Key events
Biathlon 7.5 km sprint: The French fancy their chances in this skiing and shooting double act. They won the team event and nabbed gold and silver in the 15km individual race. At the moment, the lead is in the hands of the only finisher, Ukraine’s Oleksandra Merkusshyna. She lets her legs slide away as she crosses the line, and falls to her knee.
Curling: GB’s men are out on the ice in their slidy slip-ons. They are 4-2 ahead after four ends against Czechia. GB in their change kit of white, Czechia in navy and red.
Thanks Billy, so many hills and spills in that Giant Slalom. We’ll keep an eye out for the medal’s ceremony, samba on skis.
Biathlon: The women’s 7.5km sprint is under way, with some 90 athletes leaving the traps in a staggered start over the next hour or two.
Tanya Aldred is back to keep an eye on that and everything else at Milano Cortina.
Medal reallocation ceremony: Tomorrow biathletes from the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics will be honoured by the IOC and the International Biathlon Union (IBU).
Russia’s Evgeny Ustyugov has been stripped of his medals won in two events because of anti-doping rule violations.
Those to be honoured at the biathlon arena in Italy tomorrow are:
Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games – Biathlon, men 15km mass start
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Gold: Martin Fourcade (Fr)
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Silver: Pavol Hurajt (Svk)
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Bronze: Christoph Sumann (Aut)
Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games – Biathlon, men 4×7.5km relay
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Gold: Germany: Erik Lesser, Daniel Boehm, Arnd Peiffer, Simon Schempp
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Silver: Austria: Christoph Sumann, Daniel Mesotitsch, Simon Eder, Dominik Landertinger
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Bronze: Norway: Tarjei Boe, Johannes Thingnes Boe, Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, Emil Hegle Svendsen
Curling: The men’s afternoon session is under way in Cortina. Great Britain lead the Czech Republic 2-1 and the USA are 4-1 up against Germany after the first two ends.
The medal ceremony is up later. There are still plenty of athletes left to run but none will threaten the top places.
We are so used to hearing the Brazilian national anthem belted out at major football tournaments but this, in the mist and snow of Bormio in northern Italy, is going to be something else. Apparently Pinheiro Braathen tends to celebrate such moments with a samba move or two.
It’s a historic moment in the Winter Olympics and alpine skiing! Lucas Pinheiro Braathen was born to a Brazilian mother and Norwegian father, who greet him at the finish line – all three in floods of tears. The 25-year-old retired from the sport a couple of years ago before making a comeback and switching his allegiance from Norway to Brazil.
An outstanding first run of the giant slalom this morning set him up perfectly for the second run, beating defending champion Marco Odermatt by half a second! Pinheiro Braathen hadn’t even won a World Cup event before this – now he’s an Olympic champion.
It’s a first medal at the Winter Olympics for Brazil and wider South America.
🥇 Brazil’s Lucas Pinheiro Braathen wins men’s giant slalom gold!
It’s a scrappy run but he won’t care! Brazil win their first ever Winter Olympic medal as Lucas Pinheiro Braathen goes over the line half a second faster than Marco Odermatt. He lets out a roar and pumps his fists and a ski towards the crowd, which is going crazy.
Gold: Lucas Pinheiro Braathen (Brazil)
Silver: Marco Odermatt (Switzerland) +0.58sec
Bronze: Loic Meillard (Switzerland) +1.17sec
Giant slalom: Defending champion Marco Odermatt lays down a marker, taking 0.59sec off Meillard’s time. The podium is a Swiss one-two-three as it stands.
Lucas Pinheiro Braathen goes last, seeking history for Brazil and a first Winter Olympic medal. Will it be gold?
Giant slalom: Loic Meillard raises his game and goes faster than Tumler! It’s not a perfect top section but a smooth finish sends him top. He’s guaranteed a medal for Switzerland.
Giant slalom: Switzerland’s Thomas Tumler turns it on and goes fastest by 0.37sec with his best run of the season! A wry smile from McGrath, who drops to silver. The pressure is on for the final three.
Giant slalom: France’s Leo Anguenot goes into second, 0.17sec off McGrath’s leading time. The margins are tiny! Four to go – three Swiss and a Brazilian.
Giant slalom: Five athletes are left to go, including the 2022 gold medallist Marco Odermatt, and Brazil’s potential history-maker Lucas Pinheiro Braathen.
Henrik Kristoffersen goes into provisional silver for Norway, with compatriot McGrath still on top.
Giant slalom: We have a new leader! Atle Lie McGrath, whose father is American and mother Norwegian (the country he represents) takes 0.46sec off Schwarz’s time to go into provisional gold … and then Austria’s Stefan Brennsteiner goes into silver.
Giant slalom: Austria’s Marco Schwarz, a two-time world bronze medallist, is still sitting in that leader’s chair, probably trying not to get his hopes up – but that’s becoming harder as more skiers can’t match his time. Slovenia’s Zan Kranjec is next to try but finishes outside the medal places.
Giant slalom: Another DNF! Germany’s Fabian Gratz had half a second on the leading time before setting off but he gets his lines all wrong and his coaches turn away in despair. Nine skiers left.
Giant slalom: “Trust your instincts and just go, go, go,” is the message over the USA team radio to River Radamus as he prepares to head on his run … he can only go eighth.
Italy’s final medal contender is Alex Vinatzer but he hits a bump on an inside turn and crashes out! He’s OK, just mightily frustrated.
Giant slalom: The first of the medal hopefuls sets off in Norway’s Timon Haugan. The course is only going to get more difficult from here on in and he finds it tough, hitting a few bumps, only going third in the provisional standings.
Giant slalom: Croatia’s Filip Zubcic clips a gate, sending his goggles askew and he whips them off for the remainder of the run. With heavy snow in his eyes, he can’t be seeing much but manages to come over the line in fourth. Some effort! Schwarz leads with half the elite athletes done.
Giant slalom: Andorra’s Joan Verdu is the new leader by almost two-tenths with 12 athletes now down the course … until Austria’s Marco Schwarz puts his foot down towards the finish to go faster by one-hundredth of a second.
Lunchtime summary
The main headlines so far from today at Milano Cortina:
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Brazil on verge of first Winter Olympic medal after Lucas Pinheiro Braathen takes huge lead after first run of the men’s giant slalom
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Jakara Anthony adds Australia’s gold medal haul with victory in the women’s dual moguls
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Norway win gold in the women’s 4×7.5km cross-country ski relay but Sweden recover from Ebba Andersson’s face-first fall to win silver
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Great Britain beat Canada 7-6 in the women’s curling with China and Japan also recording round-robin wins
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Ukraine’s Vladyslav Heraskevych has presented his ‘helmet of memory’ to president Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Munich after his disqualification from the men’s skeleton
Giant slalom: The home crowd roar Giovanni Franzoni, who won silver in the downhill last weekend, down to the finish and he takes almost a second off the leading time so far. He was able to carry the pace he’d built at the top of the course into the final few turns.
Giant slalom: Ryder Sarchett (US) goes faster than Pohjolainen but some mistakes from Harry Laidlaw (NZ) prove costly to his time. That’s three athletes down … Brazil’s leader Pinheiro Braathen goes 30th.
Men’s giant slalom: The conditions, such a major talking point this morning, seem to have worsened further in Bormio. The snow is really coming down and visibility is pretty poor.
Finland’s Jesper Pohjolainen is first out the traps and puts together a fairly smooth run between the gates. That was six seconds faster than his run this morning!
Men’s giant slalom: We are a few minutes away from the start of the second run. Brazil are on course for a first Winter Olympic medal (and a gold one at that) with Lucas Pinheiro Braathen leading by almost a second (!) after this morning’s run. He will take to the course last but those going first will have the most favourable snow conditions, so it’s all to play for!
Sweden fell three times in that race! Ebba Andersson went twice on the second leg and, in an attempt to get her a new ski, the Swedish technician also took a tumble. To come back and win silver will feel almost like gold for them.
🥇 Norway win women’s 4×7.5km cross-country skiing relay
Heidi Weng brings it home for Norway! Jonna Sundling completes Sweden’s excellent comeback from Ebba Andersson’s fall on the second leg and they take silver. Jasmi Joensuu seems chuffed to win bronze for Finland.
Gold: Norway 1hr 15min 44.8sec
Silver: Sweden +50.9s
Bronze: Finland +1m 14.7s
Cross-country relay: Joensuu can’t respond to Sundling’s attack and Finland may have to settle for bronze. Diggins is 40sec back in fourth for the USA.
Sundling and Joensuu go in the opposite direction, with Weng having rounded the corner in front of them and here come Norway up to the line …
Cross-country relay: Italy have fallen down a few places with the USA (with Jessie Diggins on the final leg) and Germany moving above them. The medals will surely go to the Nordic nations.
Sundling has made her move past Finland’s Joensuu as Sweden seek a silver after Ebba Andersson’s fall on the second leg. Has she gone too early?
Thanks Tanya. So, Norway are closing in on their ninth gold medal of these Games in the women’s cross-country relay but Sweden are charging back through the field! Jonna Sundling has swept past Italy’s Federica Cassol and is on the heels of Finland’s Jasmi Joensuu in the battle for silver. Heidi Weng is on her way to gold for Norway.
Women’s cross-country skiing relay: we’re into the final leg, with Norway still in front; the Finns are second, Italy third. And here come the Swedes! Karlsson has reduced the deficit to 1.06 minutes.
With a thriller of a last leg to watch, time for me to take a break. Billy Munday will guide you through.
Faster, higher, stronger
Valentine news, of sorts, from our main man in Milan, Sean Ingle. He’s been at the IOC press conference, where spokesperson Mark Adams was asked about the village running out of free condoms after three days.
“All I would say is that it clearly shows that Valentine’s Day is in full swing in the village and I can’t say any more than that,” he said. “10,000 have been used, 2,800 athletes … Faster, higher, stronger, together, as they say.”
All those beautiful people have to expend their energy somehow…
Women’s cross-country skiing relay: Norway lead into the first check-point of the third leg, but Sweden’s Frida Karlsson is in supreme form and has already knocked ten seconds off the deficit, reducing it to 1 minute eight.
Women’s cross-country skiing relay: The drama! Andersson goes nose over tail again, loses a ski, and falls further behind. She can’t put the ski on so runs on one ski for maybe 200 metres until she is given a replacement.
Her compatriot waiting for the third leg does not look impressed. Norway hand over first, Finland second, Switzerland third, Italy fourth… and Andersson trails in one minute 18 behind.
But this Swedish team are so strong….
Women’s cross-country skiing relay: this looks so completely exhausting. The women somehow race up the hillside wearing huge long skies. They pant. And slip. And keep going. Slind now has a 12 second lead over Norwegian Andersson.
Women’s cross-Country Skiing relay: The skiers have reached a sort of mini maze near the spectators at the bottom of the hill, but then head right back up again. Andersson has caught the Italian skier and has the red-clad Norwegian in sight.
Women’s cross-Country Skiing relay: Sweden are favourites in this competition, but a slip and tumble by double silver medallist Ebba Andersson lets the surprised Norwegian and Italian skiers zip by. Finland lie fourth, and Austria fifth.
Ice hockey: A couple of men’s games have just started – it is goalless between out- of-touch Sweden and Slovakia; Lukas Reichel has put Germany 1-0 ahead against Latvia.
We’re still in the round-robin section of the men’s competition: Canada, Slovakia and the USA currently top the three groups. The knock-out rounds will start on February 18.
🥇Gold for Jakara Anthony in the women’s dual moguls
Women’s dual moguls: Anthony, so disappointed in the singles event, gets her gold at last. She raises her arms as she crosses the line first, and wins the judges hearts, and points, too. Delight in the big green puffa-coated Australian camp.
Jaelin Kauf takes silver, Elizabeth Lemley the bronze.
Women’s dual moguls: Lemley, who hurt her hand in her semi-final crash looks as if she might ski with one pole… she twists her wrist round and round… now takes both poles and prepares for the start. Laffont beats her down the slope but Lemley is awarded the bronze. Better in the air, apparently.
Women’s dual moguls: Carnage! In the first semi final Laffont misses a control gate, and Kauf crashes. But Kauf eventually makes it to the bottom and qualifies after Laffont is disqualified.
Anthony wins the second sf after Lemley, gold medallist in the singles, also ends up face down in the snow in her haste and is also disqualified.
So going for gold: Kauf v Anthony. Going for Bronze: Lemley v Laffont. Or as the Dual Moguls put it: Big final and Little Final.
Curling: Team GB pat their pockets, a 7-6 win over Canada wrapped up at the final end. A timely morale-booster after those first two defeats and a much better performance all round.
Women’s dual moguls: They don’t hang about, we’re back at the Livigno Aerials and Moguls park. Anastassiya Gorodko crashes out in the first quarter final, allowing the first American Jaelin Kauf a stress-free ski to the bottom.
But Perrine Laffont of France just beats the USA’s Tess Johnson in the next, and a rapid Jakara Anthony knocks out Olivia Giaccio. Oooof and a nasty landing for Hinako Tomitaka sends her off course, handing the last spot to Elizabeth Lemley.
So our semi-finals will be Kauf v Laffont, then Anthony v Lemley.
Curling: looking rosy for Team GB’s women. They go into the final end with a three point lead over Canada, 7-4.
Women’s dual moguls: It’s all very civilised out on the snow, the athletes have a hug when they reach the bottom. I was thinking the snow looked a bit grubby but it turns out the authorities put out pine needles – I think to help skiers find their way.
Anyway, they’ve zipped through very quickly and have already sorted the quarter finals, with four Americans in the final eight.
Women’s dual moguls: back to the snow, and the finals of the dual moguls. Here, two skiers race each other down the lumpy slope, pause to do a trick or two, and then race to the bottom.
Athletes are judged on turns, air and speed by a panel of judges. Crucially each race is an elimination, and the competitor with the highest score advances to the next round… and so it continues until the final.
Hina Fujiki of Japan crosses the line before her rival Tess Johnson, but Johnson goes through with higher marks from the judges.
Australia Jakara Anthony, who will be desperate for a medal after slipping and finishing last in the moguls singles, easily wins her race.
Curling: A much better morning for GB’s women, who are playing the current world champions, Canada. They are 5-3 up after seven ends and have the mighty hammer.
Giant Slalom: Leader Lucas Pinheiro Braathen is half Copacabana Beach, half Fjord. He was born in Norway and spent his childhood between the two countries, playing football in Brazil, and skiing in Norway. After competing as a Norwegian, he briefly retired in autumn 2023 before returning to skiing under the Brazilian flag.
He also likes to DJ, decorates his fingernails, collects art and has a fabulous flat in Milan. What a guy!
Giant Slalom: Giant slalom specialist and hometown boy Luca De Aliprandini sets off with high hopes, but loses a ski and ends up in an undignified slide down the mountain on his back.
Men’s Giant Slalom: a huge surprise unfolding on the slopes as Brazil’s Lucas Pinheiro still leads the pack . If Pinheiro does go on to win, he would wear the first Brazilian Winter Olympic medal. The soft snow seems to be hampering the other competitors.
Now Sam Maes roars in frustration after his left ski flies up in the air and he swerves off the course.
Heraskevych presents helmet to Ukrainian President Zelenskyy
After being disqualified from the Winter Olympics, Vladyslav Heraskevych presented his ‘helmet of memory’ to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Munich Security Conference on Friday.
In return, Zelenskyy gave Heraskevych a medal.
Men’s Giant Slalom: real Ski Sunday stuff this – precipitous slopes, zig-zagging turns. Brazil’s Lucas Pinheiro Braathen is the fastest of the seven skiers to set off so far this morning. The competitors get two runs and the skier with the fastest total time is the winner.
All that glitters…
The medals table:
1 🇳🇴 Norway 🥇 8 🥈 3 🥉 7 – Total: 18
2 🇮🇹 Italy 🥇 6 🥈 3 🥉 9 – Total: 18
3 🇺🇸 United States 🥇 4 🥈 7 🥉 3 – Total: 14
4 🇫🇷 France 🥇 4 🥈 5 🥉 1 – Total: 10
5 🇩🇪 Germany 🥇 4 🥈 4 🥉 3 – Total: 11
Preamble
Hello! A golden morning for Team GB at last after Matt Skelton hurtled down the skeleton track last night to become the first British man to win individual gold since Robin Cousins at Lake Placid in 1980. It’s all about the proprioception, you see.
As the sun rises above the rooftops in Manchester (yes really) we can look forward to another haul of sparkling metal. Eight golds are on offer today across the slopes, the sliding centre and the ice .
The morning starts with a new event, the women’s dual moguls, where skiers race side by side to the bottom of the hill.
At midday the women’s 4 x 7.5km cross-country skiing relay kicks off. This promises two skiers racing along the tracks, while two race the free technique. Not quite sure how that is going to work, but looking forward to finding out.
There are two more finals on the slopes: the Men’s giant slalom, where Swiss super skier Marco Odermatt has his eye on gold for the second successive Olympics, followed by the women’s 7.5km sprint biathlon where the light-fingered Julia Simon goes again.
The women’s quarter finals continue in the ice hockey, where Canada play Germany, and Finland play Switzerland’; while the men’s teams are still in the preliminary stages. Qualifying also continues in the curling, with Team GB’s men and women both busy with the brushes – the women hope for their first win, against Canada, shortly, while the men take on Czechia at 13.05 GMT.
More aerodynamic speed skating follows at 5pm GMT, but after yesterday’s exhausting 10000m, this is a 500m sprint. Jordan Stolz of the USA starts favourite. Then short track speed skating to close the evening in the men’s 1500m.
I offer you also the large hill individual ski jumping final and the start of the women’s skeleton competition.
Cappuccino ready? Let’s go!
