BBC One Day 7: Women's Skeleton first run and Freestyle Skiing Winter Olympics

Hello, welcome to the programme. It

is day 7 of the Winter Olympics and

today for us it is all about the

skeleton. Just you and a tray and

the bends and being thrown off

course. It is exciting to watch and

we will reflect on a competition in

which Dom Parsons was bidding to

become Britain's first medallist at

the Olympics and then we will see

the first two runs of women's

skeleton as Lizzie Yarnold begins

the defence of her women's title.

When I look back at Sochi, it was

like a tunnel.

like a tunnel. There was light

somewhere at the end.

somewhere at the end. There was one

way out.

way out.

Here goes Lizzie Yarnold.

This competition has got off to a

blistering start. She is half a

second up coming to the line. Oh,

wow. This is a big margin to be

leading the Olympics in.

This was my

opportunity. I was fighting for the

gold medal.

It is a magnificent

start. It is her fastest start so

far. It is a track record in this

penultimate run.

This was the day I

had had in any calendar for my past

four years. It was the moment of my

life.

Lizzie Yarnold goes for gold

for Great Britain. She is still in

the lead by a comfortable margin.

She is going to win the gold medal

surely. She can crash now and win

it. She is going to do it!

Lizzie Yarnold is the Olympic

champion - oh, my goodness!

champion - oh, my goodness!

This is

the Alpensia Sliding Centre where

Yarnold aims to twist, turn, slide

and glide into the record books.

After Sochi, she completed the Grand

Slam and added the World

Championships to the Europeans and

the Olympics and the World Cup. She

was the first British athlete to do

that and now she is trying to nail

another first - the first to

successfully defend a Winter Olympic

title. And Laura Deas has been

flying in training and has the

podium in her sights at her first

Olympics. The tradition of British

women in skeleton is in safe hands.

Here the timing for those runs.

We will be there and we will be

live, both are going well. The

skeleton will be the main feature of

our programme this morning. But we

will also catch up with how Dom

Parsons got on in the early hours of

morning. That is what we are doing

next. As well as some good action

from alpine skiing from, women's

snowboard cross and the figure

skating.

Britain are playing Sweden. That is

starting on the red button. We will

catch up with that. If you want to

watch it live, it is on the red

button.

You're going to get a mix of Winter

Olympic sport and we are going to

benefit from the expertise of Chemmy

Alcott and Alex Coomes. She said to

me, it not a tray, it is a sled. I

know that. Dom is a former 400

metres athlete. She switched to

skeleton when he was about 20 and

went to his first Winter Olympics

four years ago. His dream is to

stand on the podium and he sits in

fourth place after the first two

runs.

runs. For Jerry Rice, a top ten

finish is the aim. The former rugby

player only started sliding in 2012.

But the favourite and clear leader

is Yun Sungbin. He is coached by

Britain's Richard Bromley.

Let's join our commentary team.

Let's join our commentary team. Yun

could be a superstar in the making.

The speed skaters have had excellent

games and they have been propelled

into superstardom in this country.

But what a big moment this is for

Korea. No Asian skeleton athlete has

ever won a medal. Now watch Yun go.

Watch the times. He is usually

electric off the blocks. He is

slightly slower. But he is under

way.

He is on the the sled, a

slightly slower start, but it is

still the fastest start we have

seen. I can't see anything wrong. It

is important to get the first four

corners, get the speed from the

start. And look at him go. This is

how to slide.

how to slide.

This the first mistake

we have seen him make. Is it the

difference in the ice temperatures.

The sliders may have made

adjustments.

Can he go under 50

seconds? He comes to the line, not

quite.

quite. But 50.18 reinforces his

position here as the gold medallist

in waiting. That was another

wonderful run from the Korean.

Currently in second place from the

Olympic athletes of Russia.

Olympic athletes of Russia. Tregubov

sets off and he is one that Dom

Parsons will have to tussle with.

Tregubov in Sochi came sixth and

there he held it together there from

start to finish.

That was with his

home track. He is in the, the

Koreans are in the same position as

the Olympic athletes of Russia were

in. He is a second behind that.

Shows the dominance of the Korean

sliders. He makes a mistake into

bend 12.

bend 12.

They have improved since

yesterday. Look how clean, look at

his body position - feet together.

Doing a little adjustment with his

feet.

50.05. He has done that each

run. That enhances his position as

well.

well. One of the greats for Latvia.

Martin Dukurs rubbing his hands

together, a wonderful exponent of

the art of skeleton. In Jun he will

probably find an athlete too good

for him. Dukurs is probably the last

person you want to scrap out for

with medals. His third run is under

way.

Watching his start from

yesterday morning. Put down an

incredible start time. He has just

got to hold it together.

Or not

hopefully! We were speaking to the

Latvian leader and he told them he

made a lot of mistakes with his set

up yesterday. He will have made

changes. So has he gone the right

way. Hopefully from the British

point of view that is not what we

want.

Maybe when we talk about the

set up, we have a bow in the

runners, that depends how much

contact the runner has on the ice,

the more contact the more grip you

have and that could mean you're

slower.

He could be going second.

Into second place. A whole second

off Yun, but ahead of Tregubov.

Decurse Dukurs has done what he

needed to do.

Our guys in the crowd watching on

hoping it will be their year.

Even

if he can't get past Dukurs or

Tregubov, he can't allow that gap to

grow between himself and the other

two. He is 1.14 seconds off Yun at

the moment.

He has not got quite as

fast a start. But he has incredible

speed down the track. He needs to

hold it together and find the speed.

He looks like he is unsettled a bit.

He looks like he is sometimes a bit

side ways. Maybe that is working for

him. He named that one. He needs to

find speed at the bottom. That is

what he was doing yesterday.

I

looked like a skiddy track today.

Come on Dom.

He is two tenths off.

He need a very fast accurate finish.

Look at that.

Come on Dom!

He goes

ahead of Tregubov into third and he

is breathing down Dukurs neck for

silver. A wonderful run from Parsons

again and he goes third with Dukurs

to come.

Now, Tomass Dukurs. Fourth in Sochi

and fourth in Vancouver tells you

what you need to know.

The Dukurs

brothers have been the ones to watch

for years. They just think and mould

into their sled, the perfect body

position. They're really good

position to watch if you're a

budding athlete or you're on the

skeleton programme. He has good

lines. Everything is going well. Is

there too much for him to make up.

I

don't think he has the momentum he

needs to pull himself back up

towards the Olympic athletes of

Russia and Dom Parsons. I think

unless there is any mistake the top

four are set.

Tomass Dukurs could be

half a second off Dom Parsons, that

is great news for Parsons. We set

out with potentially four going for

the remaining two medals, it looks

as though it is down now to

Tregubov, Dukurs, Martins and

Parsons for the two medals. What a

great competition this is the

turning into. There is perhaps

another young man we shouldn't

discount on the chase for medals. It

is this youngster Jisoo Kim. He has

overachieved, like so many of the

Korean athletes have done. He is

bidding to draw some inspiration

from what Yun has achieved up until

this point. Kim under way starting

in sixth place for Korea.

in sixth place for Korea.

This what

is the home crowd bring. He is doing

well. But he knows the ice so well

it is to his advantage. ?

Nice and

neat.

These athletes get three days

of training, they would all have a

World Cup competition last year and

three weeks of training. So every

nation apart from the Koreans have

had an equal amount of time and lots

of people have said why is Dom so

good. We are so good at learning

tracks quickly.

The good news for Parsons is that

Kim seems to be slowly and surely

getting further away. He is six

tenths off.

That was his quickest

run so far of this competition, so

the Korean himself is improving on

the track.

the track.

Number two in the world,

he will be disappointed to find

himself in seventh place. Axel

Jungk. He described his last run is

the worst one of the entire week,

even in training.

These German boys

are really wanting a medal. They

have never brought home an Olympic

medal, the girls have, but not the

guys. So they are fighting, they

want it so bad. The Germans have

also equipment, they always find

speed at the bottom part of the

track, but these guys haven't quite

made it in the top part, such a

unique track with uphill sections,

and it looks like he hasn't quite

got it, he is making tiny mistakes

on the exits and entrances of these

corners.

He was the untidy Esther

through the Dragons

through the Dragons tail there.

And

that was the little mistake, just at

the end of the Dragon's Tail, as it

is known, you have to work so hard

to turn the sled, and that slows you

down. You can see by his body

language he is not happy at all.

Jerry Rice now goes for Great

Britain. He has had a fantastic

Games. He's so once this top 12

position to be secured, so let's

just see. It would be lovely if he

could now jump ahead of the likes of

Alexander Gassner, that is what we

want from the 27-year-old from high

Wycombe.

He only started sliding in

2002, they pushed him off in

Lillehammer, and look at him now. He

really wants to get into that top

ten, and this is our talent, the

performance and development

programme we have in Great Britain

is working, and we really know how

to bring medals in and athletes like

Jerry

to bring medals in and athletes like

Jerry.

Top ten is possible. He just

lost it late. 12th.

I am going to

give him the next run and say he

will get into that top ten.

Let's

hope so. His third run time was

51.04, the quickest of his three so

far. The run for the medals is on.

Dom Parsons, currently in the bronze

medal position,

medal position, Yun looks assured of

gold. Excitement to come in the

men's skeleton. Dom Parsons looking

completely relaxed. So, for Britain,

Jerry Rice is under way. Lovely if

he can secure this top 12 position,

or maybe do even better than that.

And the fact that you are mentioning

his name in the same breath as

Matthew Antoine and the German shows

how good he is, they are all season

athletes and he is a young athlete

developing into his game, so that is

really good.

Really good lines, he

is holding it together, his body

position is really good. We keep

going on about that, almost perfect

through that section, and he is

controlling it really well, holding

it together and just doing his best

run.

Can he get under 51 seconds?

The final bends, 15, 16. What a

Games he has had, and he is under 51

seconds. A marvellous run the Jerry

Rice, and who knows? Maybe top ten

might be just waiting for him.

He

has put down a personal best on his

fourth run, improving with every

single run and that is all you can

ask for. He has a huge fan club out

there, and look at the smile on his

face. He has achieved what he came

here to do.

On we go to the top six,

this is Kim Jisoo, he is in sixth

place. To have any chance of getting

in the medals, he needs to go close

to the track record held by Axel

Jungk, he has to get near 50

seconds.

He is a good slider and he

knows this track well. We will see

some incredibly good lines here.

This is going to be a phenomenal

result for the Korean team if they

can get two sleds in the top five or

six. This is their programme really

moving forward, and that is what

they think.

This fellow was numb 25

in the world, talk about over

before?

That is what it is like when

you you have had hundreds of runs on

your home track, you know every inch

of the track, you know where to get

speed, you know the corners, and

look at that. Look at that

incredible time.

50.8. It is not

going to trouble Dom Parsons and

Tregubov and Dukurs, but an

incredible result for Korea. And

Thomas took, world-class, fourth in

Sochi, fourth in Vancouver. --

Tomass Dukurs. He needs time of near

50 seconds, 50.8 will not do for

him, he needs to be electric.

The

Latvians haven't got to grips like

we thought they would on this track.

They are still the world's best

sliders, winning every week, really

incredible to watch how they slide,

how they are so smooth on the sled,

you can't even see them steering.

They steer through the shoulders,

putting pressure on to the sled. He

will come back fighting because he

wants a medal.

I don't think he is

going to get it. He is quicker than

Kim, but his final time needs to be

in the low 50s, Rey Lee-Lo 50s to

put any pressure on

put any pressure on at all, and that

won't cut the mustard. That was a

good run from him, he will be happy

enough. Look at all those times

added up. The medals will be sorted

out by the next four. Four times

world junior champion, Nikita

Tregubov, in fourth place. Maybe the

medals between him and Dom Parsons.

This fellow has been so consistent,

he has gone 50.5 every run so far.

One mistake could be costly for him.

Let's see how he gets an.

That was a

really good start time, and that is

what you need on this track. Get a

great start, get you through those

first few corners and hold it

together. So far looking good, he is

looking clean.

Just starting to lose

a little bit of time on Dukurs.

a little bit of time on Dukurs. He

did lose a little on his first run,

but that was good. We need him just

to make a little twitch or mistake

somewhere to help Dom Parsons out a

little bit.

Here is 15, lovely and

clean, final curve, and he has done

all he can. He has knocked in

another 50.5, that is four on the

bouncer him. We know Parsons can go

quicker, though. Sit tight,

everybody, he says he thrives on the

pressure. His nickname is the

Wizard. Let's now see if he can work

some Winter Olympics magic and get

himself a medal. The equation is

simple. Directly against Tregubov,

and you will follow their times

together now. If his time goes green

under Tregubov's name, he is in good

shape.

You have just got to hold it

together, stay calm and not

concentrate on the end result. He

has just got to do his process just

like he did on the last three runs.

The lines are good at the moment,

this is good sliding, Dom, just keep

it together. Now we are starting to

build into the fast part of the

track. This corner is key. Is this

the one where we build it into the

medal? Has he got enough pace as we

come into this? This will be key as

we come down the track. Is this the

run that is going to get Great

Britain their first Olympic medal at

the Winter Olympics?

He is

marginally in front of Tregubov, but

it is uphill now. Off Ben 16, is

best to beat? No! He misses out by

two hundredths of a second. Tregubov

has a guaranteed medal, and Dom

Parsons may be about to agonisingly

missed out.

Oh, my word.

He knows

it. He knows he has missed it.

These

two sliders have put a lot of

pressure on this man, but has he got

the bottle to keep it?

the bottle to keep it?

Starts in

second place. If he makes a mistake,

Parsons might be back, and Dukurs

has not produced many mistakes over

a glittering career that has seen

him win silver medals at two Olympic

Games.

And verities! That was a big

mistake he has never made before. Is

he now able to keep the time, or

will he dropped vital split seconds

down this track?

He has made two

mistakes at the top of the track, he

is coming in late in starting to

drop off. This is where Dukurs might

lose the speed, because of the

mistakes at the top. It is only two

hundreds, that is all we need.

Hay

has dropped back behind Parsons! Dom

Parsons, unbelievably, has his

medal! Come on, Great Britain! Dom

Parsons has a bronze medal because

of Martins Dukurs, The Great Gatsby,

couldn't hold it together.

Delightful Parsons, and Dukurs now

feels the pain. -- the great Latvian

couldn't hold it together. We settle

back now and enjoy what we think

will be the gold-medal performance

from Yun of Korea, who starts miles

ahead of his competitors. This will

put Asia on the map for the first

time in Skeleton. No Asian athlete

has ever won a medal. Yun is seconds

away from gold.

This is a victory

lap for him, he is so far ahead. He

has been the quality at the Sliding

Center Sanki are, and for the crowd

to see this, they are going to go

wild at the bottom.

He has a second

and a half to play with, he just has

to stay on his sled on the last two

corners.

An incredible athlete, Yun

is a superstar in Korea, and he wins

by the biggest margin in history, a

track record to finish it off, 1.63

seconds, the winner in Sochi won by

seven tenths. Incredible by Yun.

What an athlete.

Absolutely smashing

it. But most importantly, we have a

bronze medal for Great Britain by

Dom Parsons. The camp is going to be

ecstatic, and what are we to have

these Games, and to have Dom here

doing his best, his aim was to get a

medal, no one thought that was

possible, but he has loved this

track from the moment he arrived at

the start of this week. And look at

it, third place for Great Britain.

What a thrilling climax. Dom

Parsons, the Wizard, delivered his

magic, albeit with a little bit of

help from one of the greats, Martins

Dukurs, who drops out of the top

three. Dom Parsons can now cherish,

aged 30, a bronze medal at his

second Olympic Games.

Congratulations.

Thanks.

Bronze

medal at the Olympic games, first

medallist Team GB here in

Pyeongchang. Give us your reaction.

It hasn't really sunk in yet. I

thought I had lost it after that

second run, fourth run.

Did your

heart sink?

Yes, I looked up at the

time, I made a couple too many

mistakes in that run, but Martins

made more mistakes, and he is the

last person I thought would make

mistakes.

You have been mixing it

with the very best in the sport and

going toe to toe with them, it is

fantastic.

Yes, all the work we put

in has paid off, all the help from

everyone in the Federation, friends

and family, even people playing the

national lottery where our funding

comes from, so a big thank you to

all of them.

What a moment Dom

Parsons. He becomes Great Britain's

first medallist of the Pyeongchang

Olympics 2018. And he is thrilled

with that. Lovely for him to be

sharing a podium with the champion

yens Singh

yens Singh -- Yun Sungbin. British

women have won medals at the last

four games, but Dom Parsons is the

first male medallist for 70 years,

the last one being John Crammond

back in 1948, and he worked as a

stockbroker in the city of the

common he was also a qualified

pilot, and amateur yachtsman, he

served in the RAF during the Second

World War, and he was 41 years old.

And actually remains the oldest

skeleton medallist in winter Olympic

history. John Crammond was the last

man to stand on the podium after the

skeleton. Fantastic helmet! Good

stuff. There were six runs in those

days, and he was leading at the

halfway stage and slipped back. We

heard her in commentary, a

tremendous job, by the way, Amy

Williams is out there now at the

slide centre. Didn't we see him go

through that full range of despair

and delight?

Yes and we were doing the same in

the commentary box. He put down such

good runs and that final run, he

just slipped down and we saw Martins

Dukurs come down and we could not

believe it. One minute he thinks he

has lost the bronze and then there

he is knowing he has his medal.

That

is going to have given the whole

team confidence and it is quarter to

7 in the evening,, what are your

feelings about what Lizzie Yarnold

and Laura Deas need to do and what

do you expect of them.

Well, the

excitement in the camp is as you can

imagine just huge. Everyone is up on

cloud nine and the girls, they have

been concentrating on their race.

They're excited for Dom to have done

that. But they have got to go out,

run one, run two, do what they have

been doing in training. Both have

been putting down the fastest runs

and they're in a good place. At the

track, it is really cold. The ice

will be very hard and cold and I'm

guessing it is about minus 8. They

have to have the right settings to

give them enough grip, because the

ice will be hard. I know that sounds

silly, but it does get very hard.

They know they're good enough, these

two girls are good enough to bring

home a medal. Day one, we are very

excited.

Lizzie in particular looked

rattled about the question marks

over the suit and other competitors

trying to stir it up, do you sense

that has passed and everybody is

back to being calm and collected?

I

think it is still going on behind

the scenes. Yes, it does seem quite

sad and a shame that all other

nations are trying to ruffle our

feathers and get into the girls

psychologically, but the team are

confident and everything's been OK

by the jury members. We are good at

being innovative and thinking

outside the box and seeing how we

can find those hundredths of a

second. The girls, a bit annoyed,

but it won't affect them. They will

put that to the back of their mind

and go out and deliver some fast

pushes that we know in particular

Laura has and just nail this track

like they know they have and can do.

You have been in the same position,

there were question marks about your

helmet in Vancouver, which you knew

had been passed, can you remember

what you did at the time to almost

turn that annoyance into something

positive to put out there on the

track?

I just ignored it. It does

hurt and I'm reading comments from

old sliders, old friends that were

part of that wider family and it is

does hurt they're thinking that we

are cheating and bringing us back

why do Britain win medals, it is

because we are good and we are good

at preparing and peaking at the

right time. We are innovative, but

that is what makes us good and

across all sports in the summer and

winter. So yeah, it is hard to hear.

It is upsetting, but we are

confident and the team are confident

and we would never use anything that

hasn't

hasn't been OK ed by the jury. The

girls have to forget about it and

concentrate on themselves and their

performance and putting down all the

processes they do day in day out and

don't do anything differently.

We

will be sending you plenty of

positive vibes. You're doing a

terrific job as well and good luck

to Laura and Lizzie. Amy who just

had her one break of the day

interrupted. She had to get to the

top of the mountain and interrupt

her dinner. Alex Coomber started off

this 21st Century success when you

won bronze, do you remember in Salt

Lake City, was there that feeling, a

bit of niggle that GB have got good

at this?

From my point of view I had

won the World Cup for three years in

a row. The technology at that stage

was quite basic. I went to the

Olympics with two sets of runners

and a sled and a reasonably simple

race suit. There were not many

arguments. No one was doing anything

particularly significant. It wasn't

anything that came into play us

with.

When you look at the

investment in the sports, there is a

lot going into skeleton, if it

wasn't going into the technical

side, you would be thinking where it

is going?

We have the talent and the

athletes, so you spend the money on

the equipment and being ahead. The

athletes know this will happen and

they will go to Olympics in their

prime and people will be going, what

can we pick apart here?

It is all

mind games, trying to upset them.

Was know we are strong and that

hopefully we are not going to let

that affect us.

Let's reflect on

what Dom Parsons has done this

morning, in starting after in

fourth, he needed to improve his

final run wasn't the improvement he

was looking for. He had to get a

mistake from Martin Dukurs, Alex,

from your point of view, what do you

see from him?

He is there at the

start. We know his start great. He

had consistent starts. He was

between 16th and 21st at the start.

But this is a driver's track. It is

not a track where you can start fast

and win. He proved this. Having a

fast start doesn't help you. He is

driving cleanly and he has beautiful

body position. You can see the knees

going. He is shifting his body

weight. He is looking where he is

going and steering and letting the

sled run. That is important. If you

start fighting and moving about and

that is when people make mistakes.

Dukurs panicked a bit. He tried to

over steer and Dom managed to hold

it together to the end. At the end

of his last run, he will have gone

to the depths of hell and back to

ecstasy in the space of a minute,

thinking he has lost the medal. But

that is the thing that is great

about this track. I think the team

who designed the track should get a

medal. It is such a competitive

track. You don't know until the last

person has been down who will win.

The girls, the mix will be greater,

they will chop and change all the

way. So very exciting.

Let's look at

Dukurs and the mistake he made. The

fact if this hadn't happened,

obviously we would be looking at Dom

Parsons having just missed out.

By

two hundredths of a second.

As you

say, it is a track you don't know

until the end and for the Latvian,

who has been so experienced and been

in this position. We were not

expecting him to make a mistake.

He

was second and third fastest starter

on each run. The possibility is he

went too fast. Bend 2 is tricky, if

you go into it too fast, you lose

control. There is a big mistake

there. He comes out of the bend and

he is having to fight to regain his

composure, get his line straight and

you're playing catch up at 80mph.

But as I say, a tenth of a second

was all that mattered at the end. I

think it is sad for him. He is kind

of, this was his Usain Bolt moment,

he is retiring after the Olympics,

it would have been nice to get on

the podium again, but never mind!

Someone's got to feel like that.

There is still the celebrations from

the Russian athlete and Dom a bit

more subdued. Just saying, God, that

means I'm in there.

I think he

hadn't, it hadn't dawned on him. You

have to do the quick maths.

I think

he thought I'm off this podium now.

I think he did.

But the winner.

Poor

Dukurs.

The winner, this was

phenomenal.

phenomenal. Questions coming from

people about the benefit and the

advantages of it being your home

track.

Clearly, it is obvious there

are advantages. He will have trained

on this track since it was built as

often as he could. You see when you

see Korean sliders, they use their

toes to steer a lot and they have

learned a slight steer with your

toe, that normally might lose your

time actually gains you time and you

can set your line up cleaner. He

was...

There you I is a it there.

Just stuck his toe out. He had the

fastest time on every split on every

run. But interestingly, Dom Parsons

has the top speed of the entire

field.

Wow.

The Koreans, yes, huge

advantage, it is great for them to

have a winner. He is the first

Korean Olympic medallist in

skeleton.

Their first Olympic

champion that isn't on the the ice

rink. I doubt if there has ever been

a bigger crowd for skeleton.

The

pressure, he is still young. The

whole of his country was waiting for

him to win. So you know, it is great

that he managed to do it.

Will the

women have been watching this? And

will they have been able to pick up

on what he has done, because clearly

he has had more time on that track

than anyone?

I am not sure. The

difference between a male and female

slider is different, you have

different weights and starting

speeds. So it is difficult to look

at a male slider and go, well, I'm

going to do is same. The sleds will

be different. They have different

runners and different weights. I

think the best thing is to look at

your own runs and reflects on your

own runs and get your coaching staff

to assess that.

Although we have

seen that foot tapping technique is

the winning line, our athletes won't

try and adopt that, because you need

to practice that?

They may do. They

have found that was a good line.

This is the thing with skeleton,

particularly in a track that you're

not familiar with, you get six

minutes of training to learn the

track. You get six runs about a

minute each. They have have tried

the first run, got the feel of the

track and each run you're trying to

tweak and tweak.

What the British

sliders have been good at is

learning new tracks. Because we

don't have our own track. We are not

a one track pony if you like, we the

go to a new country, six runs and if

you look at Lizzie Yarnold's

training, he was getting more

comfortable with it and getting

faster. What do you see that she

will try and take into the

competition?

As she gets on the

sledge she has got to be calm. We

know this is a technical track. You

have got to try and let the track

guide you in a way. There are some

very important bends in here, bend 2

and 9 have been the ones that have

been causing problems. You can see

her putting on a steer there. The

principles of skeletons are you get

into a bend early and get out of the

bend early. You want a flat line.

You don't want to move your head and

shoulders. She is doing that. It is

just a case of doing what you have

always done and don't let anything

faze you. Nice and relaxed.

Is in is

era of visual reality learning and

the frabgt ing and the fact they

have only had six runs, is that the

future, making the goggles to have a

learning ability to feel where the

lines are and the gravity will pull

you?

To be honest almost day-by-day

the track can change. The track is a

giant fridge F you went in the

summer it would be a lump of

concrete. They ice it in the winter.

The way the ice is cut can vary. Out

of the competition, they will have a

track workers who are shaving the

ice and creating the curve. One day

a curve could be quite flat and the

next be bent and that will alter how

you come in and out of the bend and

how high you go.

Once it is sets it

will be the same?

Yes.

Good.

If you

went back next year, it may be a

completely different cut and you

have to start again from square one.

If you have questions about

Skeleton, we are building up on that

very much this morning as we prepare

to watch Lizzy and Laura. And people

are saying, why are we so good at

Skeleton, but we have got no luge

athletes?

athletes?

Luge is where Skeleton was

20 years ago, because they haven't

had a breakthrough athlete who has

won something, so they haven't got

the funding. When I went into Salt

Lake, we didn't have funding, the

funding came from the first medal

which led to the next one, so it is

a bit of a chicken and egg

situation, you need the athlete to

win to get the funding, but without

the funding, you don't get the

athlete.

And a lot of the focus goes

on the runners.

Yes, a lot of it is

very different. You could

scientifically somehow share the

information, but you can't protect

Mac one on the skeleton or vice

versa.

Never before at a Winter

Olympics has Great Britain won two

medals in the same event, so we

obviously had bronze and silver in

men's and women's curling, but I'm

talking about the same event, the

same competition, the same day, two

people on the podium. It could yet

happen in skeleton, because Laura

Dees has been going super fast in

training. She came into these games

under the radar because all the

attention was on Lizzy, she carried

the flag at the opening ceremony and

is the defending champion, but

Laura's results in the last year

mean that she in theory is our

number one chance here.

On paper you

have to say that. Her World Cups

this year have been incredibly

consistent. She has been up there in

the top six or seven. She finished

above Lizzy in the rankings, and a

combination of doing that and coming

here and doing some good training

runs means you would actually say

that she has probably got a more

significant chance. However, she has

not experienced, and Lizzy's

experience with the pressure, she

has been there before in an Olympic

race, Sara Hope it doesn't faze her

too much and she keeps a calm head

on her and keeps a calm, it would be

incredible if we could get both of

them on the podium, it would be

amazing.

Lot a of it is research

into the track, but there are indeed

a shape and weight and mental

approach as well of the skeleton

slider that is going to put you into

a position that could help. But the

training times will give them huge

confidence. So at the moment.

You can see Laura has been the

fastest on some runs and Lizzy on

the others, they are there or

thereabouts.

As I said earlier, this

track, anyone in the top ten, I

honestly think, could end up on the

podium. To produce four runs without

any mistakes is almost impossible,

so it

any mistakes is almost impossible,

so it is who can produce the fewest

mistakes with the fastest times,

keep calm and just be consistent,

and I think it is going to be really

exciting to see what happens.

I was

talking about building body shape.

Let's have a look at Lizzy's

statistics. You are tiny, and I

would've thought that perhaps is the

best shape for a skeleton?

This is

something that has really changed in

our sport over the last 20 years.

When I competed, I was small but I

wasn't far off the average. Lizzy is

a lot bigger than me, stronger than

me, taller than me, and a track here

where you have a uphill sections,

that will be a huge advantage. The

women's field as a whole have all

got a lot bigger. So it is

something, I think it is common

across a lot of female sports now.

Tennis players are getting bigger

and stronger. We do well in rugby

and women's football where you have

that strength.

In skeleton, you need a good power

to weight, so you are small but

strong, and you need aerodynamics as

well.

And Laura is a little shorter

and lighter, the same age, and her

experience in skeleton, even though

this is her first Olympic Games, she

has had a lot of race time.

Definitely. And all of that is

building muscle memory, so every

time you go down the track, each

time you do it, your brain gets a

bit quicker, you learn more, your

automatic systems of steering and

how to control yourself and not

react if something goes wrong, all

of those systems improve over time.

Lots of questions!

Loads of

questions. In terms of their leg and

back legs, they will log -- long

legs for the sprinting, then do they

want a short back to get down onto

the sled?

I think the front is more

important. You want to be not high

and wide at the front, that makes

you not aerodynamic, and also if you

hit going down the track, some

people's shoulders come outside the

sled, so they are hitting

themselves, one of the things I used

to like about being quite small was

that I never hit myself, if I ever

hit the side, it was only the sled.

Your legs, as long as you have got

good control in your legs and it is

one of those kind of...

This is you,

actually. You can see what you are

saying here. You are very

aerodynamic because there is not

much of you, so I guess that becomes

an advantage.

And you will see when

I get on my sled, my bumpers are

outside the width of me. I used to

watch some of the bigger guys coming

out of training, and they would have

ripped the side of their race suit

and torn their skin to shreds

whereas you see that, my shoulders

are inside my sled.

And is that sled

built for you?

No, it was a standard

race lead. We can modify some things

in the sled, but the dimensions are

set by what was the FI BT.

Chemmy

has got one here.

So much science

goes into this, and the runners and

everything, but we have noticed,

first of all it is very heavy, I

understand the need for that. But

although science, and we have loads

of household duct tape. Why is that?

Basically, the internal workings of

the sled, you need to access them

quite regularly because you can

change things, you could put weights

in, so if you are light, like I was,

I was allowed to put weights in my

sled to make it heavier to equal it

out of it.

What is the maximum for

slider and sled combined?

29

kilograms if the slider is female is

over 80 kilograms. If you're under

that, I was allowed up to 35 kilos

in my sled. But you can also change

the flexibility of the metal in the

internal workings of the sled, so

sometimes you want it really stiff,

and sometimes you really need to be

able to move it, and the only way to

do that easily and cheaply on a

regular basis, which might be daily,

is to have something that you can

take on and off.

You'd think there

would be some kind of plastic thing

that could flip open.

Ironically,

that is the one bit of technology

that has not changed at all since I

competed. That is exactly the same.

And how much would this be worth?

The actual sled? A top racing sled

is about 15,000. Don't drop it!

Put

it down gently! We have borrowed it,

we have to take it back, it is a

real one.

Fascinating insights from the woman

who has done it and knows what this

is all about. Alex Coomber, our

special guest in the studio, as we

build up to the first two runs in

the women's skeleton, we have Lizzy

Yarnold and Laura Dees, both going

at 11:20am for their first run. We

will be there live. But between now

and then, we will be catching up on

what happened in the women's slalom,

the snowboard cross, the figure

skating, and then we will go on BBC

One for a quick dip into the men's

curling, Great Britain against

Sweden, but if you just want to sit

back and settle into the curling,

you can do that from 11 o'clock on

the red button. Then the second run

for the women's skeleton is at 20

past 12, before we catch up

basically again on everything that

is happening on day seven. It is a

very exciting programme, and we have

had an awful lot going on overnight,

which means it every morning when

people wake up, I tell you exactly

what I do, I turn on my BBC app on

my phone, it is brilliant, because

you can get all the little bite-size

video bits of everything that has

gone on overnight. But if you don't

have the, here are the headlines.

119 men started the men's

cross-country 15 K, but it was super

Dario who came out on top, winning

the title for the third consecutive

Olympics. Huge disappointment for

Britain's medal hope Andrew Musgrave

who finished down in 20 Eighth Place

after what he called a pretty

shocking performance. In the women's

curling, defending champions Canada

are in big trouble after losing

their third game in a row. They were

beaten by Denmark in an extra end.

They now sit bottom of the

standings. And the men's ice hockey,

the USA team bounced back from is

are praising opening match defeat to

beat Slovakia 2-1.

All of that has been happening, but

Chemmy is our Alpine skiing star,

and the one person we have been

talking about in the build-up to

these games is Mikaela Shiffrin. She

had won gold in the bag, and heading

into the slalom, just explain how

hot favourite everyone thought she

was.

She has dominated in this

discipline for so long, over 30

World Cup wins in slalom alone, and

being that she is so young, is

really impressive. She had a

really impressive. She had a little

whoopsie in the last Olympics, which

is unlike her, she DNF-ed. Did not

finish. We thought her confidence

would build and build.

Two British

women, the fastest after the first

run then go in reverse order. Alex

Tilley had crashed out of the giant

slalom. What happened here, there

isn't a lot of coverage from our

host broadcasters, so we will get

that again in slow motion.

This is

tragic, you can see coming in,

getting on the back-seat, so little

time going into a Hairpin, a

formation of gates with a shorter

distance, so you have to move

forward into it, so she gets pulled

on the tails and is not able to

finish it.

And this is Charlie

Guest.

Yes, she battled her prerace

nerves, she has never been to the

Olympic start gate.

And what age is

she?

She is 24, and she broke her

back really badly three years ago.

Her comeback is incredible, a couple

of levels down from World Cup this

year. You can see she is a bit

frustrated with herself, but she

vented her straight and is well on

the second run.

And here is Mikaela

Shiffrin's first run.

She had a problem on her first

split. She did vomit before the

start of the race, she said it

didn't affect performance, but if

you look at her speed of movement,

there is so precision normally with

her skiing, and for me, there is a

little bit of, she is a little

tentative, twisting her feet, and

you can see snow coming off the

skis, uncharacteristic for her to

see herself 0.48 of the league at

that time.

And she could have come

back from that?

Definitely.

And this

is Frida Hansdotter.

She is always

the runner-up, she came sixth

yesterday, but she has five

consecutive podiums before the

Olympics, all in second place. She

has never had her moment to shine,

but she took the advantage.

She

looks very relaxed.

She was very

settled and poised today.

The Swiss

hopes were pinned on Wendy Holdener.

Very strong, good solid work with

her inside me, deflect the gate and

moves forward and down. She started

the first run first, clean track and

she used that to deliver the exact

line that she wanted.

So no rats for

her at all.

her at all. -- no ruts for her.

In

another generation, it would all be

about Wendy, but it has not been so

far.

Lets see how the second run

will play out. We will head out to

the mountains and joined Matt

Chilton.

COMMENTATOR: Wendy Holdener leads

the way, and Frida Hansdotter the

second, with Anna Swenn Larsson

holding third position. Katharina

Gallhuber holding advantage over her

team-mate after the first leg. And

she is away. .

she is away. . 1:03.48 at the spit,

and Gallhuber has just about

troubled her lead at the

intermediate time. She has a huge

amount of power. She can drive

through the ruts underfoot, that is

terrific slalom skiing from

Gallhuber here. She could give the

Austrians first and second, she is

building all the time, it just gets

better and better through every

turn. This could be a second and a

half, her lead at this rate.

Gallhuber is flying through the

final terms, and her advantage is

1.62 seconds. That is massive for

Katharina Gallhuber, ninth quickest

after the first run. I wonder if

this second run, which was full of

fire, might move her up into the

medals.

Haver-Loeseth won the team event in

Stockholm. The lead has been halved.

She heads off into the wind, which

is blowing right up the hill. It can

only slow them down. Now she is

behind by two hundredths of a

second. Gallhuber still leading. I

wonder if she might go on to take a

medal. Haver-Loeseth is finding some

speed. But the damage is already

done. She is 0.6 down. She may get

among the provisional positions. I

don't think she will trouble gold

medal. Look at what she was dealing

with - the brutal gusts at the top

of the course.

of the course. Thaksin Mikaela

Shiffrin her advantage over

Gallhuber is significant. It looks

like the wind has eased off. Now she

finds the worse of it.

First mistake for Mikaela Shiffrin.

The most recent double gold medal

winner was in Salt Lake City. She is

hoping the defend the slalom gold

she won four years ago in Sochi. She

is finishing with incredible speed.

She has gone second and Shiffrin

will not make it two gold medals.

Shiffrin made that mistake. That is

the error that cost her the chance

to lead this race. Three to come.

Swenn Larsson and then Hansdotter

and Holder in. -- Holdener. Into the

breeze, she won't mind that much.

She has got incredible strength. She

is maintaining most of her lead,

even as she battles the wind. I

heard her scream there in an effort

to encourage herself back on to the

racing line. Still in front. If she

goes into first position here she

will be guaranteed an Olympic medal.

Swenn Larsson pushing for the line.

Has she done enough? Oh, she is

third. Gallhuber is guaranteed a

medal. That is extraordinary.

Gallhuber was only ninth after the

first run will finish with bronze at

worst. Hansdotter poised to race for

the final time today. Her advantage

over Gallhuber is significant. On

her way. Aggressive skiing at the

top. She had a solid first run and a

good giant slalom day yesterday.

Likes this hill. The majority of her

advantage is intact. The worst of

the wind is at this part of the

course. Hansdotter drops in and

starts to go to work and still in

front.

front. Hansdotter has never won an

Olympic medal. Can she put that

right today? Sixth in yesterday's

giant slalom. She is the former

World Cup slalom champion. Half a

second the lead. Gallhuber's lead is

1. 38n't 95. Can she beat it? Yes,

she can. She moves into gold. She is

guaranteed silver at worst. Sensible

skiing. She knew she had that hefty

advantage over Gallhuber after the

first run. She used it to good

effect. Now they have to wait and

watch. The last skier. Wendy

Holdener from Switzerland, who has

had so many tight battles with

Hansdotter in the World Cup last

season and this season. But now it

is down to second run of the Olympic

slalomment Holdener has an advantage

of two tenths. Hansdotter's split.

Holdener trails by one hundredth of

a second. She has the worst of the

wind, it absolutely whipping in and

into the goggles of the skier. She

hasn't done too much more damage.

From here she can start to relax a

little more. She is out of the

breeze. She has got to push through

every one of these turns. Only four

hundredths down. She can still take

the Olympic title. Wendy Holdener

takes the silver. Hansdotter is the

Olympic champion.

Olympic champion. The gold to Frida

Hansdotter. Holdener takes silver

and Gallhuber has the bronze with

Mikaela Shiffrin pushed out of the

medals down to fourth. Frida

Hansdotter is the Olympic slalom

champion. After two sensational runs

here. Hansdotter, who so often has

been the runner up to Mikaela

Shiffrin in the last couple of

seasons in the World Cup races,

finally gets her moment in the spot

light. I don't think she quite

believes it.

light. I don't think she quite

believes it.

STUDIO: That is a fourth gold medal

for Sweden. Christopher Dean has

joined us to analyse... I'm joking.

Frida Hansdotter that is a massive

moment.

She has won that, Shiffrin

didn't lose it. She was challenged

all the way to the line by Holdener.

There was amazing skiing and she

pulled out her best skiing at the

right time. She has so often been

the bridesmaid and not the bride.

She has quite a loose upper body,

you see the upper body charging in

the gate and the legs swinging from

side to side. Such short, sharp

pressure.

We can see the leg and

hand guards so they can push and

almost kick the poles out of way.

They want to track as little

distance down the mountain as

possible. There is a set of gates,

that is why they deflect this so,

they're skiing less neat at each

gate. That is she is doing well, her

upper body is driving are and there

is so much activity. That is where

she won it. Gallhuber had the most

amazing run. It is the fact that

Frida came in with that lead. I

think she thought she would be

coming second. She still celebrated.

It was a great win. We think of what

Pearson did with Swedish sport and

to see Frida find her own and to be

on the podium is so well deserved.

She is ten years older than Mikaela

Shiffrin who, four years ago became

the youngest champion. The big

surprise, not so much, Shiffrin

would have been challenged, but for

her not to finish on the podium?

That was the biggest surprise. I

think that she thought going into

this, even on a bad day, she would

get on the podium. She has quoted

saying that I didn't feel like

myself at all. I have to say that is

reflected with the naked eye in her

skiing. That speed of movement is

not there. She made a mistake on

this second run. And she was only

eight hundredths off the bronze. But

I don't know. She know she loves her

rest and last night with the

ceremony, perhaps that ate into her

pre-race preparation. But it wasn't

good enou today and the other women

completely delivered. This is

normally where see her excelling,

even if she is behind, you think she

would make up time. But it looks a

little bit calculated and clinical.

Obviously, the Americans are going

to be disappointed, she was going to

be their big story. But actually for

the sport it is not a bad thing is

it? That she is not there on the

podium.

No I think for young people

getting into the sport, you don't

want somebody dominating, you want

to see there is a field out there of

athletes on any given day who would

win and that showed today. As soon

as she was out of question it opened

up the excitement. After that first

run, should Shiffrin come in, she

was only 0. 48 behind. As soon as

you saw her skiing that second run,

you thought this is exciting.

Has

she reconsidered her programme?

I

don't know. Maybe that shows her

fatigue. So many of her races were

delayed. It might be that her body

has just said, I need a day off. You

can't expect this from me.

She

wasn't able to up to first. But the

pairs skating, Christopher Dean's

pairs, you're their manager, the

Germans did come up from fourth to

gold. Have you spoke on the them?

Through her husband a bit. I think

they're inundated with with demands.

It was a big day for them and for

Germany winning that gold medal. But

they're elated obviously. It was a

fantastic performance. She

deserveped it so much. -- deserved

it so much. She has been a five

times Olympian and won everything

except an Olympic gold and to win it

in the style they won it, coming

from behind, what a day to be on

your game.

We have more skating to

enjoy with you and hear your

thoughts on the men's singles

skating. Now Japan and the Japanese

media were all over Hanyu, everybody

is greeting him at the airport, he

is t reigning Olympic champion. But

he has been injured. Here he is on

the ice, take us through this men's

short programme, Robin.

the ice, take us through this men's

short programme, Robin. COMMENTATOR:

Whatever happens, Hanyu will be

carried through his programme on a

wave of adoration. There are

Japanese flags 360 degrees, where

ever he looks in this Ice Arena. The

defending Olympic and world

champion.

Made more difficult from the entry

from the spread-eagle before and

after the jump.

Glorious trim axel. -- triple.

Quadruple toe loop. There it is.

There is the roar.

CHEERING

And the roof comes off the rink!

Absolutely sublime from the

defending Olympic champion Yuzuru

Hanyu of Japan.

That was absolutely

glorious and faultless, my hands are

shaking.

And look at this mass

Winnie the Pooh sacrifice! And look

at those fans. He loves Winnie the

Pooh.

Goodness me, he delivered, and

it wasn't the programme he planned,

either. He was going to think about

the quadruple roup, but that

Salchow, glorious, glorious. He is

and serial being when he is on the

ice.

It's like he's from another

planet.

Regularly over 100, where is

he today?

Hundred

-- 111.68, if you needed any

confirmation, not far off the world

record today. And here comes his

countrymen,

countrymen, Shoma Uno, world silver

medallist, skating in his first

Olympics years old.

Love this short

programme.

Two quadruple jumps planned for

Shoma in this programme. There is

the first, quadruple flip.

Quadruple time -- toe loop,

fantastic stuff. Just the triple

axel. Did very well to hold on to

that.

Schomer Uno, the dark horse of this

competition, lays

competition, lays down his mark for

a place on that podium.

A little

tight in the shoulders, but down in

the knee.

He is such a compact

skater as well, short but strong

looking.

104.17, just short of his season's

best, but he does become the second

skater today to break the 100

barrier, still a few points behind

Yuzuru Hanyu, who leads the way. So,

here is Yuzuru Hanyu's long-time

rival and training mate,

rival and training mate, Javier

Fernandez, two-time world champion,

who recently won his sixth

consecutive European title. And this

is his last time at an Olympics. He

has already said this is his last

season, he has had enough at the age

of 26. Retirement beckons.

He will open with the quad toe loop,

triple toe loop, lovely stuff right

in front of the judges.

Second jump, the quadruple Salchow.

Gorgeous.

And a beautiful triple a, -- triple

axel, the jump elements are all

done.

CHEERING

Here we go!

An Olympic medal is the

only thing missing from his

collection, and it looks like Javier

Fernandez is out to put that right

at the last time of asking.

Goodness

me, where do we start? Look at that

perfect landing position from the

quad to take on the triple, down on

the knee on the take-off for the

quad Salchow, doesn't quite have the

overall finesse of Yuzuru Hanyu

technically for me.

technically for me.

107.58, just a

fraction of a mark of his season's

best. And he slots in between Yuzuru

Hanyu and Shoma Uno of Japan in

second place.

second place. So, Jin Boyang, bronze

medals at the last two European

Championships, he completes this

short programme. He has been one to

watch in the last two years.

Our final skater will plan to

deliver two quadruple jumps in this

short programme as well. Here is the

first.

first. A quadruple lutz, triple toe

loop, and he's got it.

And there is the quadruple toe loop,

very nice indeed.

Triple axel!

APPLAUSE

.

CHEERING

Don't forget me, says Jin Boyang!

Don't count me out just yet.

Thrilling.

Is it enough to catch

Shoma Uno on 104.7?

It will be very

tight, definitely behind Javier

Fernandez.

It is a new season's

best, he breaks through that 100

point barrier. So let's have a look

at the results from today: Javier

Fernandez chasing his first Olympic

medal in second, but Yuzuru Hanyu

back to his untouchables best, and

favourite now surely to retain his

title. The short programme is the

building block, and Yuzuru Hanyu has

laid down the surest foundation here

today.

It is unbelievable to watch. The

free programme still to come, but

down in 17th place was Nathan Chen,

what happened to him?

He was won

every event he has been in this

year. The US have put so much on

him, their hopes, after Lindsey Vonn

I think it would have been Nathan

Chen whoever Boddy said would bring

home a medal. I read he said that it

just didn't fit tonight. Some days

you can step onto the ice and it is

just not there. Everything doesn't

line up, and for him, it was just a

disaster. Even in practice, he

sometimes comes to the Springs where

I coach and choreographed, and he is

so consistent, and to have the worst

skater of your life at an Olympic

Championships. I think it most

probably was the pressure.

You have that moment of thought

about everybody's hopes on new, he

has always been the underdog coming

in, but now everybody is looking to

him to be the champion.

Mind you,

globally, there wouldn't be many

with much more pressure on them than

Hanyu. He needed five escort

officers at the airport, such was

the attention on him.

He has done it

here before.

And he was so

beautiful.

He makes quads looked

like triples and triples look like a

single. He is so tight in the air,

and as you can see, doing that

second triple, hands up in the air,

gets more technical marks for that.

I notice he is wearing this

necklace, and I worry that when he

is doing his quads and triples, it

is going to smack him in the face.

Whenever I work with any students, I

always say, get rid of your

jewellery, take the chewing gum out,

it is not a fashion show!

But it

didn't seem to hold him back.

Maybe

it is his lucky charm. He is for

sure going to pull off that skate

later. He has got the experience, he

has been here before. This may be

his second time around defending his

championships, so he has got

everything going for him. But not

far behind is Fernandez, and he is a

great storyteller, people love his

style of skating, he is always

telling a story with this particular

routine, this was like Charlie

Chaplin. He really connects with the

audience. Whenever he is out there,

the audience with him, and he

encourages the audience to be part

of it. And that can lift the skater,

lift the judges' idea of how you

have just skated.

So emotional

connection is imported?

Very much

so. And this is what he has in

bucket loads.

They must know each other inside out

in the sense of what the other is

capable of.

What else do you think

might be nudging up to challenge

Hanyu.

Hanyu.

Fernandez and Jin, it will be

a jump fest.

Now Shoma Uno. It looks

risky, bit is coming off.

It is a

performance, you connect with him in

the sense you're with him emotional

andly internally. He has

andly internally. He has the deepest

knee bends. He is trained by the

same

same coach as.

Japan have a strong

hand.

Yes they're huge.

What about

China? Boyang is their hope.

He is a

young pretender, nothing to Lues. --

lose. Definitely for the future. If

one of those boys ahead of him makes

the slightest mistake, he is there

to take a medal.

We saw that in the

long programme with the pairs, going

in, fourth moving up to first.

Yes,

it can happen. Hanyu looks out

there. He has got a lot of points,

111, there is four between him and

Fernandez. The next three are very

tight.

Early hours we will see the

programmes. They have four and a

half minutes to show what they can

do. Does story telling become more

important?

I think so, if you're

engaged with the audience and you're

having a good performance the

audience get behind you eight is one

of those emotional moments, you

sense that.

Does that affect the

judges the audience being behind

them.

You would be surprised,

they're watching it technically, but

they have component scores.

If you

have a huge ovation.

Between a 5 and

a 7.5, it goes up in 25 increments

so you can go from a 9 to...

They

love it.

Just that bit more can put

it over the edge.

Thank you. Right

we are going to focus on curling

now. And head over to the curling

arena.

arena. Because Jackie Lockhart has a

short break before she starts

commentating. What is going on in

the women's competition? What are

Canada doing Luesing again? --

losing again.

Would anybody have

expected that result? To lose to

Sweden... Would have been hard, but

to lose... To lose to Denmark and to

Korea, that was really, really such

a shock.

Sorry I can tell you're

struggling a bit with talk back. Can

I ask you about the British women.

They have had a break today, but

they will have analysing what

happened yesterday. Do you expect

them to be feeling good after their

performances and also are they

keeping half an eye on what Canada

are doing?

They will definitely be

keeping an eye on what Canada are

doing. They have had break today and

I think they will just relax. Logan,

who is my co-commentator here... He

is concerned they're sitting about

and watching movies in the Olympic

Park. A question

What do you expect

from the men, they have Sweden

coming. Will they beat Sweden?

This

will be a really tough game for the

guys. If you asked me last week

before they started, they would have

been happy to be sitting on 2 and 2.

But I'm hoping they will be sitting

on 3 and 2 after this. They're very

confident and they're going to have

a good game I'm sure tonight.

Thank

you. Sorry about the problems.

Clearly I think hearing a bit of an

echo back. Live coverage of that

game with Sweden will start at 11 on

the red button and we will dip into

it before the skeleton runs. We are

about half an hour from first of the

women heading out on the to the

sliding track and we have Lizzie

Yarnold and Laura Deas. But we love

the variety of the Olympics and in

women's snowboard cross there has

been no more dramatic story than

Jacob bell lis, she went for that

show boat toe grab and fell in the

closing stages in

closing stages in us Turin in 2006.

Since she has been trying to win the

gold. But she did make it through to

the final in the early hours of this

morning of snowboard cross. Here

what is

morning of snowboard cross. Here

what is happened. COMMENTATOR: Now

the women's snowboard cross final.

The fastest six women who have

battled through to this point.

battled through to this point.

Think

could go any way.

They're all very

quick.

They're neck and neck.

The French

woman may have the lead. Jacobellis

up the front. Different lines being

taken. Jacob bell lis is out in

front and she needs to hold on. Look

at De Souza.

at De Souza.

Jacobellis moves across

and they're back-to-back. Moioli is

there. This is the most technical

section of the course. Can they get

some drag on her? They come into

this section. Moioli so fast all

season.

Look at the youngsters, de

Sousa has come from fourth, the

16-year-old. Samkova starts driving.

It is neck and neck. Who will get

it? They're all down. It's all over

the place.

Who doubting who took the

gold, it is Moioli, but it says de

Sousa in second. They have given

everything they have got to this

course. They're laid down. None of

them know. Moioli limping, but

celebrating. That was as intense as

sport gets. One of the closest races

not just in Olympic women's

snowboard cross history, but of all

time. This is on board with Samkova

and you get such a brilliant idea of

just how tight this racing is.

Samkova very smart, staying out of

the traffic.

There is nothing

between Jacobellis and Sam Voe Ca

there.

Oh, it was Samkova and

Jacobellis. Goodness, gracious, what

a final. Thank you. The official

results are in.

STUDIO:

results are in.

STUDIO: Stewed Chaos as usual, but a

second gold for Italy. I love that

kit of Moioli. How much do you enjoy

watching that, and what will the

qualities you need to win?

I love

it. If you're going in with a target

on you and you get pushed anything

can happen. We saw one limping over

the line. This is the royal. This

start coming out, dropping into a

three metre drop, having to work all

this terrain and with snowboarding,

some are facing each other, like a

direct battle. They're goofy all the

way around. It is so aggressive.

They know each other and that any

mistake and the medal will be thrown

away. Anything can happen. Because

it is such a long track. Zoe did

well, 13th. She narrowly missed out

on the semi-final. But look at the

aerodynamics, you want to get out

front. The least challenged position

is out front. But they're taking

over all the time. It is like a

baton for who will be in front. It

is so exciting. As an alpine racer

seeing how much air they get, I

can't tell you. The TV dives down

everything about this. They put

everything on line. All of these

girls were in contention for a third

place.

place.

They all go over.

It is

crazy.

Just missing out. Right,

second of the men's alpine events

today, we have had the down hill

that was won by Svindal. Finished

second was Jansrud, his team mate.

Talk us through the Super-G.

That is

a newer element of a discipline, the

Norwegians have dominated this and

won five of the eight golds on

offer. All eyes were on them.

Jansrud coming in with amazing form.

He skied tidy and neat, but as we

saw yesterday, this is all about

risk. Super-G there is no training

runs, the down hill is the fastest

discipline. It is a real battle of

confidence. You have an inspection

and then you have to execute that

line at 70mph. It is ruthless.

We

saw Svindal becoming the oldest

alpine gold medallist, he is 35. He

has built his body back together.

And this was his run.

He wanted to

do the double. The double to be the

king of speed at the Olympics is

everyone's dream. There were a few

line errors. Against gravity. Too

much hard snow. Coming out, off the

skis. He is finding the flow and

linking the turns. He knows he has

to have his best run and down hill

comfortable on the longer skis. But

in Super-G it is about confidence

and knowing what he has been

through, he is not expected to have

the same confidence in Super-G as

Jansrud. But he has a great run and