BBC One Day 4: Christie in Women's 500m Speed Skating Winter Olympics

Hello and welcome to Day 4

of the Winter Olympics.

Today, Elise Christie

takes to the ice -

Britain's only hope of multiple

medals and first chance to win

a gold at these Pyeongchang Games.

She will fly around at speeds of 30

miles an hour on blades

just a millimetre wide.

Short track is notoriously rough

and Christie was on the wrong side

of the judges in all three

of her races four years ago.

As we know, sport can be defined

by the finest of margins both

in millimetres and milliseconds.

This morning, millions of us

will be cheering her on.

In Korea we are very superstitious.

We hate the number four. Try to stay

away from that.

They've all gone

down!

I had quite a lot of abuse over the

Internet that I had to deal with.

It's been very tough. I'm finding it

quite hard.

Toward off bat luck, we make kites.

On them, we write down our name and

birthday. -- two ward off bad luck.

And just like that, the bad luck is

gone.

South Korea is the hotbed and heart

of short track speed skating. They

love it.

That is the Gangneung Ice

Arena where our focus

will be this morning.

In her heat on Saturday,

Christie set a new Olympic record

as she won comfortably.

That time was eclipsed

by South Korea's Choi Minjeong,

who's a six time world champion.

Christie is in the

second quarterfinal.

Sarah Lindsay was part of the

British Short track team for nearly

20 years. Chemmy Alcott has been to

four Olympic Games. They both know

what it's like to deal with this

situation. Sarah, let's talk about

the intensity of short track. The

fact you are there with other

competitors, having to be physical.

Yeah, four people on the track

altogether. I think for Elise, she

gets out in front and then people

will be fighting behind her. She

gets a clear run and she can just

cruise through the first couple of

rounds.

When it comes to your

moment, Chemmy, she admitted how

nervous she was before the

qualifying heat, how do you control

yourself during the day to produce

your best performance?

Elise has

such a big personality. It's about

distraction. She doesn't look like

she's staying in the zone for long.

You get so fatigued just thinking

about your event. She's had a few

days since qualifying to look at

everybody's else form. Instead of

being Elise Christie with the hopes

of a nation on her, she has to be a

girl enjoying the moment.

You know

her well, tell us more about Elise

Christie. How would you define her

and what is she like?

She is a huge

character. We have seen a little bit

of that. I hope we see more. She can

be a little bit kooky and crazy. You

almost have to be in all winter

sports. But she knows how to switch

on. She's a real professional and

works so, so hard. And every single

day is so important to her.

She has

worked an awful lot on her fitness.

Where are your key muscles for short

track, what do we need to work on?

Obviously you use your whole body.

There isn't a lot of upper body

involved, apart from your core. It's

mostly all legs and your glutes.

And

she has worked a lot on that big

muscle appear, the mind. Who has

helped her, and how she used her

resilience as the strongest quality?

She has a very good support network.

There's a support staff in all

areas. She's well looked after now,

and everything she needs is taken

care of. She has worked really hard

on that side. She is naturally quite

emotional. It's nice for us. If she

loses, she will lie on the floor and

cry. But if she wins then she will

really celebrate so you will feel

that emotion.

There doesn't seem to

be any guard. But when she takes to

the ice, she is so

be any guard. But when she takes to

the ice, she is so effective. We can

look at her feet on Saturday. At the

time this was an Olympic record.

Her

start has not been her strongest

point historically, but she has

worked really hard on it. She worked

to get out in front ahead of the

pack, and they then have to work to

catch up before they can even think

about overtaking. They can catch up

and stay in her slipstream, but they

don't have the speed to overtake.

Her lines into and around the bend?

She goes into and quite wide to

build up speed as fast as possible.

She knows nobody can overtake her in

the first two or three laps so she

is clear to take any line she wants.

In the last couple of laps she was

shot down the track and skate

tighter so people can't consider

overtaking. There is no space to

try.

The world record-holder over

500 metres. In your opinion, is any

medal on OK result, or do you think

it's gold or nothing?

I think any

medal is a result for Team GB and

the result for our sport, because

it's been quite a long time since we

achieved that. But for Tempo Mac, I

think only gold will do for her. --

but for Elise.

Even in the 500?

I

don't think it's her best event. In

the 1000 and 1500 I am more

confident in because there is no

room for mistake in the 500 metres.

Just one little slip, if she tries

to make a move and kills her speed,

anything like that could interrupt

her race and there is no time to

recover. That's the only difference

with the 500, it's exciting and

fast, but there is no room for

with the 500, it's exciting and

fast, but there is no room for

error.

Having qualified as fast as

she did, what does that mean for the

quarterfinals? Does she need to win

that quarterfinal to get a good lane

in the semifinals?

It's the time,

she got second-fastest time to give

her lane one, which is a huge

advantage, she can just time trial

the first round, hopefully. She can

get to the front and skate how she

wants in the race. She doesn't have

to deal with anyone else's tactics

or variables and she can float

through that. The faster time gets

you a better lane draw for the next

round and it makes qualifying

easier.

She has tried to make it

clear, and I don't know if it's a

psychological trick, or if it's true

in her head, winning three medals at

the World Championships was her

redemption, that's the top of the

individual sport, but she wants to

do it at the Olympics for everybody

else.

That's true. She is completely

her own person and is very

headstrong. She believes the World

Championships is harder on paper to

achieve what she has done there.

There are fewer people in the

Olympics. The top 30 or so have

already been selected and they are

racing at the Olympics, so there are

less rounds to do. On paper it

should be easier but the Olympic

Games is the Olympic Games and it's

huge. There are lots of things to

deal with that not

deal with that not your normal

preparation.

There is more light and

attention on the ice rink at the

Olympics.

If it is really bright in

there and you don't judge the corner

at the exact same way you normally

would, you take this much difference

in how you go into the corner and

the line you take down the straight,

and it can impact the next corner.

Little things like that, but at

least we don't have to deal with the

weather!

Wilf O'Reilly will Beer the

commentary box, the first British

man to bring short track skating to

the fore.

into this country's sporting

history, by winning only

the 11th gold in British

Winter Olympics history.

And we are all getting excited.

In our commentary box

will be Wilf O'Reilly,

the first British short track speed

skater to make an impact.

He won two gold medals when short

track was a demonstration sport

at the 1988 Olympics.

He's been talking to David McDaid.

What did you take away from her

performance the other night?

What

was nice to see was how relaxed she

was. I was watching her and watching

her boyfriend in the final of the

1500 metres after she skated the

Olympic record, and she was so

relaxed. One thing she has to

realise, she has three races, the

quarterfinals, she has drawn lane

number one. After that, go to the

dressing room and relax. I'm hoping

for the semifinal, and many of us

are predicting, many commentators,

former top sport short track speed

skaters, including Apollo, and we

all think Elise Christie will win

gold.

Not just the BBC expert but

many short track experts are

predicting Elise Christie.

Choi

Minjeong of Korea skated an Olympic

record after Elise. She is in the

last heat, so the second

quarterfinal. That means Elise will

have about ten minutes longer

recovery time, assuming she gets

through to the semifinal, which I

think she will. All these aspects

will help. The fact she is so

relaxed. Nicky is looking relaxed as

well. The whole GB camp is looking

very good.

We hope she will stay

relaxed. We hope you and the other

experts are right and Elise Christie

will be standing on the podium, if

not on top, then at least somewhere.

Wilf O'Reilly is feeling good about

this.

Wilf O'Reilly is feeling good about

this. 12 World Championship medals,

ten European titles, 17 European

Championship medals. The World Cup

title holder and the 500 metre world

record-holder. All the stats behind

Elise Christie.

So Elise and short track

speed skating is our main

focus this morning.

Here's what else is coming up

here on BBC One until 1:00pm.

Austria's Marcel Hirscher

is proclaimed as one

of the greatest skiers of all time,

but he has yet to secure

an Olympic gold medal.

The combined offers

him a first chance.

Germany's Natalie Geisenberger

defends her title in the women's

luge and she's in pole position

with two runs to come.

Her great friend Felix Loch threw

away that position -

it's a slippery old sport.

We've got more cross-country action

with the men's and women's sprint,

featuring Britain's Andrew Young

in his third Olympics

and his favourite event.

And over on the red button,

it's the gold medal match

in the mixed doubles

between Canada and Switzerland.

Coming up next, the best of the

men's combined competition before

building up to Elise Christie.

Let's take a look at some of the

headlines on day four...

Snowboarder Chloe Kim,

an American teenager

with South Korean parents,

lit up the Phoenix Snow Park

with a brilliant display to claim

gold in the women's half pipe.

The first-ever medal in mixed

doubles curling has gone

to the Olympic Athletes from Russia

- they won the bronze

play-off against Norway.

Japanese short track skater

Kei Saito has become the first

athlete to be expelled from these

Olympics for a doping violation.

He tested positive for a banned

masking agent prior to the Games.

It was interesting, Sarah, just ask

you one more thing about Elise

Christie and her mental state this

morning. She said after

qualification heats, she had almost

never felt nerves like it. How will

she control things this morning?

They will go back to a much more

familiar format now, so her feet was

one race on its own on the day and

you have a huge build-up over weeks

and weeks to perform in that first

race. Now they are going back into

heats, semis and finals within a

couple of hours, so you don't have a

lot of time to overthink things and

psych yourself out. She can go into

her normal routine that she has

practised a million times before.

It's better for her today.

Before we

head off for the Alpine events, they

have all been cancelled and

postponed. We finally get some

action. And great news from the

skeleton training runs.

Everyone says it is just training,

but they have so much confidence and

we are seeing all the equipment and

technology is working. On that track

they're a force to be reckoned with.

They have new suits. They have just

revealed. Whistling like the

Austrian skiers. The times look

good. Laura Deas is posting fast

time. Laura Deas was the... You know

sliding under the radar. But very

like what Amy Williams did in

Vancouver and came through and won

the gold. Lizzie Yarnold was only

sixth in run three. On the the four

training run she moves up. Right up.

She is getting more familiar with

that track. She is looking stronger.

And Laura, not such a quick run, but

still very encouraging. The men, Dom

Parsons has said well, listen, all

of it is about the women. So I have

no pressure. But he has been

consistently the fastest and he was

on run 3 and run 4 he just was a

little bit further down. But fifth

fastest. Only seven hundredths

behind the New Zealand leader. So

encouraging stuff from the training

runs in skeleton and those times are

significant. All the pros look at

the training times, because you

can't hold back in skeleton.

They're

so confident and they're exploring

new lines. Laura didn't look fast,

because she was trying a new

entrance. It takes guts to try

something new. Dom is right in

there. It is so exciting.

It is.

That kind of confidence spreads

through the team. That is great.

From Andrew Musgrave's record finish

in a cross country race to what

Ellise might do and the skeleton

athletes and the four-man bob. Just

in a sentence, could you explain

what the men's combined competition

is?

It is the original alpine

competition, show casing the

different skills, the down hill and

the technical agility of slalom.

The

favourite has never won a gold in

the Olympics, although he is

regarded as one of the greatest of

all time. To take us through the

men's combined, Matt and Graham.

The first alpine ski racer at the

2018 Olympic Winter Games. With all

the delays with the wind we have had

to wait until this Tuesday for the

men's alpine combined to get under

way. It is a shortened course,

because of the wind. Graham Bell

will take you through it.

We are

starting on top of the roller costar

section. There are tunnels under the

course coming up on what would be

the second jump

the second jump in the down hill.

That is paradise turn and heading

towards the blue Dragon Valley.

towards the blue Dragon Valley. This

combined race is a match of two.

There is still a bit of wind about.

Coming to the final jump now.

Coming to the final jump now.

He has

a couple of reasonable results on

the World Cup this season. But there

will be plenty of interest now. As

he prepares to race.

he prepares to race. Hirscher in

action for the first time since the

last winter Olympics when he claimed

a silver in the slalom. In the World

Championships in 2015 he got gold.

The next year he claimed silver in

the alpine combined event.

In training his runs... That was a

big jump there. Luckily he was

balanced as he took the air. This is

a good run from Hirscher. Can he can

afford to give away time as long as

he stays in the top 30. That is the

most important thing he has to do

today. Put down a damage limitation

run.

That is good.

He will be pleased. That was a jump

that took him by surprise however.

He flew!

What happened to him? He must have

had an incident. Not often you see a

guy straddling a gate. The binding

exploded there. Goodness me.

That

ski off as well.

Thankfully both

skis are off. He got tangled in the

safety netting.

It is so grippy this

snow, his ski overloaded and pinched

him in on the gate.

Now to some down

hillers. These guys will be

interesting. They will have an

impact into what is happening with

the slalom.

Svindal won't be turning up for the

other competition. The down hill day

has been moved to Thursday.

Oh, he

is late in the line going into the

blue Dragon Valley. His knee is no

good enough to race slalom. You get

that short, sharp pressure in on the

gate. Down hill, you can build the

pressure and get away with being

strong and slow and powerful. Look

how much looser and more relaxed he

is than the slalom skiers we have

seen.

35 years young now, Svindal.

Here with one thing in mind - to win

the Olympic down hill on Thursday.

He is in second position at the

moment. That is just another

training run. Here is the Olympic

down hill champion. Meier claimed

the gold in Sochi four years ago and

became as a result a national hero

in Austria. As all previous Austrian

Olympic down hill champions do.

I

think there is seven in total.

He

will defend that title on Thursday.

Mayer tackles the alpine combined.

Away he goes.

Away he goes. Dressen's split 14.08.

Mayer is in front at the first

intermediate.

Looking for signs of

wind on the track. It looks like

Mayer's having a fairly clean run

with no gusts. Through the paradise

turn. That is the left-hander where

people have been cutting it off and

going through the gat. It looked

there was a bit of a head wind

there.

Next intermediate for

Dressen. He is in touch. Six

hundredths off the pace. It is clean

it is fast - oh, it is huge! What a

jump! He almost put an old school

twister in there. Spectacular skiing

from Mayer.

He has some air time and

he has got some speed.

Still the

fastest time from the first man down

the mountain. But Mayer has come

close. Good finish. Mayer has skied

into third position. Via a

spectacular jump which gave him a

huge amount of height and distance.

Jansrud on his way. He along with

Svindal, the trail blazers for the

Norwegian men's team.

Norwegian men's team. Jansrud with a

chance to win one, two, possibly

three medals - if everything goes

according to plan.

What's happened

is the tail wind that Dressen had

has died away, rather than the guys

getting a strong head wind, it is

more a lack of tail wind. Jansrud is

doing a good job in difficult

conditions. He does haven't that

advantage of a tail wind.

Within

half a second of Dressen's lead.

This could set things alight rather.

There is his great team mate, his

mate, Svindal, he is in second. He

has skied into fourth.

has skied into fourth. Innerhoffer

the bronze medallist in Sochi.

Innerhofer came in for bronze nor

Italy. He has got to put down a

serious run. He has to go close, if

not quicker than Dressen and he is

quicker at the first split.

Good

stuff in the Italian. He does like

it icy and he has got that today.

Innerhofer had a difficult time in

January. Did the double, crashing

twice in the two biggest down hill

races of the season. Got away with

it. No injuries. How close is he to

Dressen here? It is a good run, he

is fifth with start No 25 Innerhofer

is in the mix. No change. It is

still Dressen who leads.

The race is under way. He should be

the first man to complete the

course. He has won a World Cup

combined event already this season.

He is starting on a nice, clean

track.

There is a lot of offset in

this slalom run. And he has an early

start number. He will need to put a

good run down. It is 2.23 down on

the winner of the first run,

Dressen. So he will be disappointed

with his down hill. But he could

gate medal from this position if he

puts a great slalom run.

No one has

gone before him. He has a nice fresh

canvas and he is carving some sweet

turns the French man. His combined

time added to slalom is 2.07.54.

That is the bench mark now. Here he

is, a regular slalom specialist. He

will attack the first part of the

course. You can tell the difference

between those who ski regularly top

level slalom and those who

occasionally dabble. He is still in

the green, but nearly all the

advantage has gone.

He is really

skidding. You can see that from the

snow coming out from under the skis.

This is the tricky undergate, the

banana as he comes on to the final

pitch.

Still potentially God enough

to go into -- good enough to go into

silver medal position. First to

second separated by 0.43. With swarz

finish with a flourish? He has come

close, within 0.33.

Now the Hirscher. Skied a beautiful

down hill leg this morning. The one

thing that is missing from his

trophy cabinet is an Olympic gold.

Can he put that right today?

It is

looking good. But not as clean as

the Frenchman on the top part of

course. He is going for it now.

Risking everything on this second

run.

He is adding to his lead. He is

doing what he does best in the

alpine skiing world - the wind is

there, but he is battling through

it. He doesn't seem to car. The wind

is whipping up, trying its best to

distract Hirscher. Can he do enough

to move into gold medal position?

Yes, comfortably, more than a

second! Glorious skiing.

There is the man who could change

things around. Alexis Pinturault

from France. He pushes hard out of

the start gate but doesn't have an

awful lot over Hirscher coming into

the second leg of today's Alpine

combined. 0.28 is the lead, starting

well enough. Counter rotated as he

went on the turn, but it's a great

recovery from Pinturault. Again, the

same mistake, jutting out on the

turn. Hirscher was so good on the

lower part of the course.

It's still good enough potentially

for silver medal position. But

Marcel Hirscher was so quick in the

bottom half. There is no way

Pinturault can move into gold. He

has gone into second.

Didn't have

the wind Hirscher had on the lower

part of the course. He could catch

up some but I think it's all decided

now. Hirscher, gold. Pinturault,

Silver.

Pinturault gave it

everything. Back to the top.

everything. Back to the top. With

just want to come, Hirscher and

Pinturault are guaranteed medals.

Can Muffat-Jeandet be beaten to

bronze?

Can he squeeze into the

bronze medal position?

If he wants

the bronze, he has to finish within

1.01 seconds of Marcel Hirscher.

Trailing the great Austrian at the

split. But that was tidy.

That was

OK.

OK.

It's growing, 1.566 and almost

certainly out of reach. The French

are starting to think they will take

two medals out of the men's Alpine

combined. Thomas Dressen living

dangerously, but finishing in ninth.

The medals are decided. At last,

Marcel Hirscher is an Olympic

champion. He takes the men's Alpine

combined gold medal. Pinturault with

silver. And the bronze medal goes to

Muffat-Jeandet. STUDIO:

It's very difficult to switch from

downhill to slalom skiing.

They are

changing their whole equipment,

dynamic really charging skis and

it's really different skills. It's

been favouring the slalom and

technical skiers in last few

seasons. We saw the podium today,

out and out slalom skiers. The

downhill was shortened. I read that

they took ten gates out of the

slalom to try to make it fair. The

downhill was slower than it should

be. Apart from Matthias Mayer, who

had huge air, a lot of them had less

air than in the downhill special

because they went around the top of

the jumps. It changed the line.

Marcel Hirscher with his first

Olympic gold medal.

I know!

People

talk about him as one of the

greatest technical skiers of all

time. Talk us through him.

greatest technical skiers of all

time. Talk us through him.

Look at

this confidence, only Hirscher could

charge through that wind gust. You

couldn't even see the bottom of the

gate. He accelerated through the

bottom section. His position and

attention to detail, he is on the

edge

attention to detail, he is on the

edge of the angle. You can see the

base of the skis more than other

skiers because he lays over the top

of the turn and there is a big risk

in that.

Switching from downhill to

slalom.

in that.

Switching from downhill to

slalom. Matthias Mayer, the

defending downhill champion, he

started in the slalom, Svindal

didn't, but...

That is just a

struggle, but he fell really well,

he didn't panic.

I don't know about

the cameraman!

We believe the course

worker is OK, the one he took out.

It is very icy and steep. He's

looking where he's going, he's

chilled out. The worst thing to do

when you fall in skiing is digging

in your feet. That's why so many

tourists injure their ACL because

they try to stop themselves falling.

You have to relax your body.

Jelly

time, don't dig your feet in.

Lessons in how to fall. Let's look

at the medal table.

It's not want to see whether Great

Britain can make it onto the table.

That's coming up this morning. --

it's not long to see.

They've gone down!

Can Elise

Christie make a clean start?

Christie is out of the gate quickly.

Christie leads.

Christie wins it.

STUDIO: This is Elise Christie's

morning, and she will compete in

that arena in less than 13 minutes.

Counting down to her quarterfinal in

the 500 metres. About a week ago I

went out to Seoul to chat with her.

Four years ago in Sochi our own

Elise Christie had high hopes of

glory. But her Winter Olympic dream

turned into a nightmare.

They've gone down! Christie might

receive a penalty for that.

When I

got off the 500, I was upset.

Christie has been penalised again.

Can't believe this has happened.

In

the 15 I was actually confused.

Oh

no, I can't believe it.

What on

earth is going on?

When I got off

the 1000, I was more numb than

anything else.

After that, there was a lot of death

threats and online abuse. It's

mostly came from Korea. I spent six

months afterwards feeling scared of

being in my house on my own and

going out on my own. So many at once

made it feels so real. It was a very

difficult time.

Do you think you are

more resilient is now to all of

that, and to the outside world?

Yes

and no. Definitely more resilient in

terms of, I get that people are

hiding behind their computer screen

now.

How different do you think you

are now mentally to four years ago?

Very different. I was naive four

years ago and less confident than I

am now. My mental state back then

relied on my outcomes. So if I

didn't do well, it would affect my

whole season. Because I lost a lot

of confidence and couldn't fight

back from it. One of the biggest

changes for me was accepting

failure. Now I feel I am prepared to

go out and put everything into

winning. If I don't win than I am

still happier than if I had just

settled for a medal.

We are in

Korea, and they are very keen on

short track speed skating.

It's very

cool. Even on the streets I get

stopped and people want to take

pictures. They just really happy to

see you. It makes you feel a lot

better about that online abuse

because you know in the street

everybody is just happy to see you.

You seem incredibly relaxed.

Definitely. There's nothing I could

have done more to put myself in a

better place. It is what will be. I

have no control if somebody wants to

take me out in the first round to

get me out of the competition.

There

will be so many people rooting for

you, and it could yet be one of the

great tales of redemption. It would

be great.

Yeah. I got my redemption

at the World Championships.

She's

done it, the world champion, Elise

Christie.

But I see the Olympics as

a way to give back to everybody who

supported me through that hard time

and I would love to come home with

the gold medal so everybody who has

supported me thinks it's worthwhile.

They are the reason I kept going. I

didn't want to do it any more.

Everybody was full of compliments

and support and I felt I had to do

it because everybody had put so much

into it and believed in me. I had to

at least try. That's important,

everybody must know that I tried my

best and did everything I could. So,

yeah, that's the goal.

STUDIO: She

knows what she needs to do, she

knows what she wants to do. In the

warm up area, Elise Christie with

her coach, Nicky Gooch, going

through that routine, Sarah,

practising her start and getting

relaxed.

She's getting into the

game, getting ready for the start.

You need to be really focused and

get the absolute right level of

arousal. You have to be ready to go

from the gun and relax into it and

get the laps done.

She was so

interesting, that line between being

safe and contained and doing what

you know you can do, because she

could win a medal almost with her

eyes shut. But then racing with the

idea that the same thing could

happen again and she could get

disqualified.

She has to take

whatever risks to win. She isn't

going there for a bronze or silver

medal. You have to fully commit to

the gold. If she was in second

place, for example, and there was

the risk of her making an overtake

for gold, she will not settle for

silver and I think she will go for

it. Although its killer for us, I

think it means she can then walk

away knowing she gave it everything.

If she settled, she would not be

happy.

She said at the World

Championships just after the

Olympics that she did sort of settle

for playing safe. And her boyfriend,

who is also a world champion, got

cross with her.

We know what she can

do, we know her potential. But with

Elise, it comes down to confidence.

We talked about Marcel Hirscher

being a great ski of all time, that

is never having had a gold medal at

the Olympics.

Elise Christie is

similar, she is the best, and she

has a shelf full of trophies and

medals and there is no other title

left to be won apart from the

Olympics.

What are the rules in

terms of interference? It might take

you a date to explain it, but what

are you allowed to do Testa with

regards overtaking and contact with

other skaters.

Contact is

inevitable, but it can't be

deliberate. You normally overtake on

the inside in the faster races

because going round the outside is

further and nobody has the speed.

You overtake on the inside and you

have to be level with the person you

are overtaking going into the corner

otherwise that person could shut

down the track. If you make it level

then you have to do is leave the

Space.

I suspect that arena will

keep filling as we get closer to the

final with South Koreans very keen

on short track speed skating. A lot

of Japanese fans there as well and a

lot of British fans have travelled

over to support Elise Christie and

Charlotte Gilmartin and the others.

Elise normally has a good crowd

following her. She has a very close

family and lots of support from GB

will stop Elise Christie will be in

the second of the four

quarterfinals.

The commentary team

are in position, primed and waiting

for what could be a moment of Winter

Olympic history. Wilf O'Reilly is

alongside Simon Brotherton.

COMMENTATOR: Good morning, everyone.

We are hovering above the finishing

line, and we wonder who will cross

it first in a couple of hours' time.

Not long until the quarterfinals in

the women's 500 metres. Elise

Christie in the second of the

quarterfinals. Less than three

quarters of a minute for each one,

they are so fast and so much can

happen in a short space of time. But

when you look at Elise Christie's

draw for the quarterfinal, Wilf

O'Reilly, let's be honest, it's as

good as she could have hoped for.

Absolutely. I think she has drawn an

excellent race, depending on the

others, of course. She has the first

in a lane, the shortest distance to

the first block. She had a superb

start on Saturday, so I expect

nothing else than for her to make it

comfortably through the

quarterfinals.

What is the key to

the 500 metres? Is it getting the

first bend in the first place?

It

does help. If you have nobody in

front of you, you can get to the

first bend first, and she is so good

at high speed and she can skate away

from the rest of the group.

The

skaters are getting ready. Arianna

Fontana is the Italian skater with

whom Elise Christie collided in the

Olympic final four years ago.

Thankfully they are not together in

the last eight this time, in the

quarterfinal, I should say. There is

Fontana.

I was calculating - two winners will

go into two semi-finals, the other

will go into the other semi-final.

If Fontana win and Christie, they

will probably meet in the

semi-final.

semi-final.

Fontana five-time

Olympic medallists, she is yet to

win a gold. Van Kerkhof is there and

St Gelais. Her form is really good.

She was second

She was second in the World

Championship. Maliszewska on the

outside. Four and a half laps of the

track. The quarter-finals are under

way and... Not at the first attempt.

I think that was Fontana from Italy

on the inside. Of course, the race

is only allowed one false start.

This means we can see on the inside

in the blue, Fontana was the first

one I think... As the skaters come

back to the line, the referee, the

starter will inform which skater was

given the false start.

It is

actually Maliszewska from Poland who

was just trying to steal a march on

the others. Here we go and they're

away. Fonn tana... Van Kerkhof has

gone down. Fontana on the front and

they stop the race, because she fell

to the ice so early.

The skaters

have to go through the first turn

without colliding, without any

problem, otherwise the starter will

restart the

restart the race and I must say St

Gelais was very aggressive there.

You can see it here again. She got

that left arm just in front of her,

although she wasn't completely past

her, you see van Kerkhof of the

Netherlands going down.

St Gelais

was not going to give an inch there.

So important to get the right

position going into that first bend.

It could be interesting that St

Gelais could receive a penalty.

We

have seen a lot of video reviews. We

saw them on the first night on

Saturday. But usually at the end of

the race. This time as early as the

first corner.

That's right. The

referee from the United States

looking at this video replay. It was

an aggressive piece of skating by

the Canadian. I would be very

interested to see whether or not she

will receive a penalty.

will receive a penalty.

Somebody's

night could be over already here. A

very prominent skater indeed.

Absolutely.

How will this affect the

others nut later heats in terms of

their state and mind and warm up

time? Will it affect much for them?

We should a decision by the way

shortly.

I think that this young

lady will have to leave the ice. We

have to wait for the official

result.

result.

Anxious moments for St

Gelais as we wait for the outcome of

this first video review.

this first video review. A Mariann

St Gelais has been penalised and the

three-time Olympic silver medallist

is forced to leave the ice before

the quarter-final.

Frederick

Blackburn, the Canadian coach not

looking very happy at all. It is

very unusual to see this. But she

was so aggressive into that first

turn. The referees had no option

really.

She blocked van Kerkhof off

with that left arm and shoulder. So

two of these three will go through

to the semi-final.

to the semi-final. Let's if they can

get around the first bend at the

third time of asking. Fontana has

the speed to go out in front. Van

Kerkhof in second. The outsider is

Maliszewska and Fontana leading the

way. It is a four and a half lap

race. The absence of St Gelais has

made life easier for Fontana and

given van Kerkhof an opportunity to

go through as well. Maliszewska is

staying in the running. I'm not sure

if she will have the speed the get

past the Dutch woman. Fontana all

the way. She looks as if she will

lead from start to finish. Van

Kerkhof in second and third

Maliszewska. Fontana, the silver

medallist in 2014 and van Kerkhof

are through.

Not a very quick time.

43.14. That will mean Fontana will

she goes through, I predicted she

would win and if Elise Christie does

win, depending on her time and the

remaining times, that Fontana could

meet Christie in the semi-final.

Here we are again. Watching the end

of this first quarter-final. That

was in the end straight forward for

Ariana Fontana.

Ariana Fontana.

She made it look

easy. You try to conserve your

energy, because you're coming back

out in half an hour to do another

full sprint of 500 metres.

Now it is

Elise Christie.

There is Elise Christie, the world

record holder at this distance.

The start needs to be good. Away

they go the first time. Boutin

leads. Christie second. Seidel with

plenty of work to do. Christie,

smart move, sliding through on the

inside. Takes the advantage over

Boutin. These two are the favourites

to go through from this. They should

be the class of the field and at the

moment that is kwha it looks like.

It will be interesting to see the

time. Christie leading the way.

They're on the last lap. At the

moment she is going through. Boutin

is behind her. Up to the line and...

Elise Christie takes it. Boutin

slides over the line on her

backside. But Elise Christie has

successfully negotiated the first

hurdle of the day.

That was a superb

time, a new Olympic record I think

if that time remains.

The unofficial

time says 42.71. Let's look at the

race again here.

Superb start from

the Canadian, it worked well for

Christie. She had the first one and

a half laps to relax. She is

normally, you have the heats, the

quarter-finals and the semi-finals

and the final all in the same time.

This quarter-final for her was

trying to get into the racing and we

can see Keszler sliding out coming

into the last turn. I don't think

the referees will have any say to

that. It is Christie No 1 and Boutin

No 2.

It is confirmed as a new

Olympic record, 42.703 seconds.

Christie and Boutin are through and

Christie is going faster and faster

here.

Away they go in this third

semi-final. Fan from China is in

this and she is at the front. She is

the five-time world champion.

Prosvirnova in second. Biney

bringing up the rear. She was third

in the world junior Championships

only last year. So a big step up for

her. Prosvirnova goes to the front.

Kexin parked up in second place. The

two Chinese athletes are

challenging, but Kexin and

Prosvirnova are the first two over

the line.

A superb bit of skating

from Prosvirnova and a surprise the

two Chinese skaters didn't

qualified. They have Dom nayed this

-- dominated this 500 metres over

the last four Olympics and now one

has been knocked out. A superb start

from Fan. A bit of argy-bargy

through the first turn and Christie

having skated that Olympic record,

she will be for sure on the inside

for that semi-final.

for that semi-final.

Maame Biney

couldn't be competitive, but

Prosvirnova, that is a sensational

result for her. That is her best

performance of season. There is

confirmation. Fan through in second

place. Behind the Russian athlete.

We lose Han Yutong. The home crowd

getting excited. Another of the

favourites to take the gold here.

The 19-year-old.

The last quarter-final. Clean start

and Valcepina goes to the front. Qu

in second. No panic from Choi

Minjeong. Still Choi had a look and

couldn't find a way through.

Valcepina is looking good here. A

bit of air and Minjeong is still

searching and sliding and trying to

find a way through. She has the

speed and Valcepina is now under

pressure. Qu is there. But Valcepina

is back. It will be a photo finish.

What a sensational final lap.

Amazing skating this. The Koreans

and the Chinese have dominated this

event over the years. Now the

Europeans, Valcepina was my outside

winner for getting into the final.

We are going to have to wait for the

photo.

Qu looked as if she was first

across the line. What a desperate

lunge to line that was. They're away

cleanly first time. Minjeong you

could see was having a look and

finally she made her move.

She did

and it looks like Choi has made it.

The roar tells you that Choi

Minjeong has gone through in second

place behind Qu and Christie is by

the fastest qualifier.

She will be

ensured of having the inner lane for

the semi-final.

The European

champion, Valcepina going out, for a

long time, she looked good.

She did.

It all went wrong for the Italian at

the end. There is the photo finish

and Choi Minjeong one of the

favourites joining Chunyu Qu in the

Cem Ji final. -- semi-final. There

is confirmation of the result of the

fourth quarter final.

Next up is the men's 1,000 metres.

They're just resurfacing the ice.

Elise Christie is the fastest

qualifier in a new Olympic record

time. From her point of view, so far

so good, potentially two races to

go.

STUDIO: And the reaction from Sarah

Lindsay on how she did.

She built

her speed. She had a little gap to

build her speed into. Sets it up

perfectly. Lots of speed into the

corner, flies out and straight up

the inside. Not any kind of contact,

going through completely cleanly

with lots more speed than the other

girls. Perfect execution of the

overtake.

Is she is somebody who

bills with confidence and having set

another Olympic record and winning

her quarterfinal easily?

It's all

about confidence for Elise. She

knows she has even more speed. Even

when you are time trialling in

front, there is nothing to judge

against apart from the clock. Now

she knows she has been behind

somebody, she can set up and execute

such a perfect overtake.

It was an

undertaker, actually. And it's

waiting for that moment on spotting

the gap, so her instinct is sharp.

There is no panicking, no

There is no panicking, no rushing,

there is no time to think, but trust

your instincts.

The others are

trying so hard to qualify behind.

They are trying to keep up.

There

were a few shocks in some of the

other quarterfinals. Notably, the

disqualification of Canada's

Marianne St Gelais.

It's a shame,

she is an excellent skater and

silver medallist in the last

Olympics. Always a huge force in the

500 metres. She was disqualified

from the start, so she is out, and

one of the main forces is now out of

500 metres.

We can see from these

shots, you end up with bodies all

over the place. Canada's Marianne St

Gelais, on the first corner.

I think

it's a little bit unfair. It was the

same thing I got disqualified for!

Nobody has the lane or priority

until you get to the middle block of

the first corner. You always expect

a bit of argy-bargy at the start

with everybody going for it.

And if

they fall before the first corner

you get to rerun it, don't they?

Before the middle block of the first

corner. If you fall over and there

is contact then they will restart

the race.

So it's worth being

aggressive at the start?

Normally.

That's what happened to you?

Is the

second time I have seen it happened.

The judge got band who made the

decision.

The referee from that

Olympics did serve a two-year ban

because of his decision. But they

don't rerun the Olympics! That's it.

Do you feel you are living through

Elise now?

Maybe that's what's

happening. Me and Elise are very

close and I love her very much. I

would love to see her do it because

I know how much it means to her and

I know what it means to be in that

situation. And she has a huge

turn-off pressure on her to perform.

If she can handle this, then she can

handle anything. 1110 AM will be the

next time we see Elise Christie.

We

will have a bit of a break now,

catching up on ice hockey from

women's group letter A, and the

defending champions Canada who are

looking for a fifth consecutive gold

medal, so dominant, up against

Finland. COMMENTATOR: Canada holding

a pretty strong edge. The last

meeting, crucially, was a 4-3

victory for Finland, so they know

what it takes in the group phases of

the competition to beat this Canada

side, having done it not so long

ago. Other meetings between them

have taken a couple of empty net

gold medals. They have been close

going into the final few minutes of

games. That'll be one of the keys to

the game, not making mistakes like

that. This could be an opportunity.

Brilliant! Going to the back door.

There was the fake.

What a start for

Canada. Terrific pressure, melody

picks up the pass and creates the

211 with Augusta.

211 with Augusta.

Taking control for

Canada. Spooner was offside again.

What a finish!

What a finish! Play continues.

This

is remarkable. They thought it was

in the back of the net. The referee

was standing right there and waved

it off. You know they will go to a

video replay to see

video replay to see if the puck went

in and out in the blink of an eye.

That's a goal.

The puck was wobbling

on her. That happens at the end of

the period. But this is a goal.

After video review, we have a good

goal.

They will put the time back on

the clock that elapsed from that

moment. Canada now leading 2-0.

Working it back towards the blue

line.

line. The pressure in the end paid

for Canada.

for Canada.

You can only stem the

tide for so long.

Finland think about allying change.

4-0.

Terrific pass from Rebecca

Johnson. And look at the shop from

Saunier. So precise.

The good opportunity for Finland is

to try to make something happen. Can

they use the puck wisely? It's

forced over the line. It's a goal of

history.

history. Back and right at it.

Needed three bytes of the cherry,

but she wasn't going to mess.

Very

fast, terrific execution. Really

caught Finland on their heels early

on.

on. Just playing it out. The

netminder, Shannon Szabados, not

called on enough from a Finnish

perspective.

Canada through to the

quarterfinals after a strong

performance against the Finland

side, they hung in their

side, they hung in their, but

couldn't do enough. STUDIO: Well

done to Finland for scoring, but

they couldn't do enough to overturn

Canada. The United States against

the Olympic athletes of Russia, we

will show that to you later. I

suspect that will be a mean old

match. In terms of the semifinals

for a Elise Christie coming up at

11:10am, it looks like she will be

in a separate semifinal to Arianna

Fontana of Italy, and significantly,

Choi Minjeong of South Korea, going

into the other semifinal. Is that

good news, Sarah?

It's swings and

roundabouts. It means she probably

has a slightly easier semifinal that

you could have had, which is great,

but if you beat those people in the

semis then you don't have them in

the final.

This is not just a

1-person short track speed skating

team. We'll see Josh Cheetham at his

first Olympics and Farrell Treacy.

Their first Olympic games. They both

have very different tactics. Josh

likes to read and control the race

where he can, if he's feeling good.

I expect him to be slightly higher

up in the field. Farrell is happier

to sit back and let the race happen.

Take advantage of moves. He can let

the race happen. Hopefully he has

got rid of the nerves in his first

round on Saturday. It's so tough in

your first Olympic race.

Add you

noticed in the last few years an

explosion of interest in short track

speed skating because of what Elise

has done around the world?

I think a

lot more people have been interested

in the last few years and with Elise

Christie's profile, and the better

we are and the more medals we win,

the more people are interested in

watching. And with Elise being such

a character, people are interested

in her as a personality and that

helps bring attention.

If you want

to get involved, go to the BBC

website, get inspired, and you can

find details of a club near you

where you can learn to do short

track speed skating. It's pretty

exciting.

Absolutely. They are

trying to recruit new youngsters. We

are quite weak there. At the top end

it's an amazing team that's very

well funded and looked after, but

finding the talent for the sport,

there isn't a lot happening there at

the moment.

There is the start of

the show, the star of the team so

far, Elise Christie having

successfully qualified for the

semifinals, 500 metres. Now double

the distance, we can go back to Wilf

O'Reilly and Simon Brotherton.

COMMENTATOR: Welcome back to the

Gangneung Oval. This is the first

heat in the men's 1000 metres. The

1000 metres starting with eight

heats of Paltrow, the first two from

each heat going through, so

potentially four races to be crowned

Olympic champion. Britain's Farrell

Treacy is in the first heat against

the Hungarian world silver medallist

in this event last year. And last

season's World Cup winner over 1000

metres.

metres. John Henry Kruger also in

this heat, from the United States.

Not an easy task for Farrell Treacy.

Has some of the best skaters in the

world in this first heat.

Farrell

Treacy raced in the 500 metres at

the weekend, went out in the first

heat. His best result in the 1000

metres was 15th place in Shanghai

this season.

Nine laps to complete

for the skaters in this 1000 metre

heat.

Farrell Treacy is the last to

come to the line. Josh Cheetham is

also racing for Great

nine laps of the track as they fight

for first place.

for first place. Kruger of the

United States currently in second

behind the Chinese. Farrell Treacy

gliding around at the rear.

Kruger

is at the front at the moment,

trains with the Dutch team. He likes

to make the race hard.

to make the race hard.

Krueger was a

little unhappy in the 1500 metres

over the weekend. He likes to have

the bit between his teeth and make

things happen.

They are skating

negative splits, every lap getting

gradually quicker. He is doing what

exactly he is always used to doing.

A collision, it means Farrell Treacy

finds himself in second place.

Krueger leading the way with Farrell

Treacy tucked in behind. Those are

the only two standing at the moment,

as they take the bell. Krueger will

glide around in first place. Farrell

Treacy, as it stands, he's heading

through to the next round as they

crossed the line. Real drama with

the Japanese and Chinese competitors

hitting the

hitting the deck.

I think the

Japanese skater will be the skater

to receive the penalty. It's not

about timing, it's about positions.

Skaters won and two qualify for the

quarterfinals.

Let's look at the

incident again. What do you make of

that?

that?

Not quite past, trying to get

the left hand across him. Clearly

wasn't passed, so I think the

Hungarian will be the skater that

receives the penalty. Peter Wirth,

the British referee, going to the

referee review.

And what about

Farrell Treacy? Superb skating from

him. He stays out of trouble. You

can either go to the front and stay

out of trouble, or go to the back

and stay out of trouble, and he

opted for the latter. The referees

having a look at it, not

surprisingly. It is a penalty for

the Hungarian. That's a big name out

of the competition very early. This

is last season's World Championship

silver medal.

The great news for Britain is

Farrell Treacy goes through in the

men's 1,000 metres. Sakazume, who

was not at fault for that crash,

also advances. The pressure here

building.

The skaters of his

experience shouldn't be making those

sort of simple mistakes.

Here we go

with the second heat.

with the second heat. Breeuwsma from

the Netherlands is there.

Lim Hyojun is there.

The Canadian

leading. It seems to be a new

strategy, what they do is negative

splits, every lap getting faster as

Lim storms around.

The crowd are

going wild in this 12,000 arena.

Cournoyer reasserts his authority.

Exchanging the lead between them.

Four laps to go. Breeuwsma in the

navy kit of the Netherlands having a

look on the inside. There wasn't any

way through. Now it is Yoshinaga

from Japan on the front and the race

is on here.

is on here. Lim leads from

Yoshinaga. They come around to take

the bell, one lap to go. Lim leads.

Yoshinaga senses he can go through.

He will go through. Hyojun and

Yoshinaga go through.

A very fast

race, a lot of passing and moving

and Lim looks very comfortable and

relaxed. I don't know why it seems

like it is, but these skaters don't

seem to be performing to their full

potential.

The thing about Lim he

was good at the start of the season

and won the World Cup race in

Hungary, but he had a back injury

which meant he was ruled out of

everything else. So nobody was sure

what his form was going to be. But

based on his gold medal at the

weekend, we know now and he has

carried that form on in the heats of

the 1 thousand metres.

the 1 thousand metres.

Tactics very

important. If you get caught at the

back, then...

There is confirmation

of the race. A race that didn't

require any video review. Now

there's a thing!

The first one of

the night!

the night!

Girard a world silver

medallist in 2016.

medallist in 2016. Elistratov a

former world champion at 15 hundred.

Nurbergen Zhumagaziyev is in this

field as well. And Watanabe from

Japan, his best result this winter

ninth in Shanghai in the World Cup.

Waiting for confirmation as to whose

fault that was. It is position 3.

Nurbergen Zhumagaziyev is in the

last chance saloon. Girard

considered one of next big things in

world short track speed skating,

goes to the front. Just missing a

medal at the weekend. Nurbergen

Zhumagaziyev gliding through on the

inside to go to the front. This is a

nine-lap race. Nurbergen

Zhumagaziyev leading from Girard of

Canada, who goes around the outside

and Elistratov, who is in good form,

currently in third. Watanabe at the

back and finding it difficult to get

a look in. Next time over the line

they will have four laps to go.

Girard controlling this race. He was

He was fourth in the 15 hundred.

These guys are used to the longer

distances.

The two at the front are

the two you would expect to go

through on paper.

through on paper. Watanabe getting

involved now. Elistratov nodded off

and may pay for it as they take the

bell. Elistratov has got to find a

way past the Japanese skater, he

just nudges him out of way. And

Elistratov takes second. He was put

under pressure but responded and

forced his way through.

forced his way through.

We say you

snooze you loose and that is what he

did.

What about Girard? He is a

medal contend sner

er. Yes

absolutely. His team mate Hamlin got

the penalty on Saturday. The

Canadians are looking to do some

stuff here.

stuff here.

Elistratov was put under

pressure, but he kept his cool.

Yes.

Held his nerve and secured his place

in the next round.

in the next round. Confirmation of

the result.

the result. A clean heat between

those athletes as we get ready for

heat 4.

heat 4. Thibaut Fauconnet from

France. Ziwei from China. Knegt from

the Netherlands, about Olympic

silver medallists here. A bronze

medallist in this event in Sochi.

And Roberts Zvejnieks from Latvia.

Fauconnet is in good form. Knegt is

the big name in this heat.

the big name in this heat. Heat No

4. Nine laps. Knegt trying to muscle

his way in, but Fauconnet, the

32-year-old, settling in second.

Zvejnieks with the band across his

mid rift at the back.

Fauconnet usually likes to lead from

the front. Knegt making it look

easy. Can Ziwei keep second.

easy. Can Ziwei keep second.

Roberts

Zvejnieks nearly had them on the

floor. He is doing everything he

can. Knegt is staying out of

trouble. They have three laps to go.

Fauconnet is back into second. Ziwei

on his tail. A gap to the Latvian

who is just regrouping and I think

may be we won't be seeing him again.

They take the bell and Knegt was

sent wide. Ziwei. Knegt from the

Netherland in first ahead of Ziwei

of China.

All the skaters, I'm

surprised at the level of

uncertainty among the skaters,

they're not dominating. Fauconnet

likes to go to the front. They

seemed to be so nervous and seemed

to be holding back.

How you tell the

real uncertainty in a skater in a

race like that?

They're not taking

the initiative of the race and

taking the race to the others.

taking the race to the others. Knegt

is not fully committed.

is not fully committed.

Knegt forced

very wide with a lap to go.

very wide with a lap to go. It was

touch as go as to whether they they

were going to touch down.

The China

skater on his left shoulder. The

referees will be having a look at

that.

Knegt, he is the big hope for

the Dutch isn't he?

Absolutely. He

won three weeks ago. He won all

three distances at the European

Championships and the Europeans,

there are four European leaders in

the semi-finals.

How mainstream is

short track speed skating in the

Netherland. Not all the viewers will

know that you have lived there for

20 years. We know long track is a

big thing. What about short track.

What is the standing?

It is growing

in popularity and tonight the king

of Holland is in the arena watching.

He gets around. He was at the long

track last night.

And here we go once again they're

having a look at the replay. There

were one or two incidents to look

at. Certainly he was involved.

He

certainly was. You can see the

skaters all looking at the big

screen, the big monitor in the

centre of the rink here. We can see

Wang with the Latvian skater. Didn't

allow him enough space to go

through. I would probably suspect

that the Latvian would be...

Receiving the penalty.

At the

moment, Knegt and Ren from China the

two going through. That is the thing

with these races, it is not a case

of one incident they're looking at.

Often there are two or three in the

race. We have the skaters for the

next heat warming up the presence of

referee. They have reached a

conclusion. A penalty to... Ziwei of

China. Ziwei is penalised.

China. Ziwei is penalised. So

Fauconnet of France will go through

and Zvejnieks advances as well,

having been the victim of the

illegal manoeuvre.

That means there

has been two advancements now. That

is the second advancement.

Hamlin

from Canada on the inside, a

three-time Olympic gold medallist.

Lepape from France. Shulginov from

Russia. He disappeared from the

start before anyone was ready and

Dajing, a two-time world champion

nearest the camera. Away they go.

Hamlin on the inside. Dajing was

quickly trying to take this race by

the scruff of the neck.

Both there,

Lepape moving around. Hamlin as

well. Wu of China has got other

ideas. Hamlin squeezes back into

second. First and second to qualify.

Dajing on the front for China. Six

laps to go. Hamlin of Canada in

second.

second. Lepape. Tight squeeze with

Lepape being forced out by Hamlin.

Dajing still leads. Shulginov from

Russia in third. Just a bit of a gap

opening up. Lepape sneaks inside the

Russian into third. Dajing and

Hamlin look as if they're a class

above the others. The Russian

Shulginov is out of contention. They

take the bell. They're on the last

lap. Hamlin leads. Dajing is there.

Lepape is having a look. They

stretch for the line and lamb Hamlin

and a photograph between Wu and

Lepape.

That would be a new Olympic record,

if ratified. A quick sprint at the

end with Hamelin of Canada taking

it. We await confirmation from the

photo finish to see who will join

him going through.

Absolutely, you

can see on the front, Wu Dajing of

China making it looked very easy.

Hamelin making it through on the

inside. Unusual for him to come

through so late. But again, a new

Olympic record with Sebastien Lepape

trying to squeeze through.

Wu Dajing

has qualified in second. The Olympic

record has been ratified. Despite

the best efforts of Frenchman

Sebastien Lepape, he couldn't force

his way through despite a good

effort on the last lap. Charles

Hamelin and Wu Dajing both going

through. And we have an Olympic

record set in the process as well

stop Josh Cheetham of Great Britain

is still to come in these 1000 metre

heats. A conveyor belt of heats.

We have the 1000 metre world

champion in this heat, Seo Yira.

Tommaso Dotti from Italy in this as

well as De Laat of benevolence. --

of the Netherlands.

of the Netherlands. Had to settle

for eighth place in the 1500 metre

final. There were nine skaters in

that final with a real congested

field. Seo Yira is one of the big

local favourites, tucked in behind.

De Laat was sixth in the 1500 metre

at the weekend. Seo Yira it's the

front with four laps to go.

front with four laps to go.

De Laat

moves into second place with three

laps to go.

Stay to Masoe. He is scrambling and

trying to keep in touch.

Seo Yira

has

has some work to do without time to

do it. Seo Yira, the 1000 metre

world Jami, is knocked out at the

first time of asking.

It seems so

strange that these top performers,

year in and year out, and that these

Olympic Games, they are not

producing.

That was an extraordinary

finish. But Seo Yira, with more than

a lap to go, finding himself at the

back of the field suddenly. This was

the manoeuvre. Even Tommaso Dotti of

Italy was able to slide through on

the inside of the Korean. Left the

door open and paid the price.

Absolutely. You can see the crowd

looking at the action replay, as the

Chinese skater went up the inside of

Seo Yira. He didn't touch him,

didn't close the door, so I would

question whether or not Han Tianyu

would make the next round. But it's

down to the referee to make the

final call.

It's fair to say, the

home crowd are open-mouthed at the

prospect of Seo Yira not being in

the competition. Waiting for

official confirmation of the result.

There is a penalty, we are hearing.

So, Seo Yira is advance. I didn't

need to tell you, you could work

that out from the crowd reaction

around the stadium.

around the stadium. De Laat and Seo

Yira go through. Tantanmen route is

penalised. -- Han Tianyu is

penalised.

He is raising his hands

as if to say, I didn't touch him.

Healthy having a home skater into

the next RAM. It would have been big

news if he went out. In Heaton of

the seven we have Josh Cheetham from

Great Britain making an Olympic

debut at the age of 25.

debut at the age of 25. European

bronze medallist in 2016. Up against

Confortola of Italy, Bykanov of

Israel and Hwang Daeheo of career.

-- of Korea. Hwang Daeheo goes to

the front for Korea. Confortola of

Italy moving through on the outside

to assume control at the front of

the race. Josh Cheetham swinging off

the back a little bit with four laps

to go. It's Confortola of Italy

leading from Hwang Daeheo of Korea.

It'll be interesting to see what

happens with a fight going on at the

front for first and second place.

Josh Cheetham is still close enough

to take advantage if there are any

problems further ahead of him. It's

tight the front. Hwang Daeheo of

Korea is leading

Korea is leading the way with

Bykanov of Israel in second. Josh

Cheetham will not be able to close

the gap.

the gap.

It will be interesting to

see whether Bykanov of Israel

doesn't receive a penalty on the

challenge of Confortola. I looked

down at the referee at the first

bend when the collision took place

and the referee made a little note.

On his iPad. It'll be interesting to

see, Bykanov got a penalty in the

1500 metre first round, and he might

receive a penalty in this race as

well. It will be interesting to see.

There it is.

Do you think Bykanov

could be penalised on that move,

after Tommaso Dotti?

Possibly. You

can feel when a skater is coming up

on the inside.

No doubt about the

winner, Hwang Daeheo, the winner of

the 2016 youth Olympic gold medal in

the 1000 metres. Now on the biggest

stage of all, the world number two

at this distance this year. Josh

Cheetham with his first taste of the

Olympics. Stayed upright and got

round.

That's right, it was a very

tough race.

There is a penalty. And

Bykanov is penalised. So Confortola

of Italy goes through instead. And

Josh Cheetham is credited with third

place. The first two go through.

place. The first two go through. So

Bykanov, a real quality skater, goes

out on the penalty. So this is the

final heat, number eight in the 1000

metres. The Olympic Athlete from

Russia, 19 years of age.

False start.

You would expect Shaolin Liu to win

this, and it was he who caused the

false start. Away they go after the

restart. Nine laps of the track.

Pukitis at the back for Latvia.

Skated very well in the 1500 metres.

I expected to challenge early in

this race. Sitnikov on the outside

goes inside Shaolin Liu of Hungary.

Looks like he could go up another

gear or two. Suddenly, three of them

on the deck. Shaolin Liu is the only

one upright at this in time.

Shaolin Liu has left the other three

on the deck.

I don't know if you

remember the Olympic final in Salt

Lake City, when all the skaters went

down. The new rule now is that the

referee can stop the race. He will

go to the video replay and look who

the culprit is. That person will

receive a penalty and not be allowed

to restart the race.

Did you see