Key events
Show key events only
Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature
🥇 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.”
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
Updated at 14.40 EST
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.”
Updated at 14.01 EST
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.
Updated at 13.41 EST
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!
Matt Weston makes going downhill headfirst on a tea tray look easy. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The GuardianShare
Updated at 13.42 EST
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!
Matt Weston goes in heat 3! Photograph: Ezra Shaw/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 13.41 EST
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.
Fans of Tabitha Stoecker cheer her on during heat two. Photograph: Andrew Milligan/PAShare
Updated at 13.03 EST
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!
Share
James Wallace
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!
ShareCas dismisses Vladyslav Heraskevych’s appeal for reinstatement
Full story below:
Updated at 12.01 EST
🥇 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.
Metodej Jilek celebrates gold in the 10000m speed skating! Photograph: Henk Jan Dijks/MTB-Photo/ShutterstockShare
Updated at 11.58 EST
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.
Updated at 11.42 EST
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…
Vladyslav Heraskevych has lost his appeal at reinstatement. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The GuardianShare
Updated at 11.52 EST
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.
Jorrit Bergsma and Davide Ghiotto go round, and round…and round. Photograph: Ben Curtis/APShare
Updated at 11.18 EST
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.
Team GB lose to South Korea on the women’s curling. Photograph: Misper Apawu/APShare
Updated at 10.41 EST