Day 1, Part 1

:02:16. > :02:21.the largest and most expensive Olympic games in history have been

:02:22. > :02:25.seven years in the making. The message of last night's opening

:02:26. > :02:36.ceremony was very clear. Russia is back in a big way. Winter Olympic

:02:37. > :02:40.legends teamed up to light Sochi's gigantic cauldron at the end of a

:02:41. > :02:42.ceremony that was an extravaganza of history, culture and technology. It

:02:43. > :02:58.was quite a night. And this is the morning after the

:02:59. > :03:06.night before. And this is the view of that gigantic cauldron from our

:03:07. > :03:12.studio here in Sochi. It has got to be Gazprom's finest hour. But whose

:03:13. > :03:16.finest hours and days will be the next 15 days here in Sochi? We have

:03:17. > :03:21.a record number of athletes taking part. We cannot wait to find out who

:03:22. > :03:27.will claim the gold medals, the silver and the bronze. The first two

:03:28. > :03:35.will be claimed this morning. There is at least one Briton in the mix.

:03:36. > :03:42.In fact, not one but two take centre stage in the slopestyle. At times

:03:43. > :03:50.this is simply jaw-dropping. Southampton's Billy Morgan is a

:03:51. > :03:55.former acrobat. The first to master the triple rodeo, he has two master

:03:56. > :04:01.the semifinals today. But Jamie Nicholls from Halifax is already

:04:02. > :04:10.through to the final. He produced the ride of his life in qualifying.

:04:11. > :04:13.The final is live this morning. Cross country superstar Marit

:04:14. > :04:21.Bjorgen was the outstanding athlete in Vancouver. The Norwegian iron

:04:22. > :04:29.lady starts her campaign in the cross country skiing 15: . -- 15 K.

:04:30. > :04:36.Plus, we have the opening match in the women's ice hockey as America

:04:37. > :04:39.take on Finland. And we are going to start with one of the 12 new events

:04:40. > :04:45.in the Olympic programme. One that certainly has the wow factor. It is

:04:46. > :04:53.the snowboard slopestyle. The riders tackle a series of tricks and

:04:54. > :04:57.jumps, Park style. It is not without incident and some hair raising

:04:58. > :05:03.moves. It is not taking part on the Coastal Cluster but in the

:05:04. > :05:09.mountains. That is where all of the snow events are taking place. There

:05:10. > :05:16.is plenty of white stuff up there at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park. It has

:05:17. > :05:27.been described as a pretty intimidating course.

:05:28. > :05:32.Welcome to slopestyle. If you have never seen it before, this is

:05:33. > :05:37.essentially a skate park on a hill. It is made up of six elements. The

:05:38. > :05:42.first three are man-made objects. The last three are jumped. They get

:05:43. > :05:47.progressively bigger. Tim Ward will talk us through the first three

:05:48. > :05:53.albums. This is the first element. There is the choice of five rails.

:05:54. > :05:57.It is very technical. The second element is about creativity. A

:05:58. > :06:02.choice of three lines, all entwined. Element three is the

:06:03. > :06:06.largest of the three rail sections. You have got the butter box on the

:06:07. > :06:11.left hand side, the Russian doll in the middle and on the right-hand

:06:12. > :06:19.side the curved wall right. The key here is speed. Following this, you

:06:20. > :06:23.have the first of the three jumps. These are the jumps and they are

:06:24. > :06:27.massive. A lot of skiers and snowboarders were very nervous when

:06:28. > :06:33.they first saw these. In comparison to the rails, where it is about

:06:34. > :06:36.board and ski control, this is where the acrobatic element comes in. This

:06:37. > :06:43.helps to put them into perspective little bit. These are known as

:06:44. > :06:45.kickers. They are really white. Skiers and snowboarders can carve

:06:46. > :06:54.across the face of the jump and generate rotation. -- curve. This is

:06:55. > :07:00.the sixth element of the course. Traditionally, this is the jump that

:07:01. > :07:12.when she checks. It is going to win gold here. We are going to be seeing

:07:13. > :07:16.spins. Riders will be going up side down three times. If you can land a

:07:17. > :07:23.triple caught in front of this packed arena, you stand a good

:07:24. > :07:26.chance of getting on the podium. We are pretty excited, aren't we? I

:07:27. > :07:30.promise you, this will blow your mind.

:07:31. > :07:39.Ed Leigh joins us from the Roosevelt or extreme Park. -- the Rosa Khutor

:07:40. > :07:42.Extreme Park. The qualifying for this event took place the day before

:07:43. > :07:49.the opening ceremony. What kind of surprises have we already had?

:07:50. > :07:53.Well, I have got to say, it was breathtaking. I had expected to see

:07:54. > :07:57.some of the biggest names in the business throwing down. But Tim and

:07:58. > :08:01.I watched almost every rider throw everything they had at the

:08:02. > :08:07.qualifying. This was not even a stage where they would be

:08:08. > :08:13.eliminated. Yet we so the best tricks. Only eight spots up for

:08:14. > :08:17.grabs in the final from qualifying. One of the other riders ended up in

:08:18. > :08:22.the semifinals today. A lot at stake. Because of that, they all

:08:23. > :08:29.threw everything they had at that. Shaun White is snowboard's leading

:08:30. > :08:37.writer. He described it as a bit intimidating. Torstein Horgmo from

:08:38. > :08:43.Norway broke his collarbone the other day. How dangerous is this

:08:44. > :08:48.course? Any slopestyle course is dangerous. These jobs are huge. They

:08:49. > :08:53.have built bigger jumps. It is only on a par with the other elite

:08:54. > :09:01.contests, the X Games in America. But what happened was, the assembled

:09:02. > :09:05.media latched onto the idea that the riders were not happy with the

:09:06. > :09:08.course. Any event you go to, the riders will test the course a few

:09:09. > :09:13.days before the event and will want to make changes. No shapers can

:09:14. > :09:22.build a perfect course because they hardly ride the course. They started

:09:23. > :09:27.doing that but the media latched onto it and blew the story up.

:09:28. > :09:31.Torstein Horgmo was the first to come out and say he made a mistake.

:09:32. > :09:37.It was nothing to do with the course. Shaun White used that excuse

:09:38. > :09:41.that the course was dangerous, to withdraw. He has his own reasons. I

:09:42. > :09:46.would not speculate as to why he withdrew. It is not because the

:09:47. > :09:49.course is dangerous. Any the riders will tell you that this course is as

:09:50. > :09:57.close as you can get to perfect. What about Britain's chances today?

:09:58. > :10:01.We may have two riders in with a chance of winning Briton's first

:10:02. > :10:07.official medal on snow at this game is? Jamie Nicholls had an

:10:08. > :10:13.extraordinary one to get through to the final will stop talkers through

:10:14. > :10:19.it. The macro exactly. Jamie is one of the world's best rail riders. He

:10:20. > :10:28.is so relaxed, so in control. He is locked into one of those rails. Very

:10:29. > :10:32.few people hitting that obstacle. He lays down a job here that he has

:10:33. > :10:42.never landed in competition. He comes in backwards. Spins around for

:10:43. > :10:45.full times. -- four. He is so clean on the landings. This is what the

:10:46. > :10:54.judges were looking for in qualification. He finishes with a

:10:55. > :10:59.double Cork 1080. We have watched practices going on behind us. I have

:11:00. > :11:08.just seen him land a triple Cork backside 4040. It means that he has

:11:09. > :11:12.got something to add to this run. When he qualified for the finals in

:11:13. > :11:17.eighth place, he has got a long way to push up if he learns this run

:11:18. > :11:23.neatly. The potential for a medal is there. You are hedging your bets!

:11:24. > :11:29.Everybody at home has got the calculators out. We're going to get

:11:30. > :11:33.used to all of this. It was Billy Morgan who was the more fancied of

:11:34. > :11:37.the riders coming in. In fact, he didn't get straight through to the

:11:38. > :11:41.finals, having to go through the semifinals, despite pulling out a

:11:42. > :11:47.triple rodeo. He was the first guy ever to do this move. Is this the

:11:48. > :11:53.most difficult trick that these slopestylers can attempt at the

:11:54. > :12:00.moment? It is certainly the most acrobatic. Because he has got the

:12:01. > :12:05.acrobatic background, Billy's board control is not quite as good as

:12:06. > :12:10.Jamie's. Jamie has been riding since he was eight. His spatial awareness

:12:11. > :12:14.is perfect. The reason Billy did not get straight through to the final is

:12:15. > :12:18.because he did not go really big on these jobs. There was a lot of

:12:19. > :12:22.speculation as to what the judges would look for. While Billy has got

:12:23. > :12:31.some of the big tricks, he did not do them that big. He was really

:12:32. > :12:36.pleased to learn that triple jump. But he did not send his job is quite

:12:37. > :12:41.big enough. That is something he has to rectify if he wants to move up

:12:42. > :12:46.the rankings. Thank you very much for now. We are looking forward to

:12:47. > :12:52.hearing from you again. That final is at 8:45am. We will see Billy

:12:53. > :13:01.Morgan in the semifinals shortly. First, let's introduce you to Billy.

:13:02. > :13:05.Billy Morgan is a freak. I am not being unkind. It is the only way to

:13:06. > :13:13.describe a man who has an unbelievable natural talent. Spatial

:13:14. > :13:16.awareness in Snowboarding is something that is usually learned

:13:17. > :13:21.through years of practice. It is literally a school of hard knocks.

:13:22. > :13:28.But Billy is just as comfortable in the air as he is on the snow. Maybe

:13:29. > :13:36.that is because he has only spent seven years riding snow. See what I

:13:37. > :13:37.mean? Billy's meteoric rise to the top of Snowboarding is, well,

:13:38. > :13:58.freakish. When you were 14, what did you

:13:59. > :14:05.envisage being the pinnacle of Snowboarding? I did not know what it

:14:06. > :14:08.was when I was 14. I went down and there was this plastic sledge thing

:14:09. > :14:14.and me and my friends went down the hill. That was it. What did you do

:14:15. > :14:21.before that? A gymnast. An acrobat, if you want to be precise. Climbing

:14:22. > :14:24.on people's shoulders on a pyramid of four blokes. We would work in the

:14:25. > :14:30.same routine over and over again until we got it right. It seems that

:14:31. > :14:36.has become the perfect foundation for what you do now? Yes, I guess it

:14:37. > :14:38.is. It gave me the aerial awareness and everything I need to be a

:14:39. > :14:58.snowboarder. Can you actually feel where you are?

:14:59. > :15:04.Yes, I can see most of it. You know where the ground will pass by. So

:15:05. > :15:23.you can go one, two, three. You get a throb in the head. Like

:15:24. > :15:29.pressures? Yes. let us talk about the knee. What happened? I get a

:15:30. > :15:34.rubbish front flip and my default did in. This was September. Did you

:15:35. > :15:43.think the Olympics were out the way? Yes. I was devastated. Then

:15:44. > :15:48.everything turned around and I had some proper advice and they said

:15:49. > :15:56.there is no reason why you cannot strengthen the knee again. When I

:15:57. > :16:02.got back on snow, it was touch and go and I thought it was not going to

:16:03. > :16:12.work and then two days later it was fine. Britain has never won a medal

:16:13. > :16:21.on snow. Do you have any concept of what it would be like for a British

:16:22. > :16:28.audience? That puts the pressure on. I cannot lose my friends money. I

:16:29. > :16:42.would love it if we got a medal. It is possible we could get one. Let us

:16:43. > :16:47.do it. Fascinating to year him talk about having that spatial awareness,

:16:48. > :16:52.that mental ability to track your movements through the air. His

:16:53. > :16:56.career as an acrobat has helped him with that. Billy trying to get

:16:57. > :17:04.through the semi-finals which took place this morning at 5:30am our

:17:05. > :17:09.time. Billy was trying to get into the fast four to get into the final.

:17:10. > :17:22.Two runs in qualifying and the best of them will count. Welcome to the

:17:23. > :17:33.extreme Park for the first of the medal events. This is the men's

:17:34. > :17:34.slopestyle. As is the tradition in Russia, we have almost perfect

:17:35. > :17:51.conditions. His first go at each treble he

:17:52. > :18:04.missed the ground and slowed the low tension -- rotation down. Double

:18:05. > :18:11.flip to start things off. A little bit smaller than the ones we saw in

:18:12. > :18:31.qualification. He has claimed to claim the mid-run. A double backflip

:18:32. > :18:46.180. He wanted to show he could put a run down. He has done that there.

:18:47. > :18:52.He got a cheeky tail brand. It is a very fine line. When we see a double

:18:53. > :19:04.core or triple core we are talking about a corkscrew rotation. There is

:19:05. > :19:07.the vertical and horizontal axis and sometimes there is the temptation to

:19:08. > :19:15.go more for the vertical and that ends up looking like a front flip or

:19:16. > :19:32.backflip. Yuki Kadono a very talented rider. I was comparing him

:19:33. > :19:45.to a well-known athlete. Rotating blind onto the rails so you have to

:19:46. > :20:04.know exactly where you are. There is one, two, two and a half. Frontside

:20:05. > :20:17.1080. Backside 1260. Clean as you like. He is going to be absolutely

:20:18. > :20:25.pumped. He is stopped with that and rightly so -- delighted. That was

:20:26. > :20:36.the first one we have had the really good sound effect on. He obviously

:20:37. > :20:49.read the small print on his insurance policy because he was able

:20:50. > :21:03.to claim at the bottom. This boy did not have the best practice this

:21:04. > :21:11.morning. I saw him do a 1080. He came a little bit early of the

:21:12. > :21:23.rail. You're turning your back as you rotates so it is slightly

:21:24. > :21:42.harder. That was beautiful. Frontside double ten, very nice.

:21:43. > :21:48.Switch backside 12 into backside 12. What was I saying about him being

:21:49. > :21:57.rubbish in practice? You cannot go bigger than what he went in that

:21:58. > :22:09.bottom jump. Backside means you take off and turn your back to the

:22:10. > :22:28.landing. Beautiful frontside 540. Some glorious slow motion views.

:22:29. > :22:33.There is one spin, two spin, there is three. That is a good 20 metres

:22:34. > :22:45.into the landing. That is first-place for sure. Second.

:22:46. > :22:53.Perhaps the we came off the rails early. A lot of chat about this man

:22:54. > :23:01.in the build-up. He is looking to break the Canadian stranglehold. The

:23:02. > :23:10.Americans traditionally do so well at snowboard, but without Shaun

:23:11. > :23:17.White they have been downgraded. Take nothing away from this man. On

:23:18. > :23:22.his day he is better than anyone. He has a take the stale and variety he

:23:23. > :23:40.has been talking about and blend it with his biggest tricks.

:23:41. > :23:57.That was the hand drag, tail drag. There is the switch double.

:23:58. > :24:12.Frontside with a double tail. He dragged his hands. The judges will

:24:13. > :24:22.be no live him for that. -- punish. He is happy. I am intrigued to see

:24:23. > :24:33.the score. We have cops about variety.

:24:34. > :24:46.I loved that into the backside 180. He got a good handle on that. That

:24:47. > :25:01.is so difficult. To get yourself into that position and then out of

:25:02. > :25:14.it. That was so nice. Beautiful. They have to reward that, the

:25:15. > :25:25.judges. Yes! First place. The crowd like that. This man had a wonderful

:25:26. > :25:30.training session, Billy Morgan. He came in as one of the favourites.

:25:31. > :25:36.One of the few men in the world who can do back-to-back doubles. --

:25:37. > :26:06.triples. Brunt bought 270. Backside rodeo. He

:26:07. > :26:25.opened a little early, but he had to. Beautiful landing. My goodness!

:26:26. > :26:34.He opened early but completely overcooked it. What a phenomenal

:26:35. > :26:49.run. That will have done wonders for his nerves. He gets his foot right

:26:50. > :27:07.on there. Into the 270. Here is the backside rodeo. That was really slow

:27:08. > :27:21.compared to the qualifiers. A beautiful landing spot over his

:27:22. > :27:30.shoulder. Here is the triple. He is happy. He has the platform to boot

:27:31. > :27:38.in the other triple if he needs it. I think he will want to do it as

:27:39. > :27:49.well. He will have had two runs under his belt. First-place! That is

:27:50. > :28:02.fantastic. The first rider to breach the 90 point barrier. This is

:28:03. > :28:15.gametime. A lot of big names needing to land their second run. These

:28:16. > :28:32.scores starting to dip out into the slam territory.

:28:33. > :29:09.A little butter in there. Frontside tail grab. He has put it down. Yes.

:29:10. > :29:22.The Russians loved that. I want to see the replay. I think it was a

:29:23. > :29:31.triple backflip. He definitely got a touch on that, that was lovely. Some

:29:32. > :29:37.of the good boys if they have had a bit of practice could be changing

:29:38. > :29:44.direction on the side of that later. That is something I would really

:29:45. > :29:54.like to see. A little bit of rotation on the last one. It was a

:29:55. > :30:21.triple backflip. I do not think it is going to be enough. He is not

:30:22. > :30:28.happy. Yuki Kadono is by no means safe. We like this boy. He has got a

:30:29. > :30:46.good ethic. Smile at all times. Here we go. He has got to clean the

:30:47. > :30:54.rails. Very nice site tail slide. Magic tap on the top of the Russian

:30:55. > :31:08.doll. He put down a basic jump line on the first run. Now he is going

:31:09. > :31:16.for broke. Final jump. Gartner Sykes Mac -- goodness! The backside

:31:17. > :31:21.double! We talked about smaller riders having the lower gravity.

:31:22. > :31:27.That played right into his hands. A bigger rider would not have put that

:31:28. > :31:40.down. I think we will see a score to challenge Billy's because of those

:31:41. > :31:52.rails. All three elements perfect. A little bit late on the grab. He

:31:53. > :32:05.holds it for at least 360. A bit of a hand drag there. He is pumped. And

:32:06. > :32:13.rightly so. Well! They have penalised the bottom jump quite

:32:14. > :32:18.harshly. Sage Kotsenburg. He has got one of the most beautiful left-field

:32:19. > :32:21.runs we have seen. He works really hard to get different grabs in

:32:22. > :32:33.there. When you are spinning, a lot of riders go for the easy grab. Sage

:32:34. > :32:40.mixes it up. I think the judges did recognise that with his first run.

:32:41. > :32:47.It is business as usual through the rail section. A big Japan grab. A

:32:48. > :33:10.massive tweet. -- tweak. Was it the same Ron just cleaned up?

:33:11. > :33:17.I think so. What we have got to recognise here is there is just 1.7

:33:18. > :33:29.five points separating Billy Morgan and sage at the moment. This could

:33:30. > :33:35.HM the head. That was a boot grab. A boot or body grab, the judges do not

:33:36. > :33:44.like seeing. It is close but it is not enough! 0.25 behind Billy

:33:45. > :33:53.Morgan. Billy Morgan stays in first place for now. The name and

:33:54. > :33:58.everybody's lips, Mark McMorris. So far he is fighting for his Olympic

:33:59. > :34:02.medal chance here. He has not got a score that will get him anywhere

:34:03. > :34:11.near the final. Super technical switch tricks. He just needs exactly

:34:12. > :34:25.the same as what he did but he landed on the bottom jump.

:34:26. > :34:36.There is the triple. First place. Yes. It was clean. He tucked it away

:34:37. > :34:41.as soon as he got them. Mark McMorris, when it comes to the

:34:42. > :34:54.triple corks, they are actually courts. -- corks. Won -- Mark

:34:55. > :35:00.McMorris does his triple and double corks. It is a blend of going upside

:35:01. > :35:05.down and spinning. I want to see the look on his face now. He is going to

:35:06. > :35:11.be glaring at the judges, daring them not to give him the score this

:35:12. > :35:14.run deserves. Look at the blind into that landing. Just trusting that he

:35:15. > :35:22.knew exactly where he was. Here is the triple. Great angle. Both hands

:35:23. > :35:28.stroking. That is probably the only mistake in the whole run. That is as

:35:29. > :35:41.clean as it gets. I think Billy Morgan will be sliding down to

:35:42. > :35:47.second. 89.25! They do not like it! I really cannot see a reason for

:35:48. > :35:52.that. Billy Morgan is in the final. What will be interesting to see is

:35:53. > :35:57.if he does a Shaun White, and uses this run to showcase his biggest

:35:58. > :36:03.run. If I was Billy Morgan I think I would lay down a triple. I would

:36:04. > :36:13.say, this is what I will be doing in the final.

:36:14. > :36:26.Look how much speed he is carrying. He has got a good metre or two

:36:27. > :36:34.despair. -- to spare. Yes! He has put it absolutely down! The switch

:36:35. > :36:53.triple! They call him a janitor. He cleaned up there!

:36:54. > :37:04.That is just how Billy does it. It is not a mistake. That is lovely.

:37:05. > :37:10.Everything is there. He has just added the trick that we will see in

:37:11. > :37:23.the finals. But Billy Morgan has got this run on Lott. -- unlocked. I

:37:24. > :37:27.talked to Billy about this and he said that you feel pressures in your

:37:28. > :37:35.head, you get kind of a minor headache.

:37:36. > :37:44.Just on his toe age. A bit slow. He is happy. The scores are irrelevant.

:37:45. > :37:50.If you have just tuned in, Billy Morgan will join Jamie Nicholls in

:37:51. > :37:58.the final as one of two British riders in the men's slopestyle

:37:59. > :38:06.finals here at the Winter Olympics. He has given us a John Travolta to

:38:07. > :38:10.finish! Billy Morgan makes the finals. Sage Kotsenburg, Mark

:38:11. > :38:18.McMorris, and Yuki Kadono of Japan makes the final. So many big names

:38:19. > :38:25.missing out. Seamus O'Connor, a great run for him. He got to lay

:38:26. > :38:30.down the run he wanted. An absolutely fabulous morning of drama

:38:31. > :38:39.here at the extreme Park. We are learning a whole new language

:38:40. > :38:43.today. We have got the backside 180 melon and the cab triple. It is

:38:44. > :38:48.absolutely spectacular. And Billy Morgan is through to the final. It

:38:49. > :38:53.will take place in approximately seven minutes. Jamie Nicholls is

:38:54. > :38:56.already through. He started his snowboarding career at the Halifax

:38:57. > :39:05.ski and snowboarding centre. I think we should get to know him as well.

:39:06. > :39:14.Jamie Nicholls, British slopestyle. I got into snowboarding when I was

:39:15. > :39:18.seven years old. It was kind of like a birthday present from my parents.

:39:19. > :39:24.We got into it as a family, too. It was cool. I have tried skiing a few

:39:25. > :39:33.times. But I hate it. I don't like it. I am rubbish at it. I started

:39:34. > :39:39.competing into jazz -- 2001. The UK dry slope competition. I think I was

:39:40. > :39:45.nine years old when I did the Europeans. I was pretty young,

:39:46. > :39:51.definitely. The sport has changed so much since I started. I remember

:39:52. > :39:57.when a backside 720 won contest. Now it is all triple corks and doubles.

:39:58. > :40:03.It gone crazy. I like how a trick is done. I don't want snowboarding to

:40:04. > :40:06.end up just being too crazy. Imagine five flips? It would look

:40:07. > :40:16.horrendous, like you are in a washing machine or something! But

:40:17. > :40:20.yes, it is cool. It is only two years ago when I thought about

:40:21. > :40:26.Sochi. When it came into the Winter Olympics, I thought maybe I should

:40:27. > :40:30.have a go. Here I am now. Jamie has no doubt been watching

:40:31. > :40:35.that semifinal 20 prepare. And indeed so has five-time Olympian

:40:36. > :40:40.Graham Bell. He would rather be competing out there in something

:40:41. > :40:47.than watching. Great to see you. This is our first visit in an

:40:48. > :40:50.Olympic venue apart from the fished stadium. What do you sense of the

:40:51. > :40:57.crowd and what they are making of it? I had a real Olympic moment

:40:58. > :41:01.walking in at nine o'clock this morning. The sun was coming up and I

:41:02. > :41:08.was looking out across this venue. Up on the mountain there you have

:41:09. > :41:13.the grandparents. You have the men's and women's downhill. A bit

:41:14. > :41:21.lower down you have the parents of freestyle skiing. Here, lower down,

:41:22. > :41:23.you have the truculent teenager, who has booted open the door of the

:41:24. > :41:29.Olympic games and is now setting it off. It was really special. It is

:41:30. > :41:42.great that we have two British guys in the final. It is, Graham. For

:41:43. > :41:47.many of us I am sure Alan Baxter's third place will be a medal in

:41:48. > :41:54.spirit as we go back to 2002. What are the chances of a British medal

:41:55. > :41:57.this morning? The biggest competition will come from the

:41:58. > :42:06.Canadians. Mark McMorris has struggled. But Max Parrot is riding

:42:07. > :42:10.incredibly well. We have got to chances and there are only 12 in it.

:42:11. > :42:15.I spoke to Billy after his qualifying run. He said he was going

:42:16. > :42:18.to go out there and try to enjoy it as much as he can and throw it

:42:19. > :42:26.absolutely as big as he possibly can. That is what you have to do.

:42:27. > :42:30.You cannot win a medal by taking things on the back-seat. You cannot

:42:31. > :42:35.hold anything back. You have got to go for it. Let's hope they do. If

:42:36. > :42:41.they do it, and they landed, we could have a medal. Fingers crossed.

:42:42. > :42:45.The first gold of these Olympic Games is up for grabs. This will be

:42:46. > :42:53.the first gold ever in snowboard slopestyle. There are absolutely no

:42:54. > :43:00.guarantees in such an unpredictable sport but you can roughly say it is

:43:01. > :43:06.going to be tight. At this altitude and at these

:43:07. > :43:10.temperatures, life is on the edge. Not much moves up here. In these

:43:11. > :43:19.conditions, survival is all about hanging on. Not falling off that

:43:20. > :43:26.age. To defy gravity, to appreciate the role beauty of air, you have to

:43:27. > :43:37.take all your one brief moment to shine. Or maybe not. Only the most

:43:38. > :43:44.resilient, the most impervious to pain, only the best climb back up

:43:45. > :43:54.the mountain and fly straight off the edge.

:43:55. > :44:12.Welcome to the first ever Olympic snowboard slopestyle medal

:44:13. > :44:21.showdown. The man U saw then, Max Sparrow, was first place qualifier.

:44:22. > :44:26.-- Max Parrot. We have had semifinals this morning. 12 men

:44:27. > :44:30.through to the final. We have Britain's Billy Morgan and Jamie

:44:31. > :44:36.Nicholls. A rider's eye view of the course. Sat next to me, Mr Tim

:44:37. > :44:44.Warwood. It has been a phenomenal couple of days? I think back to when

:44:45. > :44:47.we first walked in here and we watched the practice. These riders

:44:48. > :44:51.given a couple of days to ride the jumps. You think of the progression.

:44:52. > :44:55.I just watched practice in between the semifinals and the final that we

:44:56. > :45:01.are about to witness. They are light years apart. The standard is

:45:02. > :45:05.absolutely insane. I guarantee you will see riding as good as ten out

:45:06. > :45:11.there. Let's break it down with Billy Morgan and Jamie Nicholls. Two

:45:12. > :45:16.very different riders. They have both got realistic podium hopes?

:45:17. > :45:22.They have both got big tricks. They are both got runs with the best

:45:23. > :45:36.tricks. If they can use -- utilise those we will see, hopefully, podium

:45:37. > :45:47.places. Yuki Kadono from Japan. An uncharacteristic mistake. He makes

:45:48. > :45:56.light work of these rails. Setting himself up nicely for the jumps. The

:45:57. > :46:01.jumps get progressively bigger. He said that one day into the landing.

:46:02. > :46:17.He normally rides with the front foot forward. Going for the trouble.

:46:18. > :46:25.-- triple. It is those mistakes that will separate the riders. You want

:46:26. > :46:33.to see the rails locked between the feet. That is what the judges have

:46:34. > :46:40.been looking for. They have been so fussy about execution. If the board

:46:41. > :46:50.is over rotated or under rotated they will be no lies these riders.

:46:51. > :46:59.He commits the third time round. He tries to keep his hands up but he

:47:00. > :47:20.has just dragged his bottom on the snow. They are laughing that as a

:47:21. > :47:34.fall. -- classing. He finally got a decent score on his second run of

:47:35. > :47:47.the semi-finals. Switch to 70. A little nose drag over the Russian

:47:48. > :48:08.doll. Triple, so deep into the landing. He has gone to big -- too

:48:09. > :48:14.big! He was knocked off his throne two weeks ago. He has come back. He

:48:15. > :48:25.is locked in a battle with his countryman. He is carrying a broken

:48:26. > :48:33.rib. Phenomenal. We saw him in practice. He was going for the

:48:34. > :48:42.triple and he did not manage it. That is the biggest we have seen him

:48:43. > :48:55.go all the on that. He cannot believe his luck. He is doing a

:48:56. > :49:07.rocky. It will be the best score from the two runs that counts. His

:49:08. > :49:12.run was beautiful. Snowboarding can be accused of being a bit similar

:49:13. > :49:30.with some of the jumps but what he is doing, he is the snowboarder's

:49:31. > :49:39.snowboarder. A little butter. He is going so deep. The riders seem to be

:49:40. > :49:54.going so much better. There is the double tail grab. Backside 1260. He

:49:55. > :49:59.has been building gently to this. He has already been down this cost

:50:00. > :50:07.twice today and got rid of his nerves. With Shaun White dropping

:50:08. > :50:18.out of the slopestyle contest, the weight of America's hopes is on this

:50:19. > :50:28.man's shoulders. I do not think Shaun White good punch at this

:50:29. > :50:34.weight. -- could punch. He is grabbing with both hands on the

:50:35. > :50:47.tail. He cannot believe he has put that down. The execution might get

:50:48. > :50:49.marked down, but he went so big. We have seen the judges punishing the

:50:50. > :50:57.riders throughout the qualifiers and the semi-finals. Sometimes we have

:50:58. > :51:03.struggled to make head or tail of it. We start with a clean slate in

:51:04. > :51:11.the finals. The judges have the chance to make a good impression. If

:51:12. > :51:16.we see switch, we mean the rider is going backwards. Frontside means if

:51:17. > :51:26.they take of the open the front of their body up to the landing,

:51:27. > :51:37.backside means the dark -- they duck. We talk about confidence in

:51:38. > :51:44.the finals. It is about putting down a run. You have to get a score on

:51:45. > :51:51.the board and then you can let go. Billy Morgan and Jamie Nicholls

:51:52. > :52:16.standing together. They are going back-to-back. These boys are so

:52:17. > :52:32.calm. That was a nice words led -- board slide 270. He cannot believe

:52:33. > :52:50.it. He has on strapped -- unstrapped his board. Backside triple. 1260.

:52:51. > :52:55.That was something totally new. We knew he had room for that in the

:52:56. > :53:07.semifinal. He has given his shoulder a range. It is 1260. We were just

:53:08. > :53:15.saying about having the confidence and easing the pressure on yourself

:53:16. > :53:21.by having a solid run. His weight was just over the tail. He is the

:53:22. > :53:44.only person going upside down off that can real. Backside triple 1260.

:53:45. > :54:03.Computer Games stuff -- computer game stuff. All the pressure on

:54:04. > :54:14.Billy Morgan. There are all the Brits. Jamie put down a backside

:54:15. > :54:33.triple in practice. He only learned the trick in November. You spin like

:54:34. > :54:44.a corkscrew. Backside 270. 450, no one else doing that. He is one of

:54:45. > :55:10.the best riders on the rails. There is one, two, three, four. He has got

:55:11. > :55:19.it! I held my breath there. Absolutely stonking. Beautiful, very

:55:20. > :55:24.technical. A couple of small mistakes. We know how fussy the

:55:25. > :55:32.judges have been about execution, but Jamie having a blinder. That

:55:33. > :55:41.gives him the freedom to explore the possibilities on his second run. He

:55:42. > :55:56.has only led this down three times before. A tiny hand drag, but it is

:55:57. > :56:04.small. Here is the backside triple. Slightly over rotated. I am being

:56:05. > :56:17.picky because that is what the judges are doing. Look at his face.

:56:18. > :56:29.He is on cloud nine. It is this which 900 in the middle. And those

:56:30. > :56:41.little hand drags. He has a score on the board. Pressure can take its

:56:42. > :56:53.toll. This man had it all to do on his last run. He pulled it out of

:56:54. > :57:16.the bag to qualify for the final. He is a popular man around the street.

:57:17. > :57:26.Russian doll there. Cap triple. He is coming round the side. When you

:57:27. > :57:35.look at the numbers, we have two rates, three Canadians, two people

:57:36. > :57:49.from Finland and two people from Bahrain. -- Norway.

:57:50. > :58:10.The Americans were the powerhouse. In Norway you can go to snowboard

:58:11. > :58:17.school. You get an apprenticeship. The Norwegians had ten riders trying

:58:18. > :58:28.to qualify for slugs while -- slopestyle. He has been at the

:58:29. > :58:51.forefront of mains slopestyle for a number of years. Very technical. A

:58:52. > :59:15.big transfer. 50-50 on to a frontside 360. He is going

:59:16. > :59:25.backwards. 1260. Frontside ten, double cork. That seemed to go in

:59:26. > :59:36.slow motion. The big scores we have seen so far, at the top of the

:59:37. > :59:43.table, all of the riders who have already had a run seem to be more

:59:44. > :00:03.relaxed. It is the little things as well, the stadium is no -- is full.

:00:04. > :00:12.To do those bigger spends most of the riders grabbed between their

:00:13. > :00:23.legs. Here is the triple again. It just seemed to hang. The course

:00:24. > :00:33.seems to have speeded up slightly. Big is best. They all have got an

:00:34. > :00:39.extra 10th of a second in the air. The big mistakes have come from over

:00:40. > :00:46.rotations. Absolutely. These riders have a sixth sense almost. They go

:00:47. > :00:50.on pure feeling, the wind in their ears. When they are overshooting

:00:51. > :00:55.these jobs, they are preparing for the landing. As they are ready to

:00:56. > :01:06.land, they have got another couple of feet to drop.

:01:07. > :01:11.Sven Thorgren had an absolutely stunning qualification run. A real

:01:12. > :01:19.masterclass in classic snowboarding. A lot of style and really

:01:20. > :01:30.immaculate. He came off early. I was just about to say he was really good

:01:31. > :01:49.on rails! He has settled down now. That is perfect. 1260!

:01:50. > :01:59.Four times around. Lovely. That is first place, easily. Those jobs were

:02:00. > :02:07.so big. So clean. The rail mistake, that was the only big issue. That

:02:08. > :02:12.will give us a really good idea. The judges are judging overall

:02:13. > :02:17.impression. A mistake does not get taken off that individual trick. It

:02:18. > :02:20.gets taken off the whole score. One mistake can be really damaging. But

:02:21. > :02:27.everything else, we have got immaculate landings. He is killing

:02:28. > :02:32.the rotations of these frankly enormous spins, so effectively on

:02:33. > :02:39.landing. That is really hard to do as well. This is beautiful. If you

:02:40. > :02:44.were to look up in a textbook what beautiful snowboarding looks like,

:02:45. > :02:52.there would be a picture of Sven Thorgren's face. Not a bad face

:02:53. > :02:58.either, looking at that. He is happy. And rightly so. I think he

:02:59. > :03:04.knows what is coming. This will be one of the key scores of the final.

:03:05. > :03:08.Absolutely. The judges are looking for execution. They are looking for

:03:09. > :03:17.a variety of tricks. They are also looking for a landing. He has got

:03:18. > :03:28.the bloke of Little Britain on his board as well! The sweets were the

:03:29. > :03:40.standout riders when we watched practice last week. They were the

:03:41. > :03:44.dark courses. My goodness. Well, I will be honest, that has really

:03:45. > :03:51.baffled me. The judges have made us look stupid. It is a subjective

:03:52. > :04:00.sport. It is so difficult to call. That was the rail mistake. He did

:04:01. > :04:09.exactly the same running qualifiers. He got a 95.425 in that. Peetu

:04:10. > :04:17.Piiroinen. One of only four riders going for pipe and slope. He is a

:04:18. > :04:19.robot. Only five foot five. He has got a low centre of gravity and he

:04:20. > :04:41.uses that to his advantage. That was huge. Massive. That is

:04:42. > :04:54.about as big a mistake as you will ever see him make. He had the

:04:55. > :05:00.backside 1080 in qualification. For him, it is almost like Meccano. He

:05:01. > :05:03.just bolts is another stage of the trek onto the last one and makes it

:05:04. > :05:16.look easy. Beautiful frontside Lipsyte. -- lit side. That carries

:05:17. > :05:20.so much jeopardy. He can knock you off kilter in the air, knock you off

:05:21. > :05:26.balance. You can see how deep they are landing. The blue lines are

:05:27. > :05:34.there so the riders can spot where the landing is. We have got a leg

:05:35. > :05:39.grab there. The front hand is holding onto the back of the leg.

:05:40. > :05:50.That helps to keep his body intact. The judges do not like to see it. It

:05:51. > :06:02.is not seen as a purist's technique. He is only three days away from his

:06:03. > :06:12.birthday. Fourth place for that. Well... !

:06:13. > :06:22.Roope Tonteri, it is a miracle he is here. He broke his arm in November.

:06:23. > :06:31.He bloke is humorous in September. -- he broke his humorous. A really

:06:32. > :06:38.nasty break. You watch how well he rides and see how much it affects

:06:39. > :06:42.him. The man has got skills. He came in as an outsider to win the Burnley

:06:43. > :06:45.European opium. The Wimbledon of snowboarding events. -- the burn

:06:46. > :06:59.open. Lovely frontside 1080. I wonder if

:07:00. > :07:08.we are seeing riders marked down for opening up too early. The course is

:07:09. > :07:14.definitely sped up quite a lot. I think he is just stoked to be here.

:07:15. > :07:22.He broke his arm. He got flown to the UK and saw Darren Roberts. He

:07:23. > :07:25.coached him back to full health. I spoke to Darren and he was over the

:07:26. > :07:34.moon that he is here at the Olympics. He will have his second

:07:35. > :07:39.run. It is the best of two runs. He can mark this one down to

:07:40. > :07:47.experience. All of the pressure is on the second run now. I have got to

:07:48. > :07:51.say, we will have a quick rundown of the top five. Sage Kotsenburg in the

:07:52. > :07:58.gold medal position. Currently in silver is Jamie Nicholls of Great

:07:59. > :08:05.Britain. In bronze, Sven Thorgren. Peetu Piiroinen is fourth. We have

:08:06. > :08:12.not seen too many riders laying down clean scores. Add side of the top

:08:13. > :08:18.three, there are not really any strong scores. We have the top

:08:19. > :08:24.qualifiers still to come. We are running in reverse order. Staale

:08:25. > :08:29.Sandbech, one of the most elegant snowboarders. He has a beautiful

:08:30. > :08:34.style. I am not going to curse him as I did in qualifiers. He has got

:08:35. > :08:41.it all, hasn't he? He has got it all. This is the snowboarder's

:08:42. > :08:52.snowboarder. Everybody wants to snowboarders like this guy.

:08:53. > :09:10.He is in danger of melting if he gets any smoother. This is glorious.

:09:11. > :09:11.Oh, no! It is speed. The course has sped up. The riders are overshooting

:09:12. > :09:33.the job. They are going to big. This was beautiful. The rail section

:09:34. > :09:37.was immaculate. Who normally rides with his right foot forward. He has

:09:38. > :09:44.hit all of these rights going backwards. That will get extra

:09:45. > :09:48.points from the judges. We talk about switch and backwards. It is

:09:49. > :09:54.the equivalent of trying to write with your left hand, isn't it?

:09:55. > :10:07.Whilst being attacked by a flock of seagulls wearing a chip at! -- hat.

:10:08. > :10:17.Don't look into his eyes. You will get lost. Get ready for a

:10:18. > :10:24.masterclass in liquid snowboarding. Maxence Parrot is as good as ten.

:10:25. > :10:33.The French-Canadian. He is the form man coming into this event. He is

:10:34. > :10:36.riding high on confidence. The French Canadians have all looked

:10:37. > :10:43.really strong. But so far he will have seen both of his boys dropped

:10:44. > :10:53.their runs. It is on his shoulders. The whole of Canada will be holding

:10:54. > :10:57.their breath. That looked sticky. He has taken a leaf out of Billy

:10:58. > :11:04.Morgan's book. The first time he has done that run. He opens up early. He

:11:05. > :11:17.puts it down. He should not have any trouble with these jumps. He is

:11:18. > :11:21.making this look easy. Maxence Parrot has gone down! You talk about

:11:22. > :11:26.pressure. You talk about the pressure of the Olympic slopestyle

:11:27. > :11:31.final. I heard his hands were allergic to the snow. He has been

:11:32. > :11:36.nowhere near it all week. He has gone and dropped it. Unbelievable. I

:11:37. > :11:44.have talked a lot about this. Snowboarding comes from the most

:11:45. > :11:48.relaxed end of the sport. A lot of these riders, they are used to

:11:49. > :11:53.riding in front of big crowds but they are not used to this much media

:11:54. > :11:58.scrutiny. Their grandparents don't usually watch. Their parents. There

:11:59. > :12:06.is so much pressure on them. And finally we see a little bit of a

:12:07. > :12:12.cleaning onto Max Parrot. He has got to fight his way back into this

:12:13. > :12:17.second run. I was with Aimee Fuller before this. She was talking about

:12:18. > :12:23.the pressure. Her Nan and grand dad are in the stand. They will be

:12:24. > :12:27.watching her again tomorrow. He was talking about wearing different

:12:28. > :12:35.clothes. That is not what these guys are used to. They have got their

:12:36. > :12:47.country's flag on their shoulder. He is not cracking a smile. He is not

:12:48. > :13:11.to stoked. How good does this sound, ladies and gentlemen!

:13:12. > :13:23.So, Jamie Nicholls is going to take a lot of confidence from what he has

:13:24. > :13:28.just seen. Absolutely. He just didn't think he had it in him. In

:13:29. > :13:35.practice, he dug deep and found it. Are we going to see the backside

:13:36. > :13:44.1260 from Jamie Nicholls? You can see Jamie here. Sage Kotsenburg with

:13:45. > :13:56.his laid back into that backside 180 melon grab. Lovely. My hips would

:13:57. > :14:06.dislocate about tried to do that clap. -- grab. What a position to be

:14:07. > :14:13.in going into the second run. And quite incredibly, I just want to

:14:14. > :14:18.double check this, Sage Kotsenburg will be running third. It would be a

:14:19. > :14:21.nerve wracking process for him. He has got to watch nine riders descend

:14:22. > :14:30.after him, waiting to see if somebody can better his score. Do

:14:31. > :14:39.they not run in reverse order? No, they maintain the order.

:14:40. > :14:43.I am sure everybody at home is absolutely mesmerised by what we are

:14:44. > :14:46.seeing. It is one of the most bizarrely brilliant mornings of

:14:47. > :14:55.sport I have ever seen. Somebody is knitting at the top of the run am a

:14:56. > :15:01.while others are doing 30 metres of pure madness. It is utterly

:15:02. > :15:04.majestic. There will be people asking questions about the judging.

:15:05. > :15:12.U2 have already professed a few doubts about what is going on. It is

:15:13. > :15:17.an objective -- subjective process? We have seen a lot of inconsistency.

:15:18. > :15:22.Judges do get to wipe the slate clean with each round. After

:15:23. > :15:29.qualifiers, the judges were really prioritising clean execution and the

:15:30. > :15:36.size of the jobs. The riders have definitely responded. They are going

:15:37. > :15:43.huge now. A lot of them are opening up too early and so it is looking

:15:44. > :15:52.messy and at the end or they are landing over rotated or under

:15:53. > :16:02.rotated. I think a lot of the riders are struggling to go really big and

:16:03. > :16:07.control their spins. It has been a fantastic round for Jamie Nicholls.

:16:08. > :16:11.He only put down a first top ten finish last month in major

:16:12. > :16:17.competition and now he is in a silver medal position. With regard

:16:18. > :16:20.to some of the top riders, who are used to performing under less

:16:21. > :16:33.pressure circumstances, that the Labour is the gold-medal -- suddenly

:16:34. > :16:38.there is a gold-medal. Jamie said to us before the contest started, I

:16:39. > :16:43.just want to make finals. He did and he did it easily on his first run in

:16:44. > :16:48.the qualifiers. What we saw in practice before this was Jamie

:16:49. > :16:59.trying a trick that he only learned in November. The backside triple. He

:17:00. > :17:09.has the confidence and he is having a good time with it. Jamie has

:17:10. > :17:17.somewhere to go. He did a switch backside 900 and will try to up

:17:18. > :17:29.that. That will be a gold-medal run if he lands that. We have to keep

:17:30. > :17:37.ourselves in check. Maxence Parrot of Canada will ride last. We are

:17:38. > :17:43.waiting for the second run to start, holding our breath. Will there be a

:17:44. > :17:54.first ever British medal on snow at the Winter Olympic Games? Fingers

:17:55. > :18:01.crossed. The judges tasked with possibly one

:18:02. > :18:11.of the hardest asks in snowboarding. We have seen them prioritise a

:18:12. > :18:22.Kleenex spins and big jumps. Hearts are racing. It is a beautiful

:18:23. > :18:31.course. A lot of talk about how safe this cost was, it is almost perfect.

:18:32. > :18:37.Not taking anything away from the people who built the courses, but

:18:38. > :18:52.they are not the people who do the jumps. This guy asks if he they can

:18:53. > :19:01.change the course and that is what happened and we are left with the

:19:02. > :19:05.perfect course. Yuki Kadono riding first. He made a mistake on the

:19:06. > :19:24.first rail in the first run. Hopefully he has managed to settle

:19:25. > :19:40.himself. That was better. He had to spend the long way onto the rail

:19:41. > :19:46.will stop nice 270. Russian doll. Going so big into the landing. You

:19:47. > :20:03.can see by the way he came out of the last then he was looking solid.

:20:04. > :20:12.He puts down the triple. The crowd are responding. This is a beautiful

:20:13. > :20:20.run, especially on the rails. The first trip was so risky. The most

:20:21. > :20:33.difficult of spins onto the rails that you can do. I do not think he

:20:34. > :20:42.got the rap on that one. -- grab. A little bit of a hand there. This was

:20:43. > :20:53.the triple on the last jump. He puts the landing down nicely. They get a

:20:54. > :21:05.little bit cleaner than that. It is an improvement. Really getting

:21:06. > :21:12.punished. Those landings. Stronger than that score suggests. You talk

:21:13. > :21:19.about pressure, it was his gold to lose. That is what everyone was

:21:20. > :21:28.talking about. The pressure has probably taken its toll. Is he going

:21:29. > :21:38.to rise to it? Clinical through the rails. You just heard the clip as he

:21:39. > :21:50.went over the Russian doll. Switch triple. Really deep, really clean.

:21:51. > :22:05.Frontside double ten. Backside triple. His scores have been

:22:06. > :22:14.consistently lower than he would have expected. He has locked in all

:22:15. > :22:23.of these rails. Look at where his hands are. The arms are a great

:22:24. > :22:33.indicator of control. You do not want them to be flailing around.

:22:34. > :22:45.Here is the first triple. Up and down three times. We will do our

:22:46. > :22:53.best to talk you through the moves. Double frontside, going upside down

:22:54. > :23:09.twice. He throws his head into the third court. The judges are going to

:23:10. > :23:22.struggle to fault this. I think he has been unlucky. He knows it is

:23:23. > :23:35.good. It is good enough for silver. At the moment. Jamie Nicholls has

:23:36. > :23:53.been knocked down into bronze. Sage Kotsenburg sits at the top at the

:23:54. > :23:59.moment. Sage Kotsenburg, a lot of snowboarders will be cheering him on

:24:00. > :24:09.because he champions spontaneous alternative snowboarding. Coming off

:24:10. > :24:19.short. He needed to make sure he was straight down the slope and it was

:24:20. > :24:36.not. That was a complete 90 degrees in the wrong direction. Beautiful

:24:37. > :24:41.frontside ten with the double nose. It was a beautiful run but the

:24:42. > :24:50.spectators know it is not going to better his first run. He has so much

:24:51. > :24:57.to be proud of. He has really showcased one of the best sides of

:24:58. > :25:04.snowboarding. Absolutely. When the course was getting a lot of stick,

:25:05. > :25:09.and the media were giving the designers stick, he said, the course

:25:10. > :25:24.is fine, it is the Olympics, it has to be big. He searched for it a

:25:25. > :25:35.couple of times. He had another go. When you look at the scores that

:25:36. > :25:45.were going into the final, 95.75, the highest score was Maxence

:25:46. > :25:54.Parrot. That has cost him ten points. That is an indicator of how

:25:55. > :26:10.harshly they are measuring this. It is now or never. The snowboarders

:26:11. > :26:22.and skiers train together. 270. All going to plan so far. Backside

:26:23. > :26:42.rodeo. Switch triple. One two, three. He put that down very

:26:43. > :26:50.cleanly. Oh, no! If there is a weak point, it is the double frontside

:26:51. > :26:57.280. He was the first man to do a triple in the Olympics. He has rode

:26:58. > :27:05.so well during the entire practice and maybe the pressure got to him.

:27:06. > :27:11.The course seems to have got faster. That double 1080 has caused him

:27:12. > :27:19.problems a couple of times. That is the first time we have seen him drop

:27:20. > :27:28.it. His coach said to him, you need a front double ten. He only learned

:27:29. > :27:43.that click two weeks ago. So disappointing for him. That has

:27:44. > :27:49.taken the wind out of my sails. He did not get to unveil the triple

:27:50. > :28:01.double triple that he was looking for. It is a lot over for Great

:28:02. > :28:14.Britain. -- not over. Currently in bronze medal position. He has

:28:15. > :28:27.slipped off the side of the rail. The kickers could work for him. He

:28:28. > :28:41.can do whatever he wants. Cap five. It is almost as if the first rail

:28:42. > :28:48.set him back full. Backside seven. Give yourself a round of applause.

:28:49. > :28:58.Jamie Nicholls, one of his traits is he is a perfectionist. To them,

:28:59. > :29:06.sliding off the first rail... You can see his hand on his forehead. He

:29:07. > :29:19.has the first run. He is currently in bronze medal position. There are

:29:20. > :29:29.the world's best snowboarders to come. He is popular around the

:29:30. > :29:36.paddock. He will get high-fives from the other riders. Not least Shaun

:29:37. > :29:44.White, who he has got very close to in the build-up. Shaun White was

:29:45. > :30:05.trying to get tips on how to ride the rails properly. We should stop

:30:06. > :30:21.the contest! He had a great run in qualifying full.

:30:22. > :30:40.A little bit basic through the rails. Just slowing down. Missed the

:30:41. > :30:48.tap on the Russian doll. Down again. That is the jeopardy. They have to

:30:49. > :30:53.do that. They have to be doing triples. The push of shame. This is

:30:54. > :31:01.very uncharacteristic. I do not think I have seen a slopestyle

:31:02. > :31:08.contest with three quarters of the field have not landed a run. This is

:31:09. > :31:15.the first medal event of these games. The amount of pressure on

:31:16. > :31:26.these lads is huge. Sage Kotsenburg, with each rider starting to let his

:31:27. > :31:33.imagination run wild. The first gold medal of the Sochi 2014 games

:31:34. > :31:45.currently sits with him. Still seven riders levelled. -- left. I think we

:31:46. > :31:51.will see the top three change, to be brutally honest. It pains me to say

:31:52. > :32:04.it. We have got some big heavy hitters still to go. He had a lot of

:32:05. > :32:17.flipping will stop not much spin. Just on the back seat. We ease down

:32:18. > :32:28.the landing. Gjermund Braaten's brother will be competing in the

:32:29. > :32:33.freestyle slopestyle. It will be an uncomfortable flight home if his

:32:34. > :32:41.brother wins a medal! You can see the riders collecting down there.

:32:42. > :32:51.Sebastien Toutant, never far from a smile. This man has got a lot in

:32:52. > :33:06.common with Buzz Aldrin. He loves it clean landing! So relaxed.

:33:07. > :33:16.This is beautiful. Very, very lazy. What his arms. They are solid the

:33:17. > :33:23.whole time. Such a beautiful rider. He makes every trick look so easy.

:33:24. > :33:29.The first little stumble but he controlled it within a merely

:33:30. > :33:32.second. He has dropped it. How can you be so solid through the first

:33:33. > :33:40.five elements and drop it on the final one? Goodness. I am starting

:33:41. > :33:45.to build up to some kind of pulmonary overload. I drank 16

:33:46. > :34:03.litres of water in eight minutes! If you are just joining us, where on

:34:04. > :34:10.earth have you been? This is the first ever men's's Olympic

:34:11. > :34:17.slopestyle. It is delivering. Sebastien Toutant had a perfect run

:34:18. > :34:26.up to this point. He came in too early. The heel edge gave way in the

:34:27. > :34:32.slush. His medal hopes are over. Another one of the really big heavy

:34:33. > :34:43.hitters posts are very ordinary score. Jamie still in third place,

:34:44. > :34:55.bronze medal position. A few riders still to go. Sage Kotsenburg in the

:34:56. > :35:04.gold medal position. If this lad can recreate some of the magic we saw in

:35:05. > :35:14.qualifying, it will be very special. No pressure. Just go and when asked

:35:15. > :35:19.gold! -- win gold! Everybody knows the run he delivered in qualifying

:35:20. > :35:38.is enough. He came off a bit early. Not as clean as he would have liked.

:35:39. > :35:56.Oh, my goodness, massive! He did well to save that. It all comes down

:35:57. > :36:03.to this. Oh, my goodness! A massive run! Absolutely huge! Breathtaking.

:36:04. > :36:10.Jamie Nicholls, the first man in the finish area to raise his hands. Sage

:36:11. > :36:17.Kotsenburg with a big hug. This is the epitome of snowboarding's

:36:18. > :36:26.spirit. Absolutely. He came off the down rail a little bit early. We are

:36:27. > :36:29.picking hairs. We are looking for what the judges will be marking

:36:30. > :36:37.down. These two sections were perfect. I think it was the best

:36:38. > :36:45.jump line that we saw. What's the replay, the board vibrating. Sven

:36:46. > :36:49.Thorgren posted a 95 point 25 in qualifying to get here. That would

:36:50. > :37:01.have got him a gold medal. It counts for nothing here. Four full

:37:02. > :37:12.rotations, mums and dads. Puts it down like it was the easiest thing.

:37:13. > :37:17.Here is the reaction of the riders. I think Jamie has sadly been bumped

:37:18. > :37:28.out of the medals. Wait for it. We have seen some interesting judging.

:37:29. > :37:33.They are making him wait. His first run was one of the most

:37:34. > :37:38.controversially judged. Just 19 years of age, this youngster. I am

:37:39. > :37:43.sure this is probably the most anxious he has ever felt in his

:37:44. > :37:51.life. In a way, it is better to come into this as a young rider. This

:37:52. > :38:04.medal, honestly, will have come out of nowhere for them. They had very

:38:05. > :38:11.little expectation of something. Third position. He bumps Jamie

:38:12. > :38:17.Nicholls out of the medals. I am stoked for him but I am gutted, deep

:38:18. > :38:24.down. Jamie will be disappointed with the second run. But as we said,

:38:25. > :38:29.getting into that 1440, the trick he had only landed four times before,

:38:30. > :38:36.and managing it on his first run, was a huge achievement. Absolutely.

:38:37. > :38:45.As cliched as it sounds, just to make the finals is a massive

:38:46. > :38:49.achievement. He has learned to ride on artificial snow and here he is

:38:50. > :38:58.mixing it with the world's best snowboarders. And here is one of

:38:59. > :39:05.them. He learned on the icy hills of Scandinavia. His technique is

:39:06. > :39:09.faultless. If you wanted to pay cares, you could say he does not

:39:10. > :39:14.have the flair of Sage Kotsenburg or maybe Sven Thorgren. But he is

:39:15. > :39:28.immaculate. The judges award perfect execution here. He has got a wide

:39:29. > :39:33.stance. Oh, my goodness, that was an absolute masterclass in

:39:34. > :39:39.snowboarding, ladies and gentlemen. Liquid snowboarding. He may even

:39:40. > :39:47.crack a smile. He is rather stoic, this lad. Couple of small mistakes

:39:48. > :39:57.on the rails. That is what he would say will stop --. The 540 was there

:39:58. > :40:05.with a good bonk on the Russian doll. He got Lovren -- he got marked

:40:06. > :40:14.down on the first run for the leg grab. He has still got the leg grab

:40:15. > :40:19.in there. It will be interesting to see yet that is what the judges have

:40:20. > :40:23.picked up on. The trailing arm is tucked down underneath that left

:40:24. > :40:30.knee. It is holding his body weight down. You cannot hide that in slow

:40:31. > :40:37.motion. But to spend four times around like that and keep it

:40:38. > :40:45.flat... He is getting penalised for the leg grab. The others can do it

:40:46. > :40:51.without the leg grab. He is not allowed -- being allowed to cheat.

:40:52. > :40:58.Sage Kotsenburg, with every rider, is daring to dream. Roope Tonteri,

:40:59. > :41:08.the second of the fence. -- the Finns. , one, Roope Tonteri! We like

:41:09. > :41:27.this guy. He has done well to get here after

:41:28. > :41:40.coming back from the broken arm in November. He really needs to step it

:41:41. > :41:51.up. Too big. He could not control it. Switch. Right now, you look

:41:52. > :42:08.across these scores and it is only the top six riders who have put down

:42:09. > :42:15.even close to a good score. Seven riders have not managed to lay down

:42:16. > :42:19.a solid consistent landed run. If you've joined us for the qualifiers,

:42:20. > :42:25.the standard of writing was absolutely ridiculous. It does seem

:42:26. > :42:30.the pressure has got to these guys. Were expecting to see a lot of guys

:42:31. > :42:37.holding stuff back for the semifinals or the finals. Nobody

:42:38. > :42:44.did. Everything got thrown down. They all went bananas. Roope

:42:45. > :42:52.Tonteri, 10th down in this second run. Only two riders left. The first

:42:53. > :42:57.will be Staale Sandbech from Norway. We got a glimpse of his genius on

:42:58. > :43:04.the rails. Can he complete the run this time? Lets see what he has got.

:43:05. > :43:23.He is a goofy rider. Coming from the hard side onto the

:43:24. > :43:29.rail. Coming out to switch again. Nice. The entire top section of the

:43:30. > :43:52.course is done backwards. Oh, my goodness! Backside triple.

:43:53. > :44:01.There is your first place. Absolutely beautiful. The rails were

:44:02. > :44:11.phenomenal. The fish! He is happy with that. He knows it is first

:44:12. > :44:15.place. He held onto it. His shoulders were doing all of the hard

:44:16. > :44:24.work. That is the only fault that you could pick. His brother, one of

:44:25. > :44:31.the world's best snowboard photographers, has taken pictures of

:44:32. > :44:47.him. It develops this kind of style. Absolutely beautiful from site 1080.

:44:48. > :44:51.Frontside air 1440. 1440 treble. The only thing that he could say is that

:44:52. > :44:56.it is not as big as some of the other runs we have seen. Is

:44:57. > :45:00.difficult when you are spinning off your heels. I think that his first

:45:01. > :45:09.place. That is what I am going to say. I think you are right. I am

:45:10. > :45:31.going to agree with you. But I have been wrong 96% of the time. Second

:45:32. > :45:44.place! This is on the cusp of being very poor waiter. Really creative

:45:45. > :45:51.snowboarding. He did everything he could there to do something

:45:52. > :45:58.different. Here is the man riding better than everyone else apart from

:45:59. > :46:05.the first one. He had the best run in qualifiers. He has it all to do

:46:06. > :46:14.after falling on his first run. Maxence Parrot. If he lands the run

:46:15. > :46:28.he wants to land, it will be an easy choice for the judges. The Canadian

:46:29. > :46:41.coach is going to be concerned. It would bump Mark McMorris out of

:46:42. > :46:56.bronze. Cap double on the first. Frontside double. This is a back

:46:57. > :47:11.triple. He has done it! I do not think that is. Both tens. There are

:47:12. > :47:24.no mistakes. I think that is bronze. Backside rodeo off the Canon, that

:47:25. > :47:41.may be a bigger score. Landing backwards into a frontside double.

:47:42. > :47:55.Three spins. Not to be sniffed at. Here is the backside triple. Is that

:47:56. > :48:05.1620? I think so. It is the triple 1620. He won two weeks ago with

:48:06. > :48:18.that. Is that the first time we have seen that? I think so. Four and a

:48:19. > :48:27.half spins. Both of those boys have a medal, but they do not know what

:48:28. > :48:50.colour yet. Sage Kotsenburg was way down in the qualifiers. Can he come

:48:51. > :48:56.back to win gold? I can feel it! . We thought it was going to be a

:48:57. > :49:05.battle of Canada and Norway with potentially a couple of Brits,

:49:06. > :49:12.but... The judges have the same pressure and they are taking their

:49:13. > :49:19.time. It is the most important verdict in history potentially. What

:49:20. > :49:30.kind of message are you going to send out about what kind of riding

:49:31. > :49:39.you want to see? Fifth! My goodness. Confirmation for Sage

:49:40. > :49:57.Kotsenburg. The gold medal at the first ever Olympic snowboard slopes

:49:58. > :50:07.go -- slopestyle event. Jamie Nicholls in sixth. Absolutely

:50:08. > :50:13.amazing. He is going to be buzzing, as is everybody watching at home in

:50:14. > :50:20.Bradford. You can see what it means to them. There is a debate that will

:50:21. > :50:31.read about the judging, but Sage Kotsenburg's run contains some of

:50:32. > :50:37.the hardest grabs seen in snowboarding. We have been talking

:50:38. > :50:48.about style, the fact that snowboarding is going towards

:50:49. > :51:27.triples, but I think style has won through. Sage Kotsenburg taking the

:51:28. > :51:33.gold back to America. Can we take a breath now? Sage Kotsenburg under so

:51:34. > :51:43.much scrutiny in the absence of Shaun White and the first gold of

:51:44. > :51:59.the rush-hour Games goes to America -- the Russia Games.

:52:00. > :52:07.You must be really happy with sixth. I am really happy. I cannot believe

:52:08. > :52:13.it. I am happy both of us made it to the final and got top ten. I cannot

:52:14. > :52:21.be happier. What happened on the second run? It was weird. I do not

:52:22. > :52:24.normally mess up on the rails. I was not going in the right direction

:52:25. > :52:31.because normally I'd be switching to the second rail. I just had some

:52:32. > :52:36.fun. What does this mean for British snowboarding? It means a lot.

:52:37. > :52:42.Hopefully there is no talent coming up and to do the same as what we did

:52:43. > :52:56.-- there is more talent coming up. I thought I had to go big or go home.

:52:57. > :53:07.It was fine. What a way to start the Games. Are you proud of your sport?

:53:08. > :53:23.So proud. The level was so high. The highest I have seen it. People doing

:53:24. > :53:27.triple 16s, it was amazing. If we build the facilities, do you think

:53:28. > :53:32.we could build on this success? Yes. If we have the facilities,

:53:33. > :53:39.perhaps more opportunities to learn tricks, perhaps we will see some

:53:40. > :53:44.British snowboarders on the podium in future events. You have been

:53:45. > :53:53.amazing ambassadors and good friends.

:53:54. > :54:07.Apologies if you were offended by anything that Billy said, but they

:54:08. > :54:14.have done us proud on the slopes. What have we seen today? The overall

:54:15. > :54:19.impression it is a fine line between keeping the runs clean and pushing

:54:20. > :54:27.the ambition levels. Can you sum up what you feel that message has been?

:54:28. > :54:31.The judges played a big role in today's proceedings but you have to

:54:32. > :54:37.temper that with the standard of riding that we saw. These guys were

:54:38. > :54:47.pushing the level of snowboarding so far. You will see it in a single

:54:48. > :54:52.jump events but to be able to do it as part of a run is unprecedented.

:54:53. > :54:55.The judges are dealing with that the whole time and because it is

:54:56. > :55:00.subjective you have so many difference tiles -- different styles

:55:01. > :55:07.and it comes down to personal preference and some ways. Sage

:55:08. > :55:13.Kotsenburg with the gold, we saw him do some very difficult grabs while

:55:14. > :55:19.controlling the spin. Getting out of those cleanly is even harder than

:55:20. > :55:32.getting in. The right man to gold for me. Anyone else? The beautiful

:55:33. > :55:36.thing with snowboarding as it is completely different and you have

:55:37. > :55:47.people doing tricks in different ways. It must be so hard to judge. I

:55:48. > :55:55.got it wrong so many times! We will have more tomorrow with the women's

:55:56. > :56:01.snowboard slopestyle. There is so much to look forward to every

:56:02. > :56:07.morning. It is worth getting up early for. Tomorrow we have one of

:56:08. > :56:21.the great events of any Winter Olympics, the men's downhill.

:56:22. > :56:35.He is absolutely flying. That is one of the quickest of the race so far.

:56:36. > :56:54.He gets gold. Who will join the list of champions?

:56:55. > :57:09.We hear it is a great course. It is wide open. The race starts at 7am

:57:10. > :57:12.with coverage at 6am. We witnessed a brand-new chapter in the Winter

:57:13. > :57:19.Olympics this morning with the slopestyle snowboard event. We are

:57:20. > :57:24.going to one of the more traditional, cross-country skiing,

:57:25. > :57:47.which is taking place in the mountains. It is a beautiful spot.

:57:48. > :57:51.In some ways it is hard to describe just how beautiful it is up here.

:57:52. > :57:56.You feel a presence from the mountains adult although we know

:57:57. > :58:03.that all pain produces the greatest speeds, cross-country is about as

:58:04. > :58:07.pure as it gets. These guys spend hours, weeks, out in the weeks

:58:08. > :58:12.training, but this is the worst weather they have ever had. When

:58:13. > :58:21.they get here they are going to get blown away surrounded by 3000m

:58:22. > :58:26.peaks. Every professional Wood said their sport is the hardest but you

:58:27. > :58:32.can see on this incline how difficult it is to get up these

:58:33. > :58:40.slopes. Is it as tough as it gets? It uses every muscle in the body. On

:58:41. > :58:46.top of that, you are balancing on top of skis which are 4.5

:58:47. > :58:54.centimetres abroad so you are trying to stay upright and put in Boots to

:58:55. > :59:00.getting up the climbs. Let us see if we have any breath left at the end

:59:01. > :59:11.to talk about it. This is a game changer. As file as the sprint race

:59:12. > :59:13.is concerned, where you talk about tactics you have to have something

:59:14. > :59:29.left in the tank to be able to do anything. This is so much steeper

:59:30. > :59:34.than the other sections. On the 50 kilometre, by the time you get round

:59:35. > :59:41.here you are going to be feeling it. Is this the point where gold could

:59:42. > :59:48.be secured? It is so severe it creates an opportunity for the

:59:49. > :59:58.fittest to get away. How many times can they do it? You have to try to

:59:59. > :00:02.save your best for last. It is a typical Olympic course, it is

:00:03. > :00:11.relentless, steep, long, painful, followed by fast and dangerous

:00:12. > :00:15.downhills. It is even test, or physical abilities, more than any

:00:16. > :00:22.other course they will have been on this year. A few people will fall

:00:23. > :00:34.and get broken kit, but I think we are going to get dramatic racing. It

:00:35. > :00:43.is certainly a course for the climbers. The Norwegians love their

:00:44. > :00:59.cross-country skiing. Marriage Bjork and is the star. -- Marit Bjorgen.

:01:00. > :01:11.This is the 15 kilometre skiathlon. It is the first of marriage Bjork

:01:12. > :01:20.and's six events. Patrick and Rob will explain more. Good afternoon.

:01:21. > :01:23.That afternoon. It is going brilliantly. We have been cooped up

:01:24. > :01:28.in our hotel rooms doing our homework, talking about it for hours

:01:29. > :01:34.on end. Here we are on a beautiful crisp afternoon in the mountains

:01:35. > :01:40.above Sochi. The racing finally gets underway. And what a contest we

:01:41. > :01:47.have. Therese Johaug, the overall World Cup later this year. Marit

:01:48. > :02:01.Bjorgen, the defending champion. Justyna Kowalczyk. Therese Johaug

:02:02. > :02:04.wearing number one. I'm joined by Patrick Winterton. Patrick, who

:02:05. > :02:11.plied his trade on the cross-country hills around Calgary in 1988. You

:02:12. > :02:16.have been on this course and sampled it. You believe this is one of the

:02:17. > :02:22.toughest courses in Winter Olympic history? The organisers always make

:02:23. > :02:29.the Olympic tracks hard. Calgary, Torino... If you look at the

:02:30. > :02:36.statistics here, it is brutal. There is no rest whatsoever. I don't think

:02:37. > :02:40.they invented flat sections. It is so technical as well. Lots of time

:02:41. > :02:46.can be gained on the corners. The classic phase is, if anything, a

:02:47. > :02:52.little bit easier. The claims are shorter, the corners are more

:02:53. > :02:58.gentle. When it comes to the freestyle states later, that is a

:02:59. > :03:02.test of muddy and mind. -- body and mind.

:03:03. > :03:15.It is the all-rounder's gold medal, this one. Two laps skated in

:03:16. > :03:19.freestyle. It will be interesting to see if some of the classical

:03:20. > :03:23.specialists decide to make a break before the end of their stronger

:03:24. > :03:31.discipline. It would certainly be a long way out before the finish. But

:03:32. > :03:35.with Marit Bjorgen and Therese Johaug in good form, somebody will

:03:36. > :03:40.have to produce a special performance to deny one of those two

:03:41. > :03:46.Norwegians a golden start to what should be an electric 16 days in the

:03:47. > :03:51.hills above Sochi. I think a lot of people will wonder how long it takes

:03:52. > :03:55.to cover 15 kilometres. The race in Vancouver was won in just over 40

:03:56. > :04:12.minutes. The pre-Olympic race here last year to 46.7. The course is

:04:13. > :04:24.15,736. That is not 15: Is to me. -- kilometres.

:04:25. > :04:33.We have got a total of 61 in this competition. Some of the cross

:04:34. > :04:37.country and the Biathlon are conducted on the time trial format.

:04:38. > :04:46.This is everybody out on the course together. The first to finish is the

:04:47. > :04:50.Olympic champion. It is that simple. From any it is easier than the time

:04:51. > :04:54.trial because you are feeding off other people's technique. It is that

:04:55. > :04:59.little bit easier to push yourself and stay with the group. If Justin

:05:00. > :05:01.Kowal check is going to break away, I think she will try to do it on the

:05:02. > :05:22.second loop. -- Justina: Check. If you were watching cross-country

:05:23. > :05:29.skiing for the first time, there are some similarities to distance

:05:30. > :05:33.running. It is a similar principle. You would be very unlikely to see

:05:34. > :05:37.somebody trying to win the London Marathon by breaking away in the

:05:38. > :05:43.first couple of kilometres. There are quite a few backmarkers. It is

:05:44. > :05:55.so far so good as far as the main names are concerned. It is hard to

:05:56. > :06:01.overemphasise how big this sport is in Norway. It is absolutely huge. It

:06:02. > :06:07.will be wall to wall front page and back page news. They are expecting a

:06:08. > :06:12.glorious golden return from their cross-country skiers, male and

:06:13. > :06:17.female. They will be extremely excited to see their golden girl of

:06:18. > :06:22.four years ago, Marit Bjorgen, deciding to put herself out front.

:06:23. > :06:34.Just reminding the rest that she is the defending Olympic champion. The

:06:35. > :06:42.remaining world champion. This is a cracking example of how technical it

:06:43. > :06:46.is. We already have one victim. Marit Bjorgen took the lead before

:06:47. > :06:51.the corner because she knew she could gain several metres on

:06:52. > :06:54.everybody else. She is not taking advantage of that lead but it means

:06:55. > :07:07.she does not have two ski the next hill quite so fast. I just saw a

:07:08. > :07:16.glimpse of Charlotte Kalla in third place. A magnificent gold medal in

:07:17. > :07:20.Vancouver in the 10K. She has raced really sparingly this year. She has

:07:21. > :07:29.been very clever. She will be as fresh as a daisy. She has geared her

:07:30. > :07:44.entire season around Peking here in Sochi. She did so well in Vancouver.

:07:45. > :07:54.Charlotte Kalla comes from a tiny village in Sweden. I think there are

:07:55. > :07:59.200 people. When she is racing, the local wood mill shuts down and they

:08:00. > :08:05.are glued to the box. She has now got a statue in the village because

:08:06. > :08:12.of her success in Vancouver. What do they do next if she gets a gold

:08:13. > :08:17.medal here? There she is. Just a slight slip. She is wearing number

:08:18. > :08:21.six. The waxing is absolutely crucial. The principle is you want

:08:22. > :08:27.the skis to grip the snowboard you don't want the snow to grip the

:08:28. > :08:31.skis. Absolutely. Tricky conditions. Some parts of snow in

:08:32. > :08:38.the shade are very cold. In the sunshine is glorious. That is what

:08:39. > :08:44.the dilemma is. What they have gone for is klister, a sticky syrup kind

:08:45. > :08:49.of liquid which goes on the base of the ski. On top of that they have

:08:50. > :08:53.had to try to put some stick wax to stop the snow sticking to the base

:08:54. > :08:58.of the ski. Obviously that kills your glider straightaway. This is

:08:59. > :09:02.the final approach into the stadium run. You will see the sharp corner

:09:03. > :09:10.coming. If there is a group coming in, it will be very tactical indeed.

:09:11. > :09:14.They just need to keep it safe at this stage of the race. Already you

:09:15. > :09:24.can see a little group beginning to pull away. Marit Bjorgen in front.

:09:25. > :09:34.Charlotte Kalla in second. Justina: Check, the tactical specialist. Will

:09:35. > :09:37.she be strong enough to get away from the Norwegians before moving

:09:38. > :09:46.onto the freestyle? Some fascinating moments lie ahead. Marit Bjorgen,

:09:47. > :09:55.the Queen of cross-country. In 11 races this season. Eight podium

:09:56. > :10:13.places, five wins. A big climb coming up very shortly. Kowalcyzyk

:10:14. > :10:17.Has to go early on this second loop. Just like cycling, if you are skiing

:10:18. > :10:27.in a group, you are quicker than somebody on their own. We could not

:10:28. > :10:34.have wished for a better day for the cross-country to start. A beautiful

:10:35. > :10:44.crisp afternoon here. It will start to get colder and faster as the day

:10:45. > :10:52.goes on. There is Kowalcyzyk. Is this just an indication? One of the

:10:53. > :10:58.teen culture is making sure she is getting the liquid on board. It is

:10:59. > :11:03.an absolutely brutal sport. It uses virtually every muscle group in the

:11:04. > :11:07.body. Even though it is fairly cool, taking the liquids and the nutrition

:11:08. > :11:13.and the hydration OnBoard is as important here as it would be in a

:11:14. > :11:18.fairly warm, big-city marathon. Particularly bearing in mind they

:11:19. > :11:21.have a programme of six races. There will be quite a few athletes

:11:22. > :11:26.intending to compete in every single race, assuming they get selected.

:11:27. > :11:33.Dehydration is vital, even if you lose just five or six metres.

:11:34. > :11:37.Charlotte Kalla is not going to lead the group go. In the last three

:11:38. > :11:43.majors, the top aides have all coming together into the stadium. --

:11:44. > :11:49.the top eight. I suspect we will lose a couple on this second lap.

:11:50. > :11:53.Then the transition becomes a ready important part of the race. It can

:11:54. > :11:58.take anything between 25 and 35 seconds. If you lose seconds on the

:11:59. > :12:03.transition, that could be your chance gone. Is kind of like the

:12:04. > :12:09.Grand Prix moment where they come into the pit lane. Occasionally

:12:10. > :12:20.things can go wrong. Most of the big names that we would expect to be in

:12:21. > :12:23.that lead group, are there. Marit Bjorgen second from the left wearing

:12:24. > :12:29.number two. She looks pretty comfortable. So does Charlotte

:12:30. > :12:34.Kalla. I wonder if she has played a really smart game? Racing so

:12:35. > :12:41.infrequently. Everybody talking about the two Norwegians. Talking

:12:42. > :12:45.about Kowalcyzyk and her potential ankle problems, with her picture

:12:46. > :12:51.posted on Facebook and her refusing to talk about it. Nobody has been

:12:52. > :12:56.making any noises about Charlotte Kalla. She has based her entire

:12:57. > :13:02.season around this. She looks in confident mood. Nice to see Nicole

:13:03. > :13:12.Fessel of Germany staying with the leading group. I think she probably

:13:13. > :13:24.has the best chance in this of the Germans. She looks strong. But then

:13:25. > :13:28.again, once this phase is over, you have to consider with the best

:13:29. > :13:34.skaters are. We have got the top three.

:13:35. > :13:52.We cannot rule out Yulia Tchekaleva of Russia. And then Kristin Stormer

:13:53. > :13:58.Steira from nowhere, who is forever finishing fourth. From a neutral

:13:59. > :14:03.point of view, if you are allowed to have a wish, it would be for her to

:14:04. > :14:07.have an individual medal to go alongside that team gold she picked

:14:08. > :14:12.up in Vancouver. There is a definite Group E are working their way from

:14:13. > :14:26.the rest of the field. -- there is a definite group here.

:14:27. > :14:32.Kristin Stormer Steira has dropped back into the second group. Thing is

:14:33. > :14:39.not looking good for her at the moment. She will be 19 seconds

:14:40. > :14:44.behind. That is a significant margin at this stage. I think we have to

:14:45. > :14:49.remember that nowhere were not only one two, three in the world

:14:50. > :14:52.Championships, they got fourth position as well. That has not been

:14:53. > :14:56.done at the Olympics for a very long time. I think it was the Russians.

:14:57. > :15:03.Certainly the Russians have done it on one occasion. 1960, it was. Yes,

:15:04. > :15:11.well you go back to the history books of cross-country of -- and

:15:12. > :15:16.there were so many clean sweeps in the early days. Finland, Norway and

:15:17. > :15:21.Sweden utterly dominant. Great to see other nations coming into the

:15:22. > :15:23.mix. It is so difficult to wrestle that stranglehold from those

:15:24. > :15:28.nations. Cross-Country is almost just a part of every weekend culture

:15:29. > :15:33.in Norway, Sweden and Finland. It is as common and activity as a stroll

:15:34. > :15:47.in a park on a Sunday would be back home. It is how they get to school

:15:48. > :15:52.in the early days. If you read the profiles of these athletes, nearly

:15:53. > :15:58.all of them have mums and dads who were into the sport.

:15:59. > :16:28.Good gripping. Aino-Kaisa Saarinen cannot be ruled out completely. We

:16:29. > :16:31.are getting relatively close to the second half of the contest which

:16:32. > :16:39.will be done in freestyle on different skis once they come into

:16:40. > :16:48.transition. We still have 11 in the first group, but there is the

:16:49. > :16:57.monster held to come -- monster hill. I thought having the classic

:16:58. > :17:04.first favours the freestyle skiers. It is much harder for the classics

:17:05. > :17:09.years to impose themselves. It is such a long way from home to make a

:17:10. > :17:16.break, psychologically you would be thinking, I know they are coming.

:17:17. > :17:21.She would have to go so early to give herself a chance of getting

:17:22. > :17:29.ahead on what is her slightly weaker technique. This year it has been

:17:30. > :17:33.significantly weaker. In the past she has won world cups in the

:17:34. > :17:47.freestyle, she has been nowhere near, she is in fifth at the

:17:48. > :18:05.moment. Justyna Kowalczyk is not 100%. There have been rumours flying

:18:06. > :18:13.around she has hurt her ankle. A group of six beginning to pull away.

:18:14. > :18:19.The sense of anticipation will be growing because three of the four

:18:20. > :18:30.Golden girls at exactly where they are expected to be. Justyna

:18:31. > :18:35.Kowalczyk's technique is not as good as the Norwegians, it is still

:18:36. > :18:47.pretty fantastic, but not as effective, and she is struggling a

:18:48. > :18:55.little bit at the moment. The Russians got one, two, three in

:18:56. > :19:02.Calgary. Is this the same principle in triathlon where when they are

:19:03. > :19:05.getting out of the water they would actually practised transition so

:19:06. > :19:13.they do not lose unnecessary time? Certainly. In the old days they did

:19:14. > :19:18.not realise the importance of it, but nowadays if you can get out in

:19:19. > :19:23.25 seconds or so you are not going to lose too much time. If the legs

:19:24. > :19:32.are shaking it is very difficult to get down. You have to switch skis

:19:33. > :19:45.and change poles. We have the defending champion, Marit Bjorgen.

:19:46. > :19:48.Justyna Kowalczyk, it'll be interesting to see of she loses a

:19:49. > :19:57.couple of seconds as there was a stumble there. Justyna Kowalczyk

:19:58. > :20:06.stuck in the exchange. That is what she did not need. 7.4 seconds does

:20:07. > :20:10.not sound a lot but she has to catch that up so she has put herself at a

:20:11. > :20:17.disadvantage at a crucial stage of the race. It shows you how difficult

:20:18. > :20:31.it is coming into transition because Justyna Kowalczyk and Aino-Kaisa

:20:32. > :20:42.Saarinen are world-class performers. Heading into the second half of the

:20:43. > :20:49.race on the freestyle skis. They have done the classical, it is the

:20:50. > :20:52.freestyle. A disappointing first leg for her, I do not think she is going

:20:53. > :21:01.to see the leaders again. If she does she deserves a medal but look

:21:02. > :21:09.at the gap they have opened up. Presumably this is Justyna Kowalczyk

:21:10. > :21:17.trying to close down. The two who fell over at the exchange. You just

:21:18. > :21:26.saw Aino-Kaisa Saarinen beginning to fall there. You lose all the brick

:21:27. > :21:31.from the edge of the ski, that is the classic mistake, but one she

:21:32. > :21:45.should not have made at that age. -- stage. These are the finest

:21:46. > :21:52.cross-country skiers in the world and every single second will count

:21:53. > :22:04.when it gets towards the last of the four 3.75km larks. Marit Bjorgen is

:22:05. > :22:21.there, Justyna Kowalczyk just a bit off the pace. I think that there is

:22:22. > :22:29.significant. She had to be with the leaders and feed off them. The

:22:30. > :22:46.leading five have got away. Justyna Kowalczyk is in real trouble. Her is

:22:47. > :22:51.in is the 10km pursuit. I was just wondering about her foot and if she

:22:52. > :22:57.has problems with the ankle, one of her feet hit the snow a bit

:22:58. > :23:15.awkwardly, but if she is feeling a twinge, that would not have helped.

:23:16. > :23:29.Therese Johaug has Marit Bjorgen with her. Justyna Kowalczyk is doing

:23:30. > :23:34.everything she can to close the gap. It is going to be very tough for her

:23:35. > :23:37.to get back in contention. The Norwegians will be very aware that

:23:38. > :23:44.Justyna Kowalczyk is out of the way. They will not want to ease up

:23:45. > :23:48.for a second. A game of cat and mouse will develop because you do

:23:49. > :23:53.not want to be leading the group. They will be wanting others to take

:23:54. > :23:56.that time. I would sort of put money on Justyna Kowalczyk the end back

:23:57. > :24:01.with the group for the next time and then she is going to find that she

:24:02. > :24:13.is caught out because she cannot stay with the pace when it picks up.

:24:14. > :24:18.For Marit Bjorgen, she knows that is to raise your blog can beat her but

:24:19. > :24:24.she has the knowledge that she won this four years ago. She will be

:24:25. > :24:42.relatively happy with the way things are panning out at the moment. She

:24:43. > :24:48.will be very concerned because the final climb is where Therese Johaug

:24:49. > :24:58.is going to make her move. She will be waiting patiently and if she can

:24:59. > :25:06.get a tenmetre lead she will try to steal an advantage when it comes to

:25:07. > :25:14.the sharp corners. She beat her in the World Championship last year.

:25:15. > :25:21.This is the start of the climb. The stadium is built virtually on the

:25:22. > :25:53.summit of the hill. Although you enjoy the speed almost in excess of

:25:54. > :26:03.80kph, you know it has to come back. Is Aino-Kaisa Saarinen beginning to

:26:04. > :26:21.suffer? Therese Johaug looks very smooth. She is beginning to boot a

:26:22. > :26:32.lead quintet under pressure. Recovering a little as they do this

:26:33. > :26:39.gate two technique. The hills deepens -- hill steepens and we

:26:40. > :26:55.might find Aino-Kaisa Saarinen dropping off the pace at that point.

:26:56. > :26:58.She completed the difficult tournament and she is a mother

:26:59. > :27:05.chance of a medal full is she was third in the ski at one --

:27:06. > :27:16.skiathlon. She is a prodigious talent. Justyna Kowalczyk dropping

:27:17. > :27:34.off the pace again. In even more trouble than she was at the start.

:27:35. > :27:42.Therese Johaug uses tempo. Marit Bjorgen has wonderful triceps. She

:27:43. > :27:51.uses power. You can see the power in the shoulder. She has something in

:27:52. > :27:54.her mind most of us do not have. That is one of the key points.

:27:55. > :28:06.Therese Johaug is a brilliant climber. Marit Bjorgen had to pull

:28:07. > :28:11.out off the last race with a virus. How much of this is going to come

:28:12. > :28:15.down to Marit Bjorgen's belief that on the big occasion the World

:28:16. > :28:28.Championships last year she can deliver? This can be won and lost on

:28:29. > :28:39.the next lap. If Marit Bjorgen is right with Therese Johaug, then she

:28:40. > :28:55.can win it. We cannot rule out a fantastic competitor who was out for

:28:56. > :29:01.two years. Charlotte Kalla. It would be an extraordinary second gold for

:29:02. > :29:17.her. She is right there in third place. The defending champion is in

:29:18. > :29:30.second place. Charlotte Kalla third. Aino-Kaisa Saarinen has managed to

:29:31. > :29:35.get back to that group. I just wonder, there is a little grimace, I

:29:36. > :29:39.wonder if that fall in transition between the classical and the

:29:40. > :29:44.freestyle lead to some problems with the ankle that was already a

:29:45. > :29:49.niggling injury. That's seven seconds she tried to make up, she

:29:50. > :29:57.got very close, that has cost her. If she had been with the leading

:29:58. > :30:17.group, she is like a Jack Russell, she does not let go. The race is

:30:18. > :30:28.between these five. Heidi Weng is right there. Saarinen allowing a few

:30:29. > :30:33.metres of a gap to grow. She is in fifth. She has done really well to

:30:34. > :30:38.hang on. She is past her best. Two brilliant bronze medals in

:30:39. > :30:43.Vancouver. She has got a huge amount of experience to draw on. You get a

:30:44. > :30:51.an idea of the speeds on the downhill. Patrick did the course a

:30:52. > :30:56.few days ago and was still feeling the adrenaline couple of days after

:30:57. > :31:02.finishing. Saarinen attacks of the hill. She is a wily, tough

:31:03. > :31:08.competitor. She is 35 years old. Is there another day of magic in those

:31:09. > :31:14.slightly ageing legs? When you think she was ranked 26th in the world

:31:15. > :31:18.last year, she pulled out of the end of the Tour de Ski. She was under

:31:19. > :31:23.the weather. A little bit of a virus affecting her. She missed 14 races

:31:24. > :31:27.last year. She has come back very strong this year. Made a good

:31:28. > :31:32.appearance in the Tour de Ski. I'm surprised to see her go early. I

:31:33. > :31:40.wonder if she knows she cannot beat them on the five-minute climb back

:31:41. > :31:44.into the stadium? It may be an all or nothing move but it is certainly

:31:45. > :31:50.brave. And it is reminding the Swede and the three Norwegians that sarin

:31:51. > :31:56.and is still in this race. -- Saarinen is still in this race.

:31:57. > :32:13.Saarinen Leeds, Bjorgen second, Johaug card -- third. We're looking

:32:14. > :32:20.back down the field. Kowalczyk has allowed the Finn to come past. It is

:32:21. > :32:31.a long programme for these athletes. It is not Kowalczyk's best event.

:32:32. > :32:35.She knows now that a medal is away from her grasp. Meanwhile, returning

:32:36. > :32:45.our attention once more to the leaders, Saarinen digging up that

:32:46. > :32:50.hill. Bjorgen to her right, our left. Then Charlotte Kalla. Johaug

:32:51. > :33:02.coming through. The World Cup leader. Who is going to make the

:33:03. > :33:06.move and when will that be? The three medallists will come from this

:33:07. > :33:10.five. Will be possibly see a clean sweep from Norway or can the likes

:33:11. > :33:23.of Kalla and Saarinen getting amongst the makes? A good

:33:24. > :33:28.performance from Kerttu Niskanen. These two are detached. There is a

:33:29. > :33:36.massive gap from Kowalczyk to the next athlete down the course. Nicole

:33:37. > :33:40.Fessel from Germany is now over 47 seconds behind. There is a big

:33:41. > :33:52.margin of 100 metres minimum. In fact, closer to 300 metres, between

:33:53. > :34:03.seventh and eighth. Masako Ishida from Japan is doing very well. Look

:34:04. > :34:10.at Heidi Weng on the left frame. This is, we can assure you, a really

:34:11. > :34:14.brutal climb. So energy sapping. But Heidi Weng, the heir apparent to

:34:15. > :34:25.Marat Bjorgen's crown, is taking it to them. -- Marat Bjorgen.

:34:26. > :34:36.Saarinen beginning to struggle. Nowhere, one, two and three. Only

:34:37. > :34:42.Kalla staying with this amazing triumvirate of excellence from

:34:43. > :34:46.Norway. To really steep stages on this climb. The first one is

:34:47. > :34:53.complete. It has levelled off a little. It is still a painful time.

:34:54. > :34:58.The second steep phase lasts for 55 seconds. The first part of the work

:34:59. > :35:06.is done. Joe Howe gulps the tempo. That is how she gets away. --

:35:07. > :35:09.Johaug. I'm not sure that was not a mistake from Heidi Weng to go so

:35:10. > :35:14.early. You know you have got five minutes of climbing. Now she is

:35:15. > :35:21.hanging on for dear life. She glanced over to her right hand side

:35:22. > :35:24.and saw Kalla and decided to talk back in into fourth place, or she

:35:25. > :35:30.had been for much of the pre-seeding lap. Maybe, as you said, a little

:35:31. > :35:38.burst of adrenaline. She is a youngster. She has finished nine

:35:39. > :35:44.times in the top ten this season. This only comes around once every

:35:45. > :35:50.four years. Charlotte Kalla stuck in third place the whole way round.

:35:51. > :35:53.Very good tactically. Has not done any leading, and has conserved as

:35:54. > :35:58.much energy as possible. She will need it. If she wants the gold, she

:35:59. > :36:03.has to bite her time. I suspect they will make the break when they come

:36:04. > :36:07.around the back of the stadium. The track widens a little from four

:36:08. > :36:15.metres wide to nine. That is when they will get the opportunity to

:36:16. > :36:23.take -- overtake. Who will still be with Therese Johaug when they finish

:36:24. > :36:28.the ascent? Bjorgen in second place, Kalla in third. She has been for so

:36:29. > :36:35.long. Heidi Weng, after the little flirt with the lead, going up the

:36:36. > :36:42.hill in fourth place. Saarinen is at the back of that group of five. Look

:36:43. > :36:45.at Kalla coming through on the inside. The Swedish athlete,

:36:46. > :36:50.determined that the Norwegians will not have it all their own way. This

:36:51. > :36:56.is a concerted bid to break the Norwegian dominance. It could be too

:36:57. > :37:01.early for Charlotte Kalla. It is a bold move but she knows she has to

:37:02. > :37:06.try some work. With a minute and three quarters still on the clock to

:37:07. > :37:10.race, the climbing still starts. That little burst from Kalla could

:37:11. > :37:15.be expensive. Look at the gap between second and third. Only

:37:16. > :37:27.Bjorgen has been able to live with the pace of Charlotte Kalla. She has

:37:28. > :37:30.been taken by surprise by this injection of pace from Charlotte

:37:31. > :37:40.Kalla. At the moment, subject to her coming back, she looks as though she

:37:41. > :37:48.will be in a battle for bronze. Borgen -- Bjorgen is right on her

:37:49. > :37:53.tail. They must be a question mark over that final tactical left

:37:54. > :38:01.unturned coming up now for Kalla. The first gold medal of this

:38:02. > :38:09.programme is about to be one. -- won. Brilliant tactically from

:38:10. > :38:14.Bjorgen going around that corner. Can she defend this title? She is

:38:15. > :38:20.the word champion. She is the woman in form. She knows Kalla is still

:38:21. > :38:24.there. Bjorgen is closing in on another superb piece of Winter

:38:25. > :38:30.Olympic history. It could be a truly golden fortnight for a Bjorgen. She

:38:31. > :38:34.is coming away. Kalla surely is going to have to settle for second

:38:35. > :38:41.place. What a performance from Bjorgen. Kalla is still driving for

:38:42. > :38:46.the line. But Marat Bjorgen has started here how she finished in

:38:47. > :38:52.Vancouver. It is gold again for the iron Lady of Norway. Kalla has too

:38:53. > :38:58.subtle for the silver. It is a brilliant bronze for Heidi Weng,

:38:59. > :39:03.coming home ahead of an exhausted Therese Johaug, who this time it

:39:04. > :39:07.ends up in fourth place. If there is any doubt as to how much these

:39:08. > :39:12.athletes give, here is the proof. There is nothing left. That was a

:39:13. > :39:19.superb way for the cross-country programme to get started here in

:39:20. > :39:27.Sochi. Great tactical scheme from Bjorgen. She knew she needed the

:39:28. > :39:30.inside line on the turn. She is four time world sprint winner. She will

:39:31. > :39:36.always be quicker over the last 200 metres. A classic finish. Slightly

:39:37. > :39:42.surprised how easily they got rid of Johaug on that final climb. We were

:39:43. > :39:45.talking about how brilliant she is on the uphill sections. Kalla had

:39:46. > :39:50.obviously spoken to her coaches about when to make that move, as we

:39:51. > :39:58.look at Kerttu Niskanen coming over the line. When she went, it was

:39:59. > :40:03.decisive. Bjorgen was able to go with her. How many more gold medals

:40:04. > :40:08.will be see from Bjorgen here in the hills and the sunshine of Sochi?

:40:09. > :40:13.Well, whatever else comes her way, she has added another gold to a

:40:14. > :40:24.growing list of accolades. She must now go down as one of the sport's

:40:25. > :40:28.all-time greats. You are certainly right there, Rob.

:40:29. > :40:32.She could go down as maybe even the greatest ever in the history of the

:40:33. > :40:39.Winter Olympics. She has got other five chances of medals. What she did

:40:40. > :40:44.get another medal, she would overtake her fellow countryman who

:40:45. > :40:49.has 12. That is the record in Winter Olympics. Eight of them weren't

:40:50. > :40:52.told. The iron Lady is not for turning. She marches straight on.

:40:53. > :40:59.That is a wonderful fourth gold medal of her career for Bjorgen of

:41:00. > :41:00.Norway. In a sprint finish with Charlotte Kalla of Sweden. Great

:41:01. > :41:10.action, wonderful views. Wonderful action so far. We have

:41:11. > :41:16.seen the traditional, the cross-country, and the very new in

:41:17. > :41:19.snowboard slopestyle. It has been a very dramatic morning. We are also

:41:20. > :41:25.going to be showing you some ice hockey now. It is the first time we

:41:26. > :41:34.were -- we are going into the venues here. The first we are going to see

:41:35. > :41:39.is the all conquering Americans. At least they would like to be. They

:41:40. > :41:43.were beaten to the gold last time around by the Canadians in

:41:44. > :41:47.Vancouver. So serious are they about trying to win it this time, they

:41:48. > :41:52.have voted not to march at the opening ceremony last night in

:41:53. > :41:57.preparation for a very big match today against the team which won the

:41:58. > :42:01.bronze the last time, Finland. This is a grudge match in as much as the

:42:02. > :42:06.Finns beat America, it was the first time since 2008 they had ever been

:42:07. > :42:13.beaten by anybody other than Canada. That was last November.

:42:14. > :42:17.Plenty to be proved today. This is how the ice hockey competition is

:42:18. > :42:18.going to work. It has been rearranged slightly. The competition

:42:19. > :42:23.format has changed. rearranged slightly. The competition

:42:24. > :42:30.format has Group a buddy for strongest teams. The first two teams

:42:31. > :42:34.will progress to the semifinals. The bottom two will reach the

:42:35. > :42:38.quarterfinals where they would play the top two teams from group B.

:42:39. > :42:49.Bring it on. We bring you two of the teams who

:42:50. > :42:52.could be contesting a medal. It is the first match of the group

:42:53. > :43:07.stages. The United States against Finland. The big decision for the

:43:08. > :43:13.coaches was starting goal position. The Finns have the best goalie in

:43:14. > :43:18.women's hockey right now. The big decision was who was going to going

:43:19. > :43:28.goal, for a Katey Stone. She has gone for the veteran, Jessie Vetter.

:43:29. > :43:40.Here we go. The women's ice hockey competition at Sochi 2014. The 22nd

:43:41. > :43:45.Winter Olympics is underway. The US wearing the blue shirts against the

:43:46. > :43:48.white shirts of the fence. Immediately in possession. They are

:43:49. > :43:58.big, they are strong, they are a physical team as well.

:43:59. > :44:08.Finland forced back towards the blue line. Hilary Knight puts her team in

:44:09. > :44:17.a little trouble. Cleared away down the ice. Finland have a chance to

:44:18. > :44:31.clear from their own end. Time and space. Intercepted. Scores! 53

:44:32. > :44:37.seconds! Hilary Knight! No problem in beating the goalie. It is one

:44:38. > :44:40.shot and one goal for Team USA. I was just going to talk about the

:44:41. > :44:47.transition of Finland as they went from defence to offence. A direct

:44:48. > :44:54.turnover to Hilary Knight. She pounded of the post past the goalie.

:44:55. > :44:59.She gets her head up and has a good look. The goalie beaten clean. What

:45:00. > :45:22.a moment for Hilary Knight. Good save by the goalie! What a

:45:23. > :45:43.chance that was for the Americans. Great saviour. Kelli Stack had an

:45:44. > :46:00.opportunity. Continuing to play at round. Good save, really good save.

:46:01. > :46:09.That is the best opportunity of this match so far, they are developing

:46:10. > :46:18.and getting stronger. Tremendous play by the Olympic veteran for Team

:46:19. > :46:28.Finland. She had her own defending team-mate coming in. It is pretty

:46:29. > :46:44.hard 16 minutes into a period to get your first shift. This could be an

:46:45. > :46:53.opportunity on the angle. On the toes. Comes straight forward and

:46:54. > :47:01.gets away from her. Gets enough on the short to deflect it away. The

:47:02. > :47:03.Americans are favourites and they want to get off to a flying dart and

:47:04. > :47:22.the -- a flying start and they did. A sigh of relief for Finland, that

:47:23. > :48:02.was evenly good opportunity. We are going to see some pushing and

:48:03. > :48:16.shoving. A bit of old time OK. -- hockey. The captain lays it out. The

:48:17. > :48:21.Finnish defence taking offence. A lot of pressure. It is interesting

:48:22. > :48:34.to see how much room both teams are being given. Battered home, the

:48:35. > :48:52.Americans doubled their advantage. That was like a home run Derby. The

:48:53. > :49:04.deflected shot comes in. Fantastic position. She takes it higher off

:49:05. > :49:41.the body. She must play at below the height of the top of the goal.

:49:42. > :50:04.This was the shot that hit the corner. Carpenter scores on the

:50:05. > :50:17.angle. Rebounding hard off the board. There was Carpenter. America

:50:18. > :50:27.lead 3-0. The Americans are all over it. What a finish. Tremendous play.

:50:28. > :50:36.I do not know if it goes off the Finnish defender. That was

:50:37. > :50:55.world-class. Carpenter on the one all those -- bounce. Tremendous

:50:56. > :51:12.finish from Carpenter. The US are in control.

:51:13. > :51:28.How did that not go in? She is dumbfounded. We are too. I do not

:51:29. > :51:36.know what happened was not -- as she had made the play but she was unable

:51:37. > :51:41.to hold on for the closing finish. It looked as if her hand went up

:51:42. > :52:03.almost in celebration and then in desperation.

:52:04. > :52:17.Thin man cannot get on the board on this occasion. -- Finland. It is

:52:18. > :52:22.going to be a powerplay and the Americans will be frustrated when

:52:23. > :52:31.they think the opportunity went one way, trying to make a play, Decker

:52:32. > :52:43.goes down, and that was the falling American player.

:52:44. > :53:07.That was the defensive number nine taken down their. It is a good

:53:08. > :53:23.moment for them to test. Goal! They needed 25 seconds. She fired home a

:53:24. > :53:29.shot side. That is a good opportunity for them to get momentum

:53:30. > :53:38.in the tournament. It could not be cleared by the defence. Look at the

:53:39. > :53:44.play across. Just cannot get past the post in time and she knows what

:53:45. > :54:06.she is doing, a clinical finish, a huge goal for confidence.

:54:07. > :54:19.The Americans start with a win, a comprehensive performance for 55

:54:20. > :54:27.minutes, a late goal from Finland. They start the campaign with a 3-1

:54:28. > :54:29.victory over Finland. The United States get a little bit of revenge

:54:30. > :54:48.after defeat by Finland in November. There has been a lot happening this

:54:49. > :54:55.morning. You might have to adjust your alarm clock to earlier.

:54:56. > :55:03.Tomorrow is one of the most widely anticipated events, the men's Alpine

:55:04. > :55:22.downhill. It has produced great drama and controversy. The king of

:55:23. > :55:27.the mountain in 1968, the Frenchman got three gold medals. He was

:55:28. > :55:29.already a celebrity before this to such an extent that the

:55:30. > :55:35.International Olympic Committee questioned his amateurism.

:55:36. > :55:43.Afterwards he would become a global superstar. The dominating figure has

:55:44. > :55:56.been a French man whose performances made him almost and mac Olympic

:55:57. > :56:03.board. -- god. It was the only one I expected to win and I got another

:56:04. > :56:11.one. The third gold medal, the last part of the trouble crown of Alpine

:56:12. > :56:21.skiing, might not have been one. The slalom was shrouded in fog. The

:56:22. > :56:31.Austrian skier was in the lead. The Austrian requested and was granted

:56:32. > :56:38.leave. He was disqualified for messing a date on his first run

:56:39. > :56:49.before his path was blocked. He won the third gold and became a

:56:50. > :57:20.superstar. Presentation of the third gold medal... The Austrian remains a

:57:21. > :57:23.great hero despite the controversy. Sage Kotsenburg wins the first gold

:57:24. > :57:31.of the Games in the snowboard slopestyle. Mark McMorris took the

:57:32. > :57:35.bronze despite a broken rib. Jamie Nicholls was second for Britain at

:57:36. > :57:55.the halfway stage and finished sixth. Billy Morgan was ten. --

:57:56. > :58:10.tenth. Marit Bjorgen won the cross-country.

:58:11. > :58:11.Still to come, Jonathan will be here shortly to take you through the

:58:12. > :58:52.speed skating. The Six Nations also continues

:58:53. > :58:59.today. I am off to practice my backside 180 melon! Goodbye.