10/02/2018 Winter Olympics Extra

Welcome to the 2018 Winter

OIympics from PyeongChang.

We will be bringing you something a

bit extra. My name is Radzi and we

will bring you extended highlights

over the next 16 days of summer the

best action from right in South

Korea.

# The sky is a neighbourhood

# So keep it down

# The heart is a

# The heart is a storybook

# A star burned out

# The sky is a neighbourhood

# The sky is a neighbourhood

# Don't look down

# O my dear

# Heaven is a big bed now -- bang

now

# Got to get to sleep somehow

# Banging on the ceiling

# Banging on the ceiling

# Keep it down

# The sky is a neighbourhood

# The sky is a neighbourhood. #

We'll start at the ski jumping

and the men's normal hill event.

Poland's Kamil Stoch

is the man to beat.

The double Olympic champion from

2014 in the normal hill and a large

hill. He is vying to become the

first man ever to win the double

double in consecutive Olympics and

with that in mind, let's find out a

bit more about how the sport works.

Ski jumping takes place on the

normal hill all the large hill.

Competitors typically jump further

than the length of a football pitch

at speeds of up to 90 mph. Distance

is the biggest factor in success but

points are also awarded for style in

outrun, posture, flight and landing.

Points for distance are determined

by where a jumper lands in relation

to the Cape point which is the

equivalent of a par school involved.

If an athlete jumps beyond the mark,

they get extra points. If they come

up short, they lose points. Each

competitor has tee jumps which are

combined in the final standings.

Japan's Noriaki Kasai became the

oldest ever ski jumping medallist in

Sochi and he is back for a record

eighth Winter Games in Pyeongchang

at the ripe old age of 45.

Over to Ollie Williams who's

in the commentary box for this one.

COMMENTATOR: 45 Herald Noriaki

Kasai, eight Olympic Games, they

love him, he is so popular in the

sport. -- 45-year-old. He did not

even bother with the warm up the

night, if you've done seven

Olympics, why put yourself through

the extra warm up jump, surely you

have got it down packed by now? And

Noriaki Kasai, in his beautiful,

gold jumping soup, will wait to see

if the wind will be hate for him.

Come on, you have tamed age, the

least you can do is tame the wind.

There we go, green. Oh, into the

air! Lovely jump, Noriaki Kasai.

There is a smile. He has been so

nervous this week, it has been

crazy. He is still going and he

thought about going through all the

way to 2026. He is third for now.

Karl Geiger, really impressive in

qualifying, 103.5 metres, that

should be enough to get him through.

120.3, provisional lead.

Stefan Hula from Poland has just

pulled off the kind of jump that you

really want to pull off in an

Olympic final evening. Beautiful,

beautiful jump. You will see there,

coming through, cutting through the

green laser that shows you the

distance to beat, just about stuck

the Telemark landing and almost

before he is on the ground, his arm

is up in the air and his coaches are

celebrating. That is the traditional

fist bump from the Polish coach, and

the judges loved it, 19s across the

board out of 20. 131.8 and Stefan

Hula goes into the provisional lead,

qualifies for the next and second

round of this final with ease.

Robert Johansson and his moustache

escort themselves out onto the

starting gate. Down in a lowly 19th

place and qualifying, Norway, big,

ski jumping nation, we are in a run

of three Norwegians, Robert

Johansson is the first, we will say

Johann Andre Forfang and then Daniel

Andre Tande and any of these could

be contenders for medal. Let's see

how Robert Johansson gets on.

He looked a little unsettled in the

air he is coach looks reasonably

content. I'm not sure he held the

form well enough for the judges.

Maybe a little low. You see, there's

a lot of little adjustment going on

in the air with the arms. Landing is

not too bad. You want to keep your

skis just about shoulder with the

land, that if they can at landing

when you bend your knee and transfer

your weight from your front foot

slowly to the back. -- that is a

Telemark landing. It is all right

from the judges gone into sixth

place. It surely you the level that

athletes demand of themselves is

going up as we go into the

competition because that school is

very respectable but he knows it is

now 12 points off the lead and that

is a big distance. -- that school is

very respectable. Johann Andre

Forfang won the last pre-Olympic

World Cup event. The issue for this

man is consistency. If he can put

together two good jumps in a row,

he's going to be a contender. It

very rarely happens, in the last

World Cup event it happened and he

beat Kamil Stoch, the Olympic

champion from 2014, who we will see

in a few jumps time, by just a

couple of points. Fine margin but he

has a win under his belt, Johann

Andre Forfang.

So, 125.9, goes into second. That is

very solid and that is the first

time we have seen someone get close

to Stefan Hula from Poland. Now

another Norwegian, third in the

triumvirate, Daniel Andre Tande, had

a tooth infection a week, been on

antibiotics, does not really make a

big difference to ski jumpers, it

will just hurt when the cold air is

on your face. A smidgen short. Yeah.

103.5 metres is a couple of what we

saw from Johann Andre Forfang just

now. Equal with Stefan Kraft, the

world champion we saw a few minutes

ago. A little bit later when we get

to the fine around, I'm going to

tell you a story about Daniel Andre

Tande. He's afraid heights. I shall

explain. -- afraid of heights.

Turned 24 last month, and he is the

ski flying world champion where they

go over 200 metres plus. Although

right now, he maybe isn't flying

quite the way he would like.

Starting to feel like the Norwegian

coach is just fist bump, come what

may.

may. 180.7, tenth place and I think

Daniel Andre Tande, with that little

ways, is waving goodbye to his

chance of an Olympic medal. -- 100

18.7. But you never know, we have

seen some of the top jumpers are not

getting what they want, here. You

never know what will happen in the

final round. Andreas Wellinger,

topped in qualifying, surprised

himself as much as anyone else. 22

years old. Ruined his chances of a

medal four years ago with a bad

first-round jump. Now is the time to

put that right, if we get a green

light on the wind. The coach looks

down, tames his eyebrows, gives it

the green flag.

Solid take-off. Good distance. Just

not quite the longest jump we have

seen but I think 104.5, depending on

the form scores from the judges, is

going to leave Andreas Wellinger

just about in contention.

So here is the form. Hold it. Don't

let it waver. Come in to land. Hold

the Telemark.

We have already seen Markus

Eisenbichler look really good

tonight for Germany. Andreas

Wellinger goes ahead of both him and

Karl Geiger. 124.9. That brings us

to another German, Richard Freitag.

This man is their favourite. They

think he has the chance to win. Good

distance. Good, good distance. 106

metres, that is going to be a

contender. It is still five metres

of Stefan Hula's monster John from

earlier. But there is a strong

chance Richard Freitag could go

second, here. He had a troubling

build-up to the competition. His

final jump in the competition last

week was only the 28th best, when he

hasn't been among the top three --

when he has been among the top three

all season. He was unsettled by the

wind then so it can't be helped a

night when the wind has been a real

struggle. But that was good. That

looks like it might put him in

contention. Let's see how the judges

reacted. They loved it. 19s, as soon

as you see 19 on the board, you know

someone will be a very happy man,

Richard Freitag goes third, 125.5,

six points off, now defending

Olympic champion Kamil Stoch won the

normal and large hill events in

2014. Qualified in second place

here. Immediately dismissed the jump

he did as not very good. What has he

got tonight?

He has got a big jump, that is what

he has got. That is up there, the

Polish brands loving it -- Polish

fans loving it. Bidding to be the

first man to successfully defend a

normal hill title. He could be the

first to do a double double in

back-to-back games. We saw Simon

Ammann winning double in 2002 and

2010, no one has ever done it

back-to-back. We'll Kamil Stoch be

able to do it? He is the last jumper

of the night. Let's see where he

will fit in. You can see he was a

bit of course, down there. There is

the fist bump. 125.9, into second

place. Well, Kamil Stoch is up

there, never with Johann Andre

Forfang of Norway, but they both

trail Stefan Hula all of Poland by

more than five points. -- level with

Johann Andre Forfang. That will make

it really interesting because Stefan

Hula has come from nowhere to lead

this Olympic ski jump final after

one round of two. Now Daniel Andre

Tande, it might seem somewhat

unlikely for a ski jumper to be

afraid of heights but he says when

he was painting his grandmother's

house, just standing on a ladder on

the first floor and looking down,

his fear was so paralysing it would

take him half an hour to get down so

he used ski jumping as a kid to get

over it. And now here he is, jumping

in the Olympics. That is one way to

get over your fears and what a jump!

What a jump. Daniel Andre Tande

delivers. From his grandmother's

ladder to an incredible Olympic jump

from Daniel Andre Tande. Excellent

distance, 111.5 metres. Just short

of what we saw Pat O'Brien to do but

still very solid. -- just short of

the best we have seen. I think we're

going to see Daniel Andre Tande

ahead into the lead, here.

He is impressed. Daniel Andre Tande

is very impressed.

Judges, are you impressed? They love

it. The new leader is Daniel Andre

Tande. Green light, flagged down.

Finally, a little bit of consistent

action and Robert Johansson, makes

his way down. What a jump! What a

jump! And the aerodynamics on the

moustache have paid off because that

is a fantastic jump from Robert

Johansson of Norway. He was only

19th in qualifying and it didn't

look like he was going to pull out

much here at the winter-macro

Olympics. He is the only member of

the Norwegian team who

the Norwegian team who doesn't have

a World Cup title. Phenomenal jump.

Disposed of the normal fist bumps.

High five. Daniel Andre Tande knows

he will be kicked out of the hot

seat. Fabulous jump. 249.7. Robert

Johansson into first place and we

are starting to run out people to

come.

come. He is Rio Kobayashi, the

youngest. It is good. Wasn't quite

as far as it may be needed to be.

But now, we are at the business end

of this competition, the wind is

letting us get a few jumps in and we

are starting to feel the excitement

of an Olympic final week always knew

could go anyway.

could go anyway. Good,

straightforward.

straightforward. Love the facial

expression. Concentration. Taking in

the scenery in front of him, it is a

good jump, I don't know if it will

be good enough. It is a good jump.

His Olympic debut, his brother's

Olympic debut. Into third for now.

That unseats Simon Ammann, there

will be no medal for suck a macro at

the moment. Now, the surprise German

sensation.

Wow, he's taking this opportunity.

Watch this jump. Good, solid jump.

Not enough to get him into the

medals. But he, as a 24-year-old,

Karl Geiger, ranked 16th in the

world and not expected to be

operating at the top end, is having

a great Olympics so far.

a great Olympics so far. Distance of

105 metres on this jump. Couldn't

see anything massively wrong from a

judging point of view, it is just

the distance. The scores are good,

just the distance. Fourth place and

he just misses out. Robert

Johansson, gets to hang out in the

hot seat.

hot seat. Another German, he does

have a major event form. Bronze

medal at the World Championships

last year. Again, it is wishing but

it's not maybe enough. Another three

or four metres on that we might have

been talking. Going to be a little

lower than he needed. We have had

113.5, the distance from Robert

Johansson and that is the target to

beat at this point. If anyone goes

above 113.5 at this point, they are

probably going to get an Olympic

medal, possibly gold. When you get

to 106 like this with a bit of an

iffy landing, it won't do it for

Markus Eisenbichler.

Markus Eisenbichler. Fourth place.

Stefan Kraft, the world champion.

World champion at both events,

normal hill and large hell.

Phenomenal 2017. Has struggled this

year. Now would be a very good time

to come out of that. He has to wait

for the wind. He would be the third

Austrian to win an Olympic normal

hill title, if he can pull out

something fantastic when he gets the

green light. They are hoping it

happens. Still here, phenomenal from

the fans. Well past midnight local

time. All those delays, minus 12.

Winter Olympics fans. So, we will

wait for Stefan Kraft. People second

when they held the World Cup on this

hill a year ago as a test event. So

he has form here as the world

champion. He holds the ski flying

world record. He once travelled

253.5 metres in the air. Imagine

that! We looking at just over 100

metres on this hill, it is more than

double the record he holds. Now he

has the green light. What will we

see here?

see here? Again, it's not quite up

there. He slaps his hands down onto

his thighs and he knows the world

champion will not become the Olympic

champion. Not tonight, anyway. 103

metres on that jump and it's not

going to be enough at that range. He

can produce the most artistic,

perfectly styled jump in the world,

but it's not going to get you on the

podium if you don't jump far enough.

That is the reaction from the coach.

Stefan Kraft, eighth place, that is

a phenomenally disappointing jump.

What did I tell you, it is not his

season. We are running out of people

who can unseat Robert Johansson.

who can unseat Robert Johansson. One

of them is Andreas Wellinger. This

looks like it could be good. It is

long. It looked like it might be

golden.

golden. 113.5, that is exactly the

same distance as Robert Johansson.

Andreas Wellinger held a 5-point

advantage from the first round. As

long as the judges don't see

anything wrong with this and it

looked good. Maybe Turkey next

second two to get in there.

Beautifully held. Coach is all in

favour of that.

favour of that. And Andreas

Wellinger, I think is going to go

first. There he is, first place.

Andreas Wellinger, only has four

more to watch. The first of which is

his

his team-mate, Richard Freitag. He

is who the Germans but would win.

Suddenly you have Andreas Wellinger

to deal with. That is not going to

push Andreas Wellinger off the top.

Richard Freitag has looked so good,

but in the last few weeks his form

has evaporated. Don't get me wrong,

it is still an exceptionally good

jump, but the time he needed to push

forward... In case you wonder where

they measure the landing from, it is

the midpoint of the fleet. If you

land with your feet together, you

measure from the boot laces. If you

land with your feet apart, they

measure between defeat. Richard

Freitag, misses out on a medal and

goes sixth. We have three athletes

remaining.

Johann Andre Forfang, 22 and all the

pressure in the world.

pressure in the world. Consistency

has been his issue all along. He has

beaten Kamil Stoch before, he knows

how to win, even at this young age.

He has the green light. Into the

take-off. Launches forward, looking

good. Has it got the land? It is

good. It is good. Is it good enough?

It might have fallen short. Might

have fallen short.

have fallen short. 109.5 metres. He

had a 1-point advantage over Andreas

Wellinger from the first round. I

don't know if it is going to be

enough. This is where your style

points come in. It is possible to

win with the jump not as far as your

rivals if it looked better and the

judges liked it more. It does happen

before, it will happen again. You

don't want to have to rely on it. It

is second place, Johann Andre

Forfang, 250.9. Andreas Wellinger

has 295.3. So far out in front but

now we have two incredible jumpers

to come. Starting with the man

defending his Olympic title, Kamil

Stoch. 129.9 from the first round.

He needs an even bigger jump now.

He needs an even bigger jump now. I

don't think he got it. I think

Andreas Wellinger, might hang on to

this. Kamil Stoch, had been looking

to become the most successful Polish

Winter Olympian in history. Just

needed that one more gold medal to

do it. Would have been the first

athlete to win consecutive men's

normal hill gold medals. I think, I

think that won't be what he needs.

That tells you that Andreas

Wellinger thinks he has

Wellinger thinks he has probably

been made safe. There won't even be

a medal for the defending Olympic

champion. What an unpredictable

sport this is and Andreas Wellinger

knows he is one jump away, one jump

from being an Olympic gold

medallist. It is this man's jump,

Stefan Hula, the Poland. Into the

air. How long is it? Does it have

the land? It is close. I don't think

it is going to be enough. 105.5

metres, surely not enough? They have

to wait for the scores, Stefan Hula

needed more. He had such a

phenomenal job. Six, seven almost

point lead from the first round. Did

he need more?

he need more? The form looks good

all the way down, almost motionless.

It is a fine landing as well. But is

the distance enough? I don't know

that it is.

that it is. It is nowhere near

enough, Stefan Hula is fifth. 248.8.

And your Olympic champion is

Germany's Andreas Wellinger.

Everyone thought his team-mate

Richard Freitag would be the gold

medallist. He said, I don't mind the

pressure and he came back and back

again with phenomenal jumps. And he

is your Pyeongchang 2018 men's

normal hill Olympic champion, the

first German to do that since the

mid-19 90s.

From the steep hill

at the ski jumping to the

relative flat of the

cross-country course

and the women's skiathlon.

One British entry here with

Annika Taylor going in her first

Olympics but all eyes will be

on Norway's Marit Bjorgen.

She has twn medals to her name

already and just one more

would make her the most successful

woman in Winter Olympic history.

COMMENTATOR: Stunning condition at

the Alpensia cross-country is being

sent down you're so excited about

the first instalment of drama and I

know these world-class women are

itching to get going. Heidi Weng,

leading the World Cup standings,

losing has second consecutive Tour

de Ski but still searching for her

maiden global individual gold.

Charlotte Kalla is the master

peaking at right time, she has raced

sparingly this year and she will be

feeling fresh, and Marit Bjoergen

has only lost one global skiathlon

raced 2009, three years ago, and she

looks poised, composed and ready.

So, two different techniques, the

real test of the all-rounder. And

the first race for gold is underway

in Pyeongchang. Is it destined to be

a moment of history for Marit

Bjoergen, the defending champion,

the reigning world champion, or can

one of the others deny the six time

Winter Olympic champion the glory

that she so desires to start with

committee? So many races to unfold.

So much to look forward to and are

delighted to be joined by Ollie

Williams, his third Winter Olympic

Games for the BBC but his first

looking forward to the cross-country

and we have been itching for these

days to take down, haven't we? Now

we can forget about the stats and

get on with watching were

class-action.

We've been bouncing

off the walls for this to get

started, what a phenomenal setting

for these races, what a phenomenal

race to start with. We have 7.5

kilometres of plastic which is what

we are skiing right now and then a

pit stop, where you switch, and then

7.5 kilometres along the same course

of skate scheme to the finish. Marit

Bjoergen, obviously the headline,

everyone wants to know, not only can

she be the number one female Winter

Olympian of all time, she's not that

far off being the number one Winter

Olympian of all time, male or

female, she could do it with a bit

of effort at these games and we have

seen she is a multiple gold

medallist whenever she turned up.

But any Norwegian here, a couple of

sweet, we use all Krista Parmakoski

Finland, pushed her close and could

well do that again today and even

Jessie Diggins from the USA, you

have got five or six candidates that

could potentially beat her to the

finish line.

Alongside Ollie

Williams and a fascinated observer

for this one is Posey Musgrave,

Winter Olympian in Sochi four years

ago, you know what it takes to

compete alongside and against some

of these women. Put into context in

these very early stages as we look

at the back and number ten, put into

context what Marit Bjoergen has

already achieved in the sport and

how incredible it would be if she

produces a medal of any colour and

moves to 11 Winter in a big medal.

Ollie has said it already, what we

think about her in the sport, she's

one of the greatest performers with

ever had. She is 37 now, she's been

at the top of the game for about 15

years and it is such a tough sport,

it is incredible to be competing at

such a high level for such a long

time. She has shown year after year

at the top level when it really

matters and I'm excited to see what

you can do today.

That's an

important point because she knows

what to do on the big day and she

knows her body well enough now that

she does not need to raise as much

as some of our rivals. We have not

really seen her since the end of

last year, she finished fifth in one

race when she had a bit of a cold

and was not necessarily on top form

but she does not necessarily need to

be doing it the whole time and it is

a very different approach and

build-up she taking into a race like

this compared to some of the younger

Norwegians, the Swedes try to get at

her heels.

Posey, give us your view

on the skiathlon, in the old days,

it was Colby combined pursuit at it

is the all-rounder's test because

the first half of the race is

classical, in the tracks and then as

Ollie mentioned, we have a

transition area and T20 really fast

circuits of freestyle. This is a

really tough test because if you

favour classical, you might look

impressive early on, somebody like

Christina Kowalczyk, who is arguably

past their best dab but you can't

just be good in one, you got to be

good in both.

Absolutely and ideal

that some people say it favours the

skate specialists because it comes

second so if you can hang with the

pack, you have a chance to push the

pace in that section and be at the

front when it counts at the finish

but regardless, if you can't hang

with the pace in the classic

section, it does not matter so you

have to be a good all-rounder.

If

you while Charlotte Kalla, somebody

looking to stop Marit Bjoergen with

somebody like Charlotte Kalla's

pedigree, we know she is phenomenal,

I don't know if your member Sochi in

2014, Charlotte Kalla was the one

who delivered the incredible relay

finish and came over the line in one

of the moments of the Games. With

her tools, how do you beat Marit

Bjoergen there? Do you go hard to

start? Do you try to stretch of the

race? What can you do?

I'm not sure

anyone has got the answer which is

why she has been so successful,

Marit Bjoergen is often pushing the

pace, but at the moment, we can see

she's further towards the back,

she's often at the front,

controlling the pace so it is so

hard to do either way, if it comes

to a sprint finish, she has got a

great sprint and she can beat

everyone right at the end but she

can also push the pace and spring

out the pack early.

Charlotte Kalla

is a hugely popular figure in

Sweden, she comes from a tiny town

right up in Arctic Circle.

Interesting as well that she has

decided to do this year exactly what

she did ahead of Sochi. She's barely

raised at all since Christmas. She

will be arriving here fresh. In

contrast to somebody like Heidi

Weng, who although brilliantly won a

second consecutive Tour de ki, she

has race literally everywhere and

surely with a set of events like

this, coming in a bit fresh has got

to be helpful for Charlotte Kalla

and it is a proven tactic that works

for her and did so brilliantly in

Russia.

It did really well for Heron

Rush and we have seen the same in

some of the World Championships, she

had a home World Championships in

Sweden in 2015 and you do the same

then. We did not see much of her

before but she won gold in front of

the home crowd so she knows it works

for her and it's important that you

know what you winning strategy is an

stick with it so there is no point

in her raising too much when she

knows it works without that.

Just a

clarification, Charlotte Kalla is on

the left of the picture, now in the

centre but on the left-hand tracks,

wearing number five. Number one is

Heidi Weng, the World Cup leader. I

noticed towards the front of the

group, Justin Kowalczyk, wearing 22,

a good performer when it comes to

the classical. A Winter Olympic

champion in her own right. Arguably

perhaps just a touch past their best

and Marit Bjoergen quite happy

wearing number eight to be in the

pack. There's a long way to go here.

The pack looking fairly close

together as we come to the first

checkpoint, two point 26 kilometres.

We can see the first 20 people still

within ten seconds of each other. It

has not strung out too much and we

can see that happening potentially

as we get onto the second lap. Two

loops of 3.75 kilometres in the

classic style before they move over.

Right, there are some very technical

elements to cross-country, it is not

as simple as it looks. For those

people who may be watching

cross-country skiing for the first

time, give us the layman's guide to

the waxing because although it might

sound like a boring subject, it was

a vital subject in Sochi because

despite all the resources that the

Norwegian team have got, at their

disposal, they got their waxing very

wrong in the first few races in

Sochi and it was almost a national

outcry. Give us the insider guide as

to what is important with wax and

why.

They did indeed and waxing can

win or lose you the race which is

frustrating when you put in all the

training and you are still relying

on your skis at the end of the day

but there's a lot to it. First, you

have glide wax which makes you go

fast downhill so that is about speed

and glide and in the classic style,

what they are doing now, you have

kick wax so in the centre of your

ski, you have a kick wax zone where

you apply the wax and as you

compress it, it gives you the push

to get you up the hill, one thing

you have to think about is getting

the balance between kicking and

gliding so you need to be able to

get up the hill but you want to go

downhill quickly as well. There's an

awful to think about and on top of

that, you have do have a good set of

skis to be waxing.

Lot happens

behind this keys Vilhete magazines

which is decisive in terms of

getting the athletes to the start

line and in shape where they can

win. This week, the Swedish coaching

team has had a struggle with narrow

virus and even if it takes 0.5% of

someone like Charlotte Kalla or

Stina Nilsson, who has an outside

chance of doing something here, that

disruption is big news, headline

news in Sweden all week. But still,

the Swedish press are saying if ever

there was a chance for Charlotte

Kalla to win an Olympic skiathlon,

today's the day.

It definitely could

be her day but still too early to

tell. I think we will find out as

the race progresses, still a good 20

people in the front pack so let's

see how it goes. I think she could

do really well today. I've got good

feelings for her.

The first four

circuits completed. It is 3.75

kilometres twice in classical and

then we have a transition zone, it

is not quite like a triangle and if

you are fond of these swim, bike and

run but it's important to get in and

out as quickly as possible. A big

group altogether. Nobody has been

dropped. The cameras focusing on the

was ninth on the last climb on the

Tour de Ski, dropping back of the

big group and everybody else seems

as though they are very much still

in touch. We have almost had 50

going through, 62 in total.

When we

see 60 comes through, 62 is Annika

Taylor. She's the British contender

we have, used to be... Born in

California, her father is British

and she has been part of the British

team since 2013, I believe and you

overlapped with our remit but give

us a flavour of what the experience

will be like for her.

We did just

overlapped and she will have a

similar experience to me in Sochi,

her first date of racing in the big

games and it's different to any

other racing so you might have

raised at the World Championship or

the World Cup but the Olympic stage

is different, there's more exposure,

interest and people watching. I hope

she can really take some positive

experiences away from this.

Hopefully we will see some good

things from her.

Look at this. OK,

it is not a definitive bid for gold

but it shows you how confident she

is feeling, bearing in mind she was

a bit below form as we mentioned,

only fifth in the last World Cup

race before coming here. This is a

really confident piece of front

skiing from Marit Bjoergen.

Charlotte Kalla right behind her.

One of the duels we were looking

forward to. Heidi Weng is in third,

Hurst Berg in fourth, wearing number

two and a skier I to you is Ebba

Andersson of Sweden, really young,

world junior skiathlon silver last

year and fifth, her best ever

placing in the senior World Cup

race, she's definitely one to watch,

wearing 18 on the left and a bit of

a slip but she is an exciting

prospect. We were not really talking

about before the race budgies in the

place to keep track of the moves at

the moment.

Absolutely, she's nicely

positioned at the front and she's a

really exciting talent was in.

Charlotte Kalla coming to the end of

her career, they might be looking

for the next big star and Ebba

Andersson could be it. She was

talented at a very young age. You

mentioned the world junior medals

and she medalled the year before and

she went to the world Juniors three

times which is very unusual and

because of the age, each year makes

a big difference in your development

yet three years before the final

year, she was up there and competing

to the top places.

Charlotte Kalla

coming to the end of our great, but

Marit Bjoergen is almost dead yet,

how exceptional is it for Marit

Bjoergen to still be competing at

this level at that age? Mavuba we

could see Charlotte Kalla for a few

more Olympics yet but it's partly

about motivation, this is an

endurance sport like marathon

running where people get better as

they get older and there's every

possibility that as long as you are

injury free and you train well, you

can compete and be competitive in

your 30s. They head down towards the

transition area. OK, do these

cross-country skiers practice

transition as the triathletes do?

The triathlete's mantra is you are

never going to win a race with

transition but you could cause

yourself problems. If it was a

mindset here?

Absolutely, it is not

something people will spend weeks

and weeks or hours of practice on

but when you have a big event coming

up, you will make sure you put it in

a few sessions. It is easy to do

something, to incorporate it into an

interval session, you could do half

of an interval one technique and

changing over so you are practising

out of competition which is

important.

In an ideal world, how

long should the transition date for

each of the world-class women?

Already as they have come past the

back line, they were able to start

skating and they are taking the

poles off so they can unclip their

skis, clip into the other skis, pick

up the new poles and move out so

they should be in the box for no

more than ten seconds.

Jessica

Diggins wearing number three, there.

And now we get into the second half

of the race, classical finished for

the first 15 or so of these

cross-country skiers. I wonder how

long we will wait before the big

move comes as to muck it is a

move comes as to muck it is a shame

for Ragnhild Haga. Her uncle

represented the way cross-country in

1980 but she will have to work to

close the gap on the leading group.

She tends to be slightly stronger in

the freestyle that we have moved

onto so she's not totally out of it

but she will have to work really

hard to get back up to the front.

The danger is as well that if you

work too hard to get up to the front

back, you burn the matches by the

time you get there and then if

anyone in a front group makes a

move, you've nothing left to go with

them so it is a dangerous position

to be in.

One skier we haven't mentioned is

Natalie Gnabry Ava. She is only 21,

she is an Olympic athlete

representing Russia and she is right

up to Charlotte Kalla in second

place. We can already see a group of

seven or eight just beginning to

pull away. I wonder at what stage we

might start to see a big move?

The

little gap is starting to emerge on

the right of your picture, we have a

group of nine with maybe a couple

hanging on to the coat-tails. It

looks like we are starting to get

this main pack that may be the

winner will come from.

You have the

two Swedish athletes and then you

have three or even four from Norway.

But Charlotte Kalla

But Charlotte Kalla followed by

Andersson, who is having a fantastic

race. At what stage do you expect

and moved to come if they are going

to give themselves the best possible

chance of beating Bjoergen?

We don't

tend to see this very often in the

women's races.

women's races. They were crawling

over the top of the hill and I think

someone soon will make a move.

Is it

a case of someone forcing themselves

to be brave?

I think so, some of

them here know they are not as

strong when it comes to the Sprint

finishes and will have to push the

pace.

pace. Stadlober, she doesn't have a

very strong sprint finish.

This is

gearing up to be a great last lap.

Bjoergen, Kante 's history but there

are plenty of women still in touch

who want to deny her this golden

opportunity to become the greatest

of all time.

Still got Stadlober in

that pack, Heidi Weng of the back as

well.

There are five or six people

who have the pedigree to make this

their own. But they are up against

someone in Bjoergen, who has done it

time and time again. The last two

Olympic ski at once, she has fended

off everybody. It must play on the

minds of the rest of the pack. What

would Bjoergen do, what should I be

doing now?

Absolutely, she will be

hard to beat in the final sprint. I

think she still has something in the

tank. She has got to be feeling very

confident as they go into the last

lap of the course.

lap of the course.

Von Siebenthal is

there and so is Jessica Diggins.

Charlotte

Charlotte Calor and Andersson, can

she upstage her compatriot?

she upstage her compatriot? It is

just about to get very, very

interesting. Marriage B Hogan has

not had this race all to herself and

there are women here who can

genuinely put her under pressure in

the closing stages. But how brave

are they willing to be and how will

they have to push on the steep hill

coming into the stadium at the end

of this loop?

And you mention

Andersson, it is hard to

underestimate the rivalry. You see

Charlotte Kalla coming ahead and

moving forward. Sweden would love to

take this opening medal.

They have

never won the combined pursuit, as

it has been called. Two silver

medals. Charlotte Kalla, came in

here really fresh. Von Siebenthal is

still in there.

still in there. There is Bjoergen in

third

third place with Parmakoski just

behind her. This is a bold move from

Charlotte Kalla. She is already an

Olympic champion in the ten

kilometre and the team sprint. Can

she do it today?

This is a big move

by Charlotte Kalla. Bjoergen, played

it badly. Is she going to be able to

make the gap up? This is a big move

by Charlotte Kalla and she will put

her foot down to the top of this

hill.

These are the hills that will

separate the pack. Charlotte Kalla,

the Swedish fans have been saying,

this is her time. If she is going to

win the Olympic gold medal, it has

got to be today, the conditions are

in her favour, the snow is in her

favour. It all plays into what she

likes. There is no dominant force

this season. Charlotte Kalla, that

is a sizeable gap and we don't have

long left to go in this at all.

Bjoergen will have to do something

special. She only has four seconds

on the grid, but four seconds can

mean an awful lot here. That is

really big, what she has just done.

Charlotte Kalla, has taken it to the

iron Lady. Bjoergen can still make

history. Charlotte Kalla has been

brave, she has raced smart and she

has got this race at the moment, I

would say a little bit busy in, that

shot, but the Swedish fans in the

stadium are getting ready to be

very, very excited. It is not just

Charlotte Kalla, the youngster,

Andersson is also in the mix. We

only have one Norwegian in the top

three. There is Bjoergen, with

Andersson, the other Swede right

behind her.

behind her.

Look at this hill.

Charlotte Kalla is already loved in

Sweden, she is emotional and says

what she thinks. She is someone but

people really warmed to in terms of

the way she reacts. As she surges

appear, she's not only potentially

going to win the gold medal, she

will become the first Swedish woman

to be a three-time Olympic gold

medallist in Cross-Country Skiing.

She would put herself even further

out there as a national hero if she

can take this goal.

They are really

working hard as they go up this

hill. They were taking it easy, now

this is 100% working as hard as you

can and work as hard as you can.

Bjoergen won't give up until the

end.

If she makes up this now, if

she makes this up and wins this gold

medal it will confirm her as the

greatest female Cross-Country Skiing

of all time, to do that?

It would be

very special, Charlotte Kalla is no

slouch. Bjoergen is an incredible

competitor. I know her and I know

she will not give up. She still

believes she can do it.

It is

getting tight for second and third

because we know Bjoergen's class.

Parmakoski is there. Surely now with

the gap as it is, unless there is an

absolutely huge move up the brutal

hill coming into the stadium from

Bjoergen, this looks very much like

it could be a winning lead.

Bjoergen, 37 years of age. She has

got the class to close the gap but

if she is going to close it, she has

got to do something now. Charlotte

Kalla will be hurting. She was brave

and bold and she will be starting to

feel this and Bjoergen may come

under pressure from the Finnish

athlete who pushed her so close to

the world title last year. There is

Bjoergen, number eight. Parmakoski,

seven.

seven. Bjoergen has got to find

something here. She still could

produce history. Any medal will make

the greatest on her own of all time.

You mentioned about the history

would Charlotte Kalla. If she wins

the medal here, she will be joined

with Anya Pearson, the Alpine Skiing

as the greatest

as the greatest Swedish athlete.

Surely this is too much, even the

Swagger.

I think she has let it go

too much. This is too little too

late for her. I think Charlotte

Kalla has skied a perfect race

today. Bjoergen, not having it her

own way. Parmakoski is hard on her

heels. Bjoergen has had to work so

hard to close the gap to Charlotte

Kalla that she might not have the

sprint finish in her.

You can see

that Parmakoski, it shows that

Parmakoski is finding it easy enough

to stay in contention with Bjoergen.

If Bjoergen had something in her to

do something about this right now,

surely Parmakoski wouldn't be able

to stay as close as she is.

Charlotte Kalla has raised superbly.

Ebba Andersson, just out of the

medals at the moment, but this will

be a sweet moment for Charlotte

Calor. The grimmest will turn to

smile. She is going to secure the

first gold the 2018 Winter Olympics

here in Pyeongchang. I really big

effort from Parmakoski to try to

close down Bjoergen. There will be

his chief of the Norwegian today,

but not the position to which he has

grown accustomed. Charlotte Kalla,

Sweden's golden girl has delivered

the performance of her life. Bold,

brave and it is she who becomes the

Winter Olympic champion. History is

secured for Marit Bjoergen and she

is right to celebrate her silver

medal. Makes her the most decorated

female Winter Olympian in history

and she will have other chances for

goal. Parmakoski did her best to put

the Norwegian and the Swede under

pressure. She completes the podium

after the silver last year, it is

bronze this time. Marit Bjoergen has

created headlines on history, but so

too has Sweden's Charlotte Kalla.

What a race and what a performance.

Charlotte Kalla has been phenomenal.

We expected this to be a relatively

close race, if not very, very close.

We have seen these races decided by

one second or less. You watch

Charlotte Kalla accelerate away.

That was the perfect start to her

Olympics, Sweden's Olympics. Half of

Scandinavia right now will be going

Postal over the event they have

seen. That was a dominance, dominant

win.

That's all from us for now.

We'll be back tomorrow on BBC Four

at the same time with highlights

from the team figure skating.

And our live coverage

of the Winter Olympics continues

over on BBC1 at 11:50pm as we build

up to arguably the most

exciting event of any Games,

the men's downhill.

The downhill run about 1.5 miles in

length and a drop of 2000 feet.

The

men's Downhill promises to be a race

that could make Olympic history.

that could make Olympic history.

The

only way to win this is to take a

huge amount of risk.

Bill Johnson,

the all-American boy.

the all-American boy.

You are

watching the greatest ski racer in

the world and he is doing it again.

He is going to win the gold.