed as he crossed the line.
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Cross-country ski-ing, Men’s 10km: Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo will set off shortly. But we’ve just seen GB’s Andrew Musgrave ski away wearing nothing but sleeveless vest on his top half.
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Thanks to a BBC segment I’ve just learnt that your head hits the ice when you hit top speed in the skeleton, and that the G-force is similar to that experienced by a formula one driver. I think it rates as the sport I am least keen on ever trying.
But Matt Weston loves it, and he’s going for gold this evening, just after 9pm.
“It’s a broom!” writes William Cook, “and it has its own gate controversy.”
“CBC did an excellent podcast series on the broom that almost destroyed Curling: Broomgate: A Curling Scandal
“The Broomgate scandal (2015–2016) was a curling controversy over high-tech broomheads—like the “Hardline” model from BalancePlus—that allowed players to significantly alter a stone’s direction.
“After concerns about fairness and competitive balance, the World Curling Federation banned the directional fabric and standardized broom regulations.”
Thank you William, I stand corrected over my mop suggestion. And that podcast looks fantastic!
Britain lose 9-7 to Italy in round-robin curling match
Curling: Frantic brushing puts the Italians in an excellent position with two stones to go at the final end. Bruce Mouat shimmies the last British stone nicely into position … but Italy have the hammer and knock it away with their final shot. Joy from the Italian crowd, and handshakes all round, as Italy take a cracking match 9-7.
Britain currently lie fourth in the table, with the top four going through to the knock-out competition. Plenty of games to go though.
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Curling: Britain have drawn level, with one end to go! Italy have the hammer, but who will hold their nerve?
Italy's Passler to compete despite positive test
Italian biathlete Rebecca Passler will be able to participate in the Winter Olympics despite failing a doping test, the Italian skiing federation (Fisi) said on Friday. Italy’s anti-doping body (Nado) upheld her appeal against a provisional suspension that followed a positive test for the banned substance Letrozole on 26 January.
Nado’s Court of Appeal acknowledged the possibility of unintentional ingestion or unknowing contamination of the substance. “Passler will rejoin her teammates starting Monday, February 16, when she will be available to the coaching staff for the subsequent competitions on the Olympic programme,” Fisi said in a statement.
Italy’s National Olympic Committee (Coni) ordered the athlete’s exclusion from the team four days before the start of the Games, after NADO said she had tested positive. Passler appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas), arguing that her positive test for banned substances resulted from contamination. But earlier this week Cas said it had no jurisdiction over the case and she needed to appeal to Nado.
“These have been very difficult days,” said the 24-year-old Passler, whose best result was 11th in the women’s 4x6km relay at the 2024 IBU world championships. “I have always believed in my good faith. I want to thank everyone who helped me – from the lawyers who followed my case, to the Italian Winter Sports Federation, to my family and friends. Now I can finally focus 100% on biathlon again,” she added in the Fisi statement.
The women’s relay is on the programme for 18 February, while the women’s 12.5km mass start event is scheduled for three days later. Reuters
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Curling: Both Italy and GB were undefeated going into this game, and things are still running close on the ice. We’re in the ninth end, and Italy still lead by just one point – 7-6. Incidentally, I’ve just noticed that what I’ve been calling a brush, is more like a mop.
In the other curling matches, Switzerland have beaten Czechia 7-3, Canada are leading their cross-boarder rivals USA 6-2, and China have just drawn level with Norway, 5-5.
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Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo: cross-country skiing's Usain Bolt
Later this morning, Norway’s Mr Snow, Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, goes for his third gold of the Games in the men’s 10km freestyle.
He’s already pocketed the men’s cross country skiing sprint classic and the 10km skiathlon. If he wins, he becomes the joint most decorated men’s Olympic cross-country skier ever.
His secret? His 82 year old granddad and coach, who gave him a pair of skis when he was two, and wakes him up at 5.45 every morning for training. It works. Have you seen this man run up a hill in skis?
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We went on a family holiday to Italy three years ago, which started with a Eurostar from St Pancras on a Monday morning and finished pulling into Milan the same evening, which seemed like some kind of magic. I loved every second of that two weeks, but most especially the cannoli. I hope our correspondents are tucking in.
Curling: In other news, the Italians have pulled away again in the curling, now leading 7-4 after seven ends. This a round-robin match, so Britain will still have an excellent chance of qualifying even if they do go on to lose.
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A timetable of today's medal events
Men’s cross-country skiing, 10km freestyle – 11.45am GMT🥇
Men’s biathlon – 2pm GMT🥇
Women’s snowboard cross – 2.41pm GMT🥇
Men’s 10,000m speed skating – 4pm GMT🥇
Men’s Singles figure skating – 7pm GMT🥇
Men’s snowboard halfpipe 7.30pm GMT🥇
Men’s individual skeleton – 9.05pm GMT🥇
Curling: The comeback is on at the ice centre! After six ends, Britain have pulled the deficit down to just one point, the Italian leading 5-4.
Snowboarding: Britain’s Charlotte Bankes has made it safely through the first seeding run in the snowboard cross under the most perfect azure skies. It’s a decent time, 1:14:21, and should sneak her into the top 20.
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Straight to Cortina and the ice stadium, where it’s not great news for our plucky Brits in the curling. The men’s quartet are 5-3 down after four ends to the Italians, who are also winning the fashion stakes with their natty white tops, while the Brits brush away in sensible navy.
It could have been worse though, Britain won the battle of the ruler to take two points at the last end.
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Latest medal table
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Good morning! It’s another heart-lifting morning in northern Italy as the Games roll into day seven. Fittingly, seven golds await today’s athletes, and one could end up around a British neck.
Not to jinx Matt Weston, but he started the Olympics as this country’s hottest chance of gold, and remains that halfway through the skeleton competition. In supreme form this season, after winning five of seven World Cup golds, he goes into this evening’s medal run comfortably first after two of four races. Britain’s Marcus Wyatt lies seventh.
Fellow racer Vladyslav Heraskevych made an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport last night after being disqualified from the skeleton 21 minutes before racing over his “helmet of memory” which honoured Ukrainian athletes killed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. But he does so with the competition happening without him.
Elsewhere, Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klæbo goes for gold in the men’s cross-country skiing, as does another Nowegian, Johan-Olav Botn, in the shooting and ski-ing double-endurance biathalon. He’ll be chased by French World Cup leader Eric Perrot and Italian favourite Tommaso Giacomel.
British snowboarder Charlotte Bankes is searching for her first Olympic medal, either in French or British colours, when she sets off in the exhilarating snowboard cross. Australian Scotty James hopes to add a gold to his medal collection this evening in the men’s halfpipe final.
Then there’ s the lactic acid challenge of the men’s 10000m speed skating final, and the artistic beauty of the men’s figure skating, free skate final, where all eyes rest on the USA’s Ilia Malinin and his marvellous quadruple axel.
For good measure, throw in men’s and women’s ice-hockey, and curling– which kicks things off this morning. Britain’s in-form men play Italy, after beating arch-rivals Sweden yesterday, while the women’s quartet, who lost to China last night, take on South Korea at lunchtime.
Do join us, we’ll be here all day.
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