20/02/2018 Winter Olympics Extra

Hello and welcome to Day 11

of the Winter Olympics and there's

plenty more ice and snow to come

from these Games.

That was beautiful.

She is light

years ahead of everyone else.

Later in the programme we'll see how

Great Britain's Rowan Cheshire

gets on in the final

of the women's ski halfpipe.

But first it's the conclusion

of the ice dance.

Yesterday we saw Britain's Penny

Coombes and Nick Buckland

finish tenth

after the short programme.

A remarkable achievement,

given then 20 months ago, Penny

was told she would never skate again

after a training accident.

Kat Downes and Robin

Cousins can talk us through

the free dance.

Welcome to medal day, once again,

skating fans this is the eye stands

free dance at the Gangneung Ice

Arena and we will see gold, silver

and bronze handed out in this final

day of the Olympic competition. Just

over quite minutes in this Olympic

journey will be over for Nick and

Penny. From a shattered kneecap

through 20 months of recovery to

today, tenth place at the moment,

Nick and Penny looking to push up

the leaderboard, and they need to be

perfect.

And that was the lift.

How is it

looking, Robin?

So far, so good.

The ultimate story of grit and the

termination has a happy ending out

on the ice for now at least. It

might not be a medal for Nick and

Penny but this will mean more to

them than precious metal. Just

seeing out there skating together,

and at an Olympics. Robin, look at

the computer, what can you see?

Diagonal sequence level four,

straight-line lift, synchronised

twizzle is, but they shall live,

four, circular step, level three,

curved left, level four, we are

seeing positive GOEs

across-the-board. And that second

turn of the twizzle, brought back

up.

up.

Wimbledon 1.96, keeping them

behind Kimi -- the Canadians. They

are in third place at the moment and

so desperate to finish in the top

ten. These two, very much in the

battle, particularly for the bronze

medal position at the moment. Who

knows Chris macro they could go even

better. Just two one hundredths of a

point between Maia Shibutani and

Alex Shibutani and their countrymen

Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donahue.

The rivalry in Team USA is heating

up.

Maia and Alex hoping that John Chang

2018 is their paradise. -- that

Pyeongchang.

Very smooth from the step sequins

and into the straight-line left.

and into the straight-line left. --

step sequence.

Perfection through the twizzles.

They are so precise with their feet.

CHEERING

It is signature Shibutami, clean,

correct, precise, the performance of

this games from them. They already

have our bronze medal in the bag

from the team event and that looks

very much like a medal winning

performance from me.

That was the

best I've seen them. They are so

precise technically, always

consistent, but sometimes it's just

lacking the joy or some emotion and

you could see individually they were

both loving that moment of being on

the ice, and that's what I need to

see, that's what I haven't had from

them that often. It's almost been

very, almost clinical, for me.

very, almost clinical, for me.

We

have new leaders, just as we

expected, and that will pile the

pressure on Hubbell and Donahue. The

Shibutami 's have really gone for it

here. And now the European --

reigning European champions,

Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume

Cizeron. They are less than two

points behind Tessa Virtue and Scott

Moir, who lead the way. That

wardrobe malfunction, her dress

falling off during a performance

yesterday really knocked them, but

still, less than one point in it.

APPLAUSE

APPLAUSE

APPLAUSE

APPLAUSE

It is silky, smooth, sublime from

the off. It was billed as a battle

for gold between them and their

training partners, Scott Moir and

Tessa Virtue.

Exquisite to watch them skate.

Individually, strong skaters,

together, it is special. That is

what happens, the music starts and

then you will see. It is the detail

for me, even the way the fingers

intertwined the opening move. It

draws you in and commands your

attention. So musical. They feel

every moment that they are together.

There is that connection.

A new season's best, a new world

record. 123.35. And it is going to

be a very, very, very big ask for

Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, to

claim their second Olympic title.

Tessa and Scott, just one bubble

away. They will skate last,

desperately trying to save their

gold medal chances. But Madison

Hubbell and Zachary Donahue

currently sit in the bronze medal

position. They saw that performance,

and they will need to be brilliant

if they want to go home in the

medals.

It was fabulous and dramatic, but

putting your hands down on the ice

makes an instant one point

deduction, because it was considered

a fall. I have written a note, there

is never anything tentative about

these two when they hit the ice, it

is gangbusters of a quality. And

they wanted to make that happen

there.

There was no room for error

at all in that programme if they

wanted to beat Alex and Maia

Shibutani. That is going to be a

problem.

It is 109.94. So, they slot into

third place, with Tessa Virtue and

Scott Moir yet to skate. It is that

heartbreaking, agonising, fourth

position for Madison and Zachary.

Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, the

world champions, the 2010 Olympic

champions. In the gold medal

position, coming into this free

dance. But they are going to be

extraordinary if they want to win

this gold medal. They are going to

need to beat the new world record,

laid down by Gabriella

laid down by Gabriella Papadakis and

Guillaume Cizeron, just two routines

ago.

APPLAUSE

APPLAUSE

APPLAUSE

It is brilliant! But is it enough?

Enough for Olympic gold for the

world champions from Canada?

Well,

they wanted to deliver and they

certainly did. I tell you, I am

looking at the screens, trying to do

the maths. It is tight at the top.

Goodness me.

They know they could

not have done any more. Virtue and

Moir had no wriggle room, there was

nothing for them to play with, they

couldn't leave anything on the ice.

And they didn't, they absolutely

smashed it.

They've done it! 122.40, the

comeback kid is complete for Tessa

Virtue and Scott Moir, silver in

Sochi four years ago, they tucked

two years away from competition and

returned to win World Championship

gold last year, and now it is

Olympic gold, too!

Phenomenal, amazing champions,

amazing performance. Yes, very

different to Papadakis and Cizeron.

That silver medal is well-deserved.

But these two are supreme.

Confirmation that they are the

Olympic champions for a second time,

adding gold here in Pyeongchang to

the gold they took in 2010 in

Vancouver. Gabriella Papadakis and

Guillaume Cizeron second for silver,

remarkable skating from them and

Alex Shibutani and Maia Shibutani

finding something extra when it

counted to take bronze for Team USA.

Penny Coomes and Nick Buckland just

missing out on a top ten finish, a

bittersweet moment for them, they

hope to be in the top ten but a

brilliant skate from them, they did

everything they could, and great to

see them performing out on Olympic

ice for a third time.

see them performing out on Olympic

ice for a third time.

I don't think

we could have skated any better.

With the pressure mounting, we took

to the ice and said, let's skate for

us, we deserve this already.

And you

went into that final programme

knowing you needed a massive

performance to beat a world-record

score.

We train with them, so we

knew what to expect, but we didn't

know they had posted a world-record

score. But you could put their house

on it, for sure, that they would.

And we had to come out and have our

skate, and we felt like we did that.

That's what we are most proud of.

Things pan out different ways in

sport but we stuck to our plan and

we proud to come out this

competition with a gold medal.

We

did everything we could today, and

we can be very proud.

When you do a

world-record performance and you

still don't get the gold, what do

you feel about that?

Years, you

know, sometimes it's just like that.

You know? But what is done is done,

the points are what they are, we are

just really proud of what we did

today. We had such a good feeling on

the ice. It was one of the most

incredible experiences I've ever

had.

Four years ago, ninth, and now

a bronze medal.

Describe the

difference. We have changed so much

since the first Olympics. We have

just been training, training,

training. So to put out a programme

like that badly can be so proud of,

it feels amazing.

So many sleepless

nights, so much dreaming and work

and never-ending belief in ourselves

got here. I am so happy to be back.

I really enjoyed myself. The

audience were great. It felt like a

great skate, I felt like we gave it

everything, and the scorer was very

disappointing for us, because that's

not what we came here to do.

Sometimes the score can dampen your

feelings about the performance. I

was trying to remember how we felt

when we were performing and after we

finished, that is the most important

thing. We felt like we did a great

job and performed that programme as

well as we wanted to, today, so we

got to try and remember that.

Celebration still going on down on

the ice, I can see Tessa and Scott

wrapped in the Maple Leaf flag. What

a way to win the Olympic title,

there was nothing in it, they needed

pure brilliance.

They did, and they

delivered it. The French had come

out and been stunning, broken their

own world record, set down the

gauntlet, and the Canadians came out

absolutely serenely and started with

such composure. There was no

tension, nothing, and it was

absolutely glorious.

This is what

they came back with. They got silver

in Sochi, they took two years away

from competition, they were putting

in all the hard work, and they won

the World Championship last year.

This is what they wanted, this 2018

gold Medal.

Absolutely, they did.

You read about the reasons they want

to do, they love skating, they said

that we don't want to stop but we

missed that competition element.

They had asked the Canadian skating

federation, can we move to drain

that these people in Montreal, and

they said no, so they said, OK, we

are done with it, it didn't work

after Sochi. Then they said we are

coming back, we are moving to

Montreal, we will train the

Papadakis and Cizeron, and we will

make it happen. And goodness me,

they did today. What was lovely to

see those couples hugging it out on

the ice. Of course there will be

disappointment for the French team,

but they do know that on the day,

the Canadians were better.

And we've

got to mention Penny and Nick as

well, a bittersweet end to their

incredible Olympic journey, if we

can use that word, 20 months of

recovery and hope and despair and

finally getting it, 11 and in the

end, but they were happy with their

performance and that is what

matters.

As we said on air, you can

only worry about what you can do,

skating rice, to deliver the

elements, then it is down to their

technical panel to give you the

level. They got the level fours,

they did what they could, they

didn't get the component scores and

grade of execution for individuals

that they would have liked, but you

have to come off the ice and go, we

didn't know a year run a half ago

that we would even be here, let

alone step on the ice to compete.

I'm so proud of what they have

accomplished. Is it what they would

have liked to have walked away from

today? Absolutely not. I defy

anybody to do what they did, and to

do better.

You can only control what

is controllable, as Nick said, but

Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir are the

Olympic champions. What a comeback,

and what a story.

And we'll have highlights

of the final figure skating event

of these Games as the Women take

to the ice in the short

programme on Thursday.

Back up the mountain

to the ski halfpipe

and Great Britain's Rowan Cheshire

was in action in the final.

he's been

speaking to Ed Leigh.

I was really confident

about my skiing and my fitness,

going into it really happy.

I don't member the crash

actually happening.

I don't remember the hospital

anything, it is only in the morning

that I have any recollection.

When you knock yourself out,

like a concussion, you can't

remember, it is a bit scary

when you don't know what you have

done, you can't think

about how you will

fix it or how you

stop it from happening again.

That was the first of three

concussions, in February 2014.

What was the timeline?

After that one, I went away

in October time to Saas Fee,

I think it was, and then I ended up

hitting my head again.

And then, again, the following

year in the same place.

The third one was when it

really kind of hit me,

it was very scary how I reacted

to that with

the concussion and stuff.

Did you feel yourself

changing, in the way

you dealt with situations?

Definitely, like normal

things, as in travelling,

I wouldn't travel by myself,

something I am totally used

to and have done for years,

it gave me a lot of anxiety

to do normal daily things,

and you just get overly emotional

about situations that

you wouldn't normally.

Very not with it, kind

of just not there, yeah.

A lot of people with concussions,

they do go through those kind

of things, and it is kind of tough

mentally to think,

why am I feeling like this?

Am I the only one feeling like this?

It is very hard.

So the reassurance that you are not

the only one and it does

get better with time,

it does take a while

to heal itself, really.

You are still very young,

but the experiences of the last

three and a half years,

has it changed your

enjoyment of skiing?

It did, like it really did.

I remember, I told my dad I didn't

want to do it any more,

and I burst out crying,

because I was so sad about it.

I clearly don't want to quit if I am

going to be that sad about it,

when you have the fear of a tap

to your head,

it does take away the fun a bit.

So finding the enjoyment

and getting the adrenaline back

was a big thing for me.

It is there now, it is very obvious.

Definitely, I am

enjoying it so much now.

Looking to Pyeongchang,

what are your expectations?

I would really like a medal.

That is one of my goals,

I am just going to come and see how

it goes, not trying to think

about it too much, to be honest,

hopefully it will come together,

and you never know.

Great Britain's Rowan Cheshire. Sat

next to me is the man of the moment

from ski slope yesterday, James

next to me is the man of the moment

from ski slope yesterday, James

Woods. How's it going?

Good to have

you with us. This is banging, best

seat in the house!

Rowan, battling

back from that horrendous concussion

in Sochi, but she has made it to the

Olympics and she's about to drop in

for the first time.

Just needs to

put down a solid scorer on the board

here. Nice big alley-oop, best

amplitude that we have seen so far,

into the nine. Solid five. Into the

seven. Now, it's the switch

alley-oop.

alley-oop.

Lovely, great first run.

Definitely got the most amplitude

that we have seen so far. And she's

got a nine in there, so she has

upped the difficulty that we have

seen from any of the previous runs.

75.4. She slots on behind

75.4. She slots on behind the

Russian, Demidova. Brita Sigourney

leads the World Cup standings. Me

coming into this from an outside

perspective, but with a good bit of

inside knowledge on the halfpipe

scene, this, for me, this is the

battle between Cassie Sharpe and

professor Gony for this win. And

Brita has gone big, huge. That

alley-oop 540, with so much travel.

That this technical difficulty in a

nutshell.

To rotate up the pipe,

then to travel that far down it.

Exactly,.

I got the shivers, then.

It is shimmering, turn it down, turn

the gas down. It is going to catch

you in a minute.

It is already

caught. I am a newbie any but I am

already caught, as far as I'm

concerned.

Look at that the 390s

only pulled down by that 89. It is

very difficult, the judging and the

points thing, but the essence of it

is to look at the placings.

The

score is just a little message from

the judges to the riders, more than

anything. 89.8. That's telling me

that the judges are telling Brita,

get those grabs, and get them well

up there into the 90s.

Marie

Martinod has got her first run, the

33-year-old mother of one. Defying

the mantra of action sports and

absolutely slaying it in the pipe.

They are known as youth sports, but

they have been coming-of-age over

the last three decades. And age is

just a number for Marie Martinod.

Great first run from the

Frenchwoman.

Silver medallist from

Sochi, skis out of our plan, -- of

La Plagnes.

Ed loves the logo from

La Plagnes.

La Plagnes.

Oh, well, we said it.

She skis Calabro, she takes the

boxes, she does exactly what the

judges want to see. -- she skis

clever.

Cassie Sharpe coming out of

Vancouver Island BC, her brother

took a silver at the X Games and

snowboard slope, and wasn't brought

here, so the sharp family very happy

to have at least one member in

there.

there.

She qualified in first place.

You can see how clean and

confidently she comes through the

pipe, and she is taking the boxes

for the judges. Massive truck

driver, there.

Beautiful, beautiful

last trick.

You can not have rolled

a bowling ball any smoother than

that! Just hit the transition.

Fantastic run from Cassie, both

nines, lots of switches, two big

straight air, with solid, consistent

grabs. Some amazing skiing.

The last

woman to drop in the first run of

the women's ski halfpipe finals is

Cassie Sharpe, and she takes the

lead with a 94.4. Cassie Sharpe,

94.4, chased closely by Marie

Martinod and Brita Sigourney,

Annalisa Drew, in fourth, with Rowan

Cheshire making it into the top six

after run one, so she has crept up a

couple places.

Rowan Cheshire of Great Britain.

She

has already done so much by getting

here. Can I say bad-ass? I probably

can't.

But she is!

I learned to ski

at the Stoke dry slope, where she

did.

I can tell you another

interesting fact, Rowan Cheshire

taught Sarah Hoefflin 270s off the

rails.

rails.

Technical wise, this is

pretty much flawless so far. You can

see, coming out of the 900 on her

third hit, going into the 540, she

had a scuffed on the bottom.

Unfortunately, she went down on the

right side 540. A less easy way of

spelling.

Marie Martinod, the fantastic Alpine

themed pants from the 70s.

I love

that, she looks good.

Lovely start.

Starting to up the technicality of

the second. You can see how

confident she is feeling, after

landing that first run. The speed is

there. Final hate... Flair to ten?

-- final

-- final hit. The 33-year-old mother

of one, absolutely destroying it

here at Phoenix Park. She has just

backed the judges into a serious

corner.

My goodness! Not what we thought!

I

thought it was going to be more than

that.

I thought it was going to be

more, too.

more, too.

What about Cassie Sharpe?

I don't know, man!

They haven't put

in much space to put somebody

between. Look at this, Cassie is

running the game right now. She is

there, and she is definitely the

favourite to win. She is in the lead

already and she is going to have to

do seriously well.

Penultimate run,

already in the lead. A big spin, the

first hit.

Solid grab, into the

flair.

How relaxed was that?

360,

Switch. Down the pipe, 360. Now,

needs to... There is the truck

driver. Really nice. Finally

finishing off with a bang. Oh, my

days!

Nine to nine to start with, and then

the finish. I think that is the run

that she wanted in her dreams. Just

booted herself out of of place, I

reckon. Straight through the net,

95.8. It is an improvement. And on

the buzzer, Cassie Sharpe, I think,

has put it out of reach for

everybody else. There are the

standings after the second run.

Cassie Sharpe, with 95.8.

OK, Rowan Cheshire from Great

Britain, dropping in for her third

and final run. Currently in seventh

position. She has the tools to

improve.

Third run nerves after missing the

second run. She is starting nice and

smooth. 540, down to the 180. No,

no!

She has fallen on the left nine.

She swapped the nine on the second

hit for the alley-oop. She had

scaled back.

Next, Maddie Bowman from the United

States. Currently in 11. She

qualified in sixth, I think. So, she

is on the form she has, she could

move up the rankings considerably.

Technical wise, it is all there. She

just needs the amplitude to match.

A huge 540. The tale, into 720.

Switch seven.

Switch seven. She gets the amplitude

back up. Here is, the 900.

Come on!

Do it! Oh, no!

You're kidding...

What a shame.

I thought she was

going to let it go after the nine.

The Olympic champion crashes out in

the finals. All three runs.

the finals. All three runs. The last

four riders to drop Adi four top

riders. Annalisa Drew, just outside

the medals. Can she now pull it out

of the bag and lay down a score

worthy of the event? She needs the

run of her life to upset the apple

cart. So far, it is looking like

that beautiful alley-oop.

that beautiful alley-oop. To the

five. Calming things down, a gentle

pause between the technicality that

we are going to see at the bottom.

We need the fireworks. Wow. That was

clean. I'm so glad I did my vision

out of the window to see the

landing. That was so clean! I mean,

Annalisa Drew, regardless of score,

regardless of ranking, she can be

incredibly proud of three runs in

the bag, for the Olympic final. That

is a huge attribute to her skiing.

The judges are going to be staring

this rundown and comparing it

exactly against Brita Sigourney's

run.

run.

So, Annalisa Drew, the American

was on an 86.8. She is looking for

something above 89.8. 90.8! She is a

point clear and is in the medals for

now. But there are three riders left

to drop. The next of which will be

Brita Sigourney, who she has just

bumped out of bronze medal position.

It could be a very awkward flight

home on the USA team playing. --

plane. She has bumped her fellow

countrywoman out of the medals, and

now Brita Sigourney has it all to

do.

This is where you find out what

you are made of. When you thought

you had a medal, you got that close,

and now you have got to lay down a

huge clean run, arguably the best

run of her life under the most

pressure.

Brita Sigourney has the

ability to do this. She has the

amplitude, technical difficulty, the

confidence, the grabs. Roger

Sigourney is the only person here

who can actually challenge Cassie

Sharpe, in my opinion, for the top

spot. Now she has the destruction of

being bombed down to fourth place.

-- and destruction.

Distraction, or

motivation? Let's find out. Huge

alley-oop. Biggest of the day, was

it?

She made a nine look like a

five.

She got the grab, that is what

the last run was lacking.

Needs

fireworks here.

fireworks here. Beautiful, big 722

finish. The last 180 was blind. They

are hugging at the bottom.

For me, I

think she is definitely in the

medals, man, there is no way about

it.

Absolutely. But I think it is

better than Martinod's run. It was

definitely bigger. As you said, she

had the style and cleanliness.

The

grabs as well.

That is the battle

that we came to see. I'm sorry,

everybody else, but we came to see

the rock stars and this is the

Cassie Sharpe against Brita

Sigourney show.

This is what you

want in the pipe contest, you don't

want anybody on a victory lap. I

think we will see something

between...

Oh, my goodness! Dodging

a huge bullet! I can't tell you how

much I respect Marie and that was an

amazing run, but obviously the

judges are seeing things we can't

see on the street we are getting.

Not holding the grabs quite

correctly, I think that is what she

was punished for.

Are we going to

see the defending silver

see the defending silver medallist

from La Plan in France, are we go to

see her step up her game and fault

Cassie Sharpe into the silver medal

position?

Gold fever in the women's

ski pipe finals. Marie Martinod is

on the hunt.

The nine was so well measured.

Really clean.

Really clean.

Goodness.

You don't

need to be a rocket surgeon to do

the maths on that one.

the maths on that one. Marie

Martinod raises her hands and

celebrates a silver, while at the

top of the pipe, Cassie Sharpe, is

high-fiving the coaches and let's

the idea of a gold settle.

Back-up to the top, Cassie Sharpe.

Her brother missed out on the slope

team, and now Cassie Sharpe comes

home with a goal. What a fantastic

day for the Sharpe family and for

Canada, following up on that silver

in the women's slope. Mark McMorris

and Max Parrot's bronze and silver

is. She lets it go.

It is almost

relief, isn't it? The relief is

gone.

You talk about fighting

against yourself. My goodness! She

is in such a zone right now. That is

going at the top of the run. I

guarantee you, for the end of the

season, she will be throwing out at

the top of the run. It is so, so

firm. Cassie Sharpe, undoubtedly,

emphatically, taking gold in the

women's ski half pipe finals. A

fantastic battle, but a performance

that proved to be head and shoulders

above the rest. The technicality and

amplitude at the top of the pipe was

too much for Marie Martinod, Brita

Sigourney and Annalisa Drew, just

outside the medals in fourth place.

Olympic champion, huge

congratulations. How does that feel?

Olympic champion, huge

congratulations. How does that feel?

Incredible, it doesn't quite feel

real yet. But I put a whole bunch of

work into getting here. It feels

good.

Fair to say you have been

bossing it since the Oslo X-Games,

how much pressure were you and

coming into Olympics?

I definitely

felt the pressure and the

expectation. But I tried to put as

much time and preparing for it and

getting my run ready to land, and to

be consistent, and to win it. Yes, I

am really thankful that I did all of

the work beforehand.

Rowan, huge

congratulations. Seventh place, you

must be thrilled?

I am over the

moon. It was a gold mine to reach

the finals because I had minimal

training this year. Just over the

moon, to make the finals and then to

put down a run. Sometimes the nerves

gets to me. -- it was a goal of

mine. I was glad that I was able to

put together a good run.

That's all from us for now.

I'll be back at 11:45pm over

on BBC One with live coverage

of the Women's Downhill.

Can Lyndsey Vonn deliver gold?

See you tomorrow.