Key events
10 laps to go.
Korea take the lead.
Now they’re getting a move on. 15 laps to go.
Korea shoot for first place but Netherlands still leading. Canada and Italy touch. They’re so close as they gain speed.
25 laps to go and Italy shift to the front for the first time.
Not for long as Netherlands squeeze through.
Canada playing catch up having fallen a little behind.
40 laps to go.
All smooth sailing so far.
Canada with the early lead. But really none of this matters until the last few laps (sorry 5,000m speed skating diehards).
I’ve been using ‘South Korea’ when I should be using ‘Republic of Korea’.
Apologies if anyone picked up on that and got annoyed. No more! I promise.
Righto, 5,000 metres. Four teams of four skaters. Absolute madness on ice.
Here. We. Go!
The finalists for the men’s 5000m relay are getting ready.
Reminder it’ll be South Korea, Netherlands, Canada and Italy.
China win the B final in the men’s 5000m relay.
That means they’ll leave Italy with a fifth place finish.
I enjoy the relay skating.
My favourite part is when the one skater pushes their teammate on the bum to give them a little launch.
Before the women’s 1500m speed skate, we’ve got the men’s 5000m relay.
First the B Final (really, just a way to rank them) with Belgium, China, Hungary and japan competing for fifth.
We’ll then get South Korea, Netherlands, Canada and Italy shooting out for medals.
Almost impossible to make sense of the ice hockey between USA and Slovakia.
The Americans are wearing white jerseys with blue trim. The Slovaks are wearing blue jerseys with white trim. They’re both wearing blue trousers. There are splashes of red in both kits.
This is what a herd of stampeding zebra must look like to a lion.
Italy’s Arianna Sighel sneaks through to the final by virtue of being the fastest skater to finish third.
The finalists in the women’s 1500m speed skate will be:
🥉 Switzerland win bronze in men’s curling
They were gutted to lose to GB last night, but that’s not a bad consolation prize.
They crush Norway 9-1 and will leave Italy with something to show their grandkids.
The ice on the speed skating track (track?) is getting some repairs. The skaters have reportedly complained about the same corner. A few crashes so far in the same spot.
Big names fall in the semi-finals!
Both Xandra Velxeboer from the Netherlands and Italy’s Elisa Confortola crash out.
That means China’s Yang Jingru and Hong Kong’s Lam Cy advance to the final.
Confortola has been advanced to the B final.
The USA lead 1-0 Slovakia in the men’s ice hockey semi-final!
An early goal, clocked in at 4:19, is scored by Dylan Larkin of the Detroit Red Wings.
Second semi-final. The top ranked skater is Canada’s Courtney Sarault, who is second in the world.
No rest for the legend. Fontana is back in action in the semi-finals.
She makes it through in second place behind South Korea’s Kim Gilli.
These short track racers are chaotic. Two skaters crashed and will require a second look with VAR (yes, skating has it too).
So turns out Fontana suffered a big crash in the quarterfinals.
The heat was restarted with two of the skaters penalised. Fontana then made it through in second place.
The semi-finals in the women’s short track speed skating is starting soon.
Arianna Fontana, Italy’s most successful Winter Olympian with four golds, six silvers (including on here in the relay) and five bronze medals, safely progressed.
Switzerland have one hand on the bronze medal (does that work?) in the men’s curling.
They are 6-1 up over Norway in the 9th end.
🥇 USA’s Alex Ferreira wins gold in men’s freeski halfpipe!
Brendan Mackay looked a sure thing but the judges scored his flawless run a 93 and that’s not enough to move from 10th to first.
The Canadian has to settle for third but is still delighted.
That means Ferreira takes the gold. He looks relieved more than anything.
Estonia win their first medal of the Games as 19-year-old Henry Sildaru secures silver.
GB’s Gus Kenworthy finishes fifth with a score of 84.75.
Podium:
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🥇 Ferreira 🇺🇸 – 93.75
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🥈 Sildaru 🇪🇪 – 93
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🥉 Mackay 🇨🇦 – 91
Stunning from Mackay! He seems assured that he’s done enough. What a clutch run. He’s already receiving congratulations from his rivals. We await the score.
Just one more run for Canada’s Brendan Mackay. Can he come from 10th and secure a medal?
Huge crash for Goepper! He landed flat on his back on top of the half-pipe. My word, that looked really, really bad. He got up instantly but he’s receiving immediate medical attention.
What a shame. That was a spectacular run til that point. He was attempting a huge 900 and, according to the commentators, he was on track for a score of 99.
He is walking off the track with a limp. I have to say when I saw that in real time I thought he’d be in big trouble. But he’s OK. What a machine. I hope he gets a medal just for that.
Sildaru looks so casual as he pulls off stunning tricks. Almost as if he’s movijng in slow motion.
Has he done enough!
NO! It’s a score of 93. 0.75 behind Ferreira!
Goepper, currently in third, and Mackay, way back in the field but with potential to medal, the remaining athletes.
Ferreira crosse the line twirling one of his poles above his head. He is confident he’s improved on his score of 90.5 enough to move above Sildaru in first on 92.75.
He’s landed every trick, but there are questions over the variation and height he managed. Did he play it too safe?
It’s enough! He moves into the gold medal spot with 93.75!
We’ve got a contest on our hands now. Three men left. The three highest from qualifying.
Next up is Sildaru. Can he take back the gold medal?
Birk Irving – another one with a name that can only come from America – starts his final run with a switch double 10. He’ started this in fourth. He closes it with a decent move – a ‘flat 10’ according to the commentators – but he doesn’t seem convinced he’s done enough to improve his score.
He does improve by half a point, scoring 88, but he can’t move up the leaderboard and stays just short of a medal.
Marineau is such a vibe! For the third time he can’t complete his run as he insists on going for big air. He can’t make it work but he keeps the crowd entertained, pulling off a trick that sees him pass the poles between his legs twice while he hangs in the air. I don’t know how else to describe it.
These guys are so impressive. Going down a mountain on skis is hard enough. Ripping up a halfpipe is bonkers.
Ah no! Kenworthy can’t improve on his score. No medal for the Brit. He had to push it with this final run and started well, but a little wobble derailed momentum and when he came out of a big move and landed backwards, he couldn’t make it stick.
No improvement on his score so he stays in fifth.
The women’s 1500m speed skating is underway. It’s the quarterfinals. We’ll be watching that as it develops.
For now, here’s GB’s Kenworthy with his final run on the halfpipe.
Ireland’s lynch saves his best for last. He nails a huge trick with his final lift, landing backwards from a mighty height. He celebrates as he crosses the line and loses his skis. But he’s all smiles and leapfrogs Harrington to seventh with a 75.
Righto, final run in the men’s freeski halfpipe.
Might come down to who can stay on their skis from start to finish.
New Zealand’s Ben Harrington gets us going and improves on his score with a 73.75. It puts him in seventh.
Norway are on the board against Switzerland, but they’re a long way back in the bronse medal match of the men’s curling.
In the 6th end, it’s Switzerland 4-1 Norway.
So, after two runs, here’s the top 5 in the men’s freeski halfpipe
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🇪🇪 Sildaru 92.75
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🇺🇸 Ferreira 90.5
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🇺🇸 Goepper 89
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🇺🇸 Irving 87.5
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🇬🇧 Kenworthy 84.75
Kenworthy drops down to fifth as Geopper from America slots into third.
He was ambitious, but a little sloppy, not quite nailing the landing with every trick as he registers a score of 89.
One final ski in this second round. Mackay from Canada it is.
It’s a great run, reaching a height of 5.3 metres with his first trick, until the last where he crosses the line on his backside. A score of 53 is disappointing but he clearly has enough in the locker to push for a medal.
We have a new leader! Estonia’s 19-year-old Sildaru posts a 92.75!
Kenworthy is out of the medal spots. Finally, a bit of quality has exploded on the halfpipe.
That’s more like it! Alex Ferreira raises the bar with a brilliant run, nailing every trick, getting great air and sticking every landing.
He moves to the top of the leaderboard with a 90.50.
Hunter Hess bails for the second time. One of the favourites now has one more chance to end with a medal.
He limps away. That was a big fall. He’s OK but the smile after the first fall have evaporated. Now he’s feeling the pressure.
A great run from America’s Irving has him nudge ahead of Britain’s Kenworthy after two runs in the men’s freeski halfpipe.
He scores 87.5, dropping Kenworthy, who scored 84.75, down to second. Canada’s Longino is in third with 76.5.
A reminder that every skier has three runs to register a high score.
Another disappointing show from the Brits in the 2-woman bobsleigh.
Adele Nicoll and Ashleigh Nelson improve on their horror first run, but they clip the wall on the way down and place in fifth.
Another one goes down! Canada’s Marineau plugs it for the second time in two runs.
He gets outrageous air once again but can’t complete the run. He doesn’t seem bothered at all as he goes up and gives some high fives in the crowd. He’s enjoying himself.
Here comes Gus Kenworthy. Can he complete his second run?
Starts with a big trick. Almost stacks it with his second but holds on. Slick with his final move and makes it to the end.
Not spectacular, but with everyone bailing he has at least got points on the board and has given himself a shot of a medal with his final run.
And he tops the charts! He scores 84.75.
You never know.
Norway open up a 4-0 lead over Switzerland in the men’s curling bronze medal match.
They’re in the fourth end.
Another one eats it! America’s Nick Goepper.
Here’s our final skier Brendan Mackay who qualified first and he also bails!
My word. Out of the 11 skiers, only two completed their runs. South Korea’s Lee Seunghun never took part.
That means that Ben Harrington, who started the round, is in the silver medal spot.
It won’t stay this way, but what a weird scoreboard. Two out of 11! That’s madness.
Because the skiers have three runs to post a top score they are being aggressive with their first run.
That’s why, according to the commentators, we’re seeing a few of them bail. Makes for exciting viewing.
Another one goes down! Estonia’s Henry Sildaru is the latest.
Ah, what a shame! Hunter Hess – the American with the outstanding name – was so close to completing a brilliant run but just had his ski dig into the snow as he came out of his final truck. It means he closes with a 27.25. That probably would have been a table topping score.
Only two of the seven men who have completed a run have not bailed.
