Day 3, Part 1 - 9.00am to 12.00pm Winter Olympics

new season 's best, welcome to the Olympic Games, young Gracie Gold.

Here she comes. She is set to become the Russian darling of these games.

She proved she is a medal contender with spins that are impossible for

most flexible skaters. Dazzling short programme yesterday. The red

dress, she is skating to the haunting theme from Schindler 's

list. Triple toe, double axel, triple toe,

double toe. That was another triple. A triple

Lutz in combination with Tony. -- toe loop. Look at that position.

It doesn't get much better than that, the crowd are on their feet

and we have witnessed something incredibly special here tonight. She

is just 15 years of age. Katarina Witt is giving her a standing

ovation. If we were not tied up with wires I would do the same thing. It

is incredible. Effortless and expressive and brilliantly

choreographed, it was a performance that had it all. Take about, young

lady, take it in. She has arrived and we will enjoy watching her for

many years to come. This is outstanding. She fought for one jump

and then she relaxed into the double toe loop. Look at that! 141.51. Both

scores are huge and, why not? We have witnessed a programme to

remember. That is an amazing moment. There we have confirmation, look at

that school. It is head and shoulders above the rest.

So that was the first gold of the Winter Olympics for Russia and

Canada were certain for silver but the USA still had work to do to

claim bronze going into the concluding event of the team

competition, the free ice dance. For many, these two went in as

favourites into the European Championships after the top two

teams were missing but their free dance was far from perfect in

Budapest. He was slow and lost balance and she fell and it cost

them the gold. But watch out, there lifts are glorious and the crowd

loved their interpretation of the music. They know how to sell a

programme. Here -- here they go. Welcome to the

ballet, the Russian ballet. That was very novel, very original

and difficult. A dramatic ending to what was a

beautiful performance. She is outstanding. This music could not

have been better for her. He played his part as well but you could. Take

your eyes of her. -- but you could not take your eyes off her. They

borrowed the spin from the pairs skaters. That interpretation flew

around the ice. Look at that. They have a points deduction but it is

103.48 and they are currently in first place. The judges just loved

that presentation. It had the technical difficulty but the

presentation was delightful. The reigning Olympic champions are

preparing for their three -- free dance. They have been skating

together for 17 years and they have such a close bond and they say that

this free dance tells the story of their partnership over the years. At

us enjoy this one. -- let us enjoy this one.

Very nicely through the first part of this free dance programme. They

were absolutely in sync. They are such a dynamic

partnership. What else would you expect from these two? They are such

great storytellers. You cannot take your eyes off them. Wonderfully

mature and sophisticated and classy. There is not an ugly moment in

there. They managed to get all of the levels without ever contorting.

It is always very classy. 107.56. You can tell from their reaction,

not excited too much about those marks. The last to skate in this ice

dance competition, the last to skate in the team competition... Speed and

power are always their strengths. Superbly controlled entrance there

into the lift. For so many years, they have been in

the shadow of others. But not any more. That was a confident, polished

performance. Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. Not a waiver anywhere in

either body. Transition in the rolling. Beautiful positions. Could

easily have been ugly in the middle and could easily have not been quite

right within a transition. Not perfect on those. Second-half much

better. But again, it is the speed with which they attack the elements.

A long way clear of the Canadians. Wonderful marks for technical. Look

at the components go. They loved the presentation as well -- the

component score. They secured first place in the ice

dance ahead of the Canadians. The Russians finished third. But it was

a day for Russia to celebrate. There is confirmation of the final

standings. The hosts with their first gold of the Games. What a way

to kick off the figure skating, a fantastic competition for the

hosts. The Russian was back to his best and a new star was born in the

15-year-old Yulia Lipnitskaya. And be 15-year-old really is the new

darling of Russia. The old darling of Russia, he has been a favourite

for many years. Everyone has loved the new team competition. Fabulous

addition. 130 million people hear very pleased about the gold medal.

We have short track speed skating coming in about 20 minutes time. We

have got a little time in hand and it is always good to reflect on some

of the gold medal winning performances from last night. In the

ski jumping normal hill. I can tell you that having sat at the top of

one of these things, there is nothing normal about it. Patrick

minted in -- Patrick Winterton was at the men's event last night.

Bardal 3.2 compensation. A little bit of a back win to cope with. He

is more than used to that. A very solid jump from Bardal. He joins the

list of one, two, three, four, five, over 130 points. Bardal should be

there as well. The normal hill world champion. With 45 seconds for each

jumper, it will not be long before we start to prepare for the climax

of this competition. Bardal with a massive smile on his face. The bonus

points very useful to him. Now to the double Olympic champion in

Vancouver. Attempting to break the record of individual gold, but he

has not been showing that sort of form so far this week. The Swiss

flag bearer in a little bit of trouble. Married to a Russian so he

is very familiar with the culture and the language out here. But he

has not been able to time his peak right. He has won world cups this

season. But then again, 14 men have won from the 20 competitions. Such

an open season. 13th place for Ammann. Now to Freund. Good power

from Freund. Not quite going the distance. Crashing but 60mph.

Hermann Maier -esque. Just raising the arm to indicate he is OK. No

impact on the face or head. That has got to be good news. Let us have

another look at this. Maybe getting greedy for distance. Beautiful angle

with the upper body. Down into the landing. Slightly

off-line. Luckily, the binding releases and then the second ski

goes. That is always the danger. One of the half times the weight of an

alpine ski. I am sure many of you are familiar with that. Always a

danger of damage to the knee. Freund crashing out and has points reduce

dramatically. He goes down into 40th position with a jump of 99.5m. If he

has sufficient distance, he might get a second jump. The calculation

is quite complicated so we will have to wait and see. Now the Austrian.

The most successful World Cup ski jumper there has ever been. That is

not vintage by him by any means at all. He produced the longest jump in

qualifying of 104m. Level with Freund. Not a good jump from him.

15th place. It is going to be a remarkable comeback. His score, 123.

He is in trouble. Along with Ammann. The oldest man in the field. There

are only nine men who are too old to be his son. There are five men in

the field who won't even born when this man competed in his first

Olympic Games back in 1992. He is doing his seventh Olympic Games this

time round and the word is out that he wants to go for eight. He will be

45. The way he has been jumping this year, I would not put it past him. A

brilliant ambassador for the Japanese team, a brilliant

ambassador for ski jumping. He became the oldest man to win a World

Cup. Not the most stable landing from him. Normally scores 19s.

While. He is in sixth position. Victory is not beyond him quite yet.

He is on 131 points, only four points behind Bardal. That

effectively as two metres. A brilliant jump from him could bring

him gold. Slovenia's best hope is going the distance. He is in the

money. Good jump from Prevc. He has a tendency to drift over to the

right hand side. 102.5. Beautiful timing. Very, very smooth. Relaxed

as he flies. 55, 65mph. Great work from the Slovenian. The Slovenian

coach looking pretty happy with things at the moment and so he

should be. His man is into second place. This is the man who has been

on form. But there have been one or two wobbles in the practice rounds.

Here he goes, bidding for Olympic glory. That is the way to open your

account. The polls have gone to massive expense to get to Sochi and

they will be delighted. The reigning world champion of the large hill, he

won the last two world cups and he could well be in the lead after the

first run here in the Jumping Center. Is he on his way to Olympic

gold? The star of last season, so far the star of this season. There

you have it. 142 points. He has put a 7-point lead over Bardal and he

has built himself 3.5m of grace for the second round. He was the last to

go and he will be the last to go in the second round as well. Bardal in

second place. If he wants to make it gold he will have to go 15 metres

further. That is surely not going to happen.

Now we prepare to build the tension in the stadium. The German on the

Enron. He is way outside the top positions after the first jump. He

is back from injury after the summer months when he broke his foot and he

missed three or four weeks of training. He has shown some sparks

of brilliance here but not tonight. The World Cup leader is the man who

leads the way after the first round. A brilliant jump. He has put a three

metre advantage over other men on a form so it is far from decided that

he has done everything possible to take that first step to Olympic

gold. He knows that his big hope, his

really big hope has not performed tonight. First-round jump of 96

metres. There were signs that he was struggling in some of the training

jumps but in others he was the longest. 253.3. Next ago is a man

who reached his peak back in 2006, the first cheque ever to win the

overall World Cup. He won the four Hills tournament that year as well.

He needs 128 points to take the lead and 148 to stand a chance of taking

medals. A beautiful technician, lovely form and a great landing.

That was a great performance from Janda. He has never taken any

medals. But the man who follows him down the in-run has taken more than

most. It is the double Olympic champion from salt lake city in

2002. He will be hoping to go a whole lot better than that. He won

both goals in Vancouver off the normal hill and the large hill. What

can he produce in his second round. It is not there, it is just not

happening. Another of the favourites of the bookies who has not performed

tonight. He will have to wait for the large hill contest. A good shot

of the icy in-run there. A two centimetre layer of ice that has

really performed well, consistent in-run speeds and they have had no

problem with the warmer weather and they have managed to drain all of

the waterway. The $50 million that it cost to build this facility has

been worth every cent. Fourth place for Simon Ammann. Will he come back

and shock us in the large hill competition on Saturday. Thomas

Morgenstern follows him down. Here he goes. He is back from injury and

back from a horrifying fall. It is good to see him in action. That

familiar style, with the flexion of the hip. It is a much better jump.

Just wait to see him in action in the large hill and, of course, he

will play a part in the Austrian team event. Every time he survives a

jump now there is a big smile on his face and it really was a horrifying

accident he had which put him in hospital for five days just after

the New Year period just after the four Hills tournament had finished.

He has worked with psychologists, physiotherapists, physiological

justice, the whole lot and they have got into the Olympic Games.

Quickly onto the radio. Andreas Wellinger is the new leader. Now

AndreasWank. He has looked solid. He is the tallest. A low position on

the in-run. That chin is thrusting forward and AndreasWank is close. He

will get compensation, little bit of a back wind will take him up to 2.99

metres. Now, he was five metres ahead of Andreas Wellinger after the

first round. 18.5 I suspect for style. No, they do not like it. But

pushes AndreasWank down into fifth place. Andreas Wellinger survives

another challenge. He finished the first round in 14th place. There

will be a lot of celebration and a lot of nerves in the German camp at

the moment. Two Austrians, Slovenian, Norwegian and poles still

to jump. This is the winner of the four Hills tournament. He only got

into the team because another jumper was injured. He has exploded with

some brilliant jumping. He knows he has not taken full advantage. There

will be good compensation. The back wind certainly is causing problems

for Thomas Diethart. He was given a pig by his father when he won his

first ever world cup and now he has a little pink pig as a mascot. I am

not sure we are going to see it tonight but he is in top spot at the

moment. He takes the tally up to 258, he has scraped ahead of Andreas

Wellinger. The duel between the Austrians and the Germans, which has

been a feature of ski jumping for the last five seasons, continues.

Austria are now leading with Andreas Wellinger in second. There are no

more Germans to go. This is Michael Haybock who has been on fantastic

form, don't rule him out. That is the worst job we have seen from him.

It is the worst jump we have seen in the last four days. The pressure of

the Olympic Games. The better your chances of taking gold, the more

pressure there is. The nerves were perhaps getting to Michael Haybock,

the junior world champion from 2010, looking to become the Olympic

champion in 2014. The style points put him into second

place. Austria are now one and two and Thomas Diethart survives after a

leader with only three to go. We have a Slovenian, a Norwegian and

then the world number one jumper for this season. Is Peter Prevc going to

prove himself here tonight? It is the last chance for Slovenia? It is

good, it is very, very good. We have a new leader and it is Peter Prevc.

He got his first win and then everybody started to take notice of

what he did. His coach has played a large part in the development of

this man and he will be celebrating right now but he will also be

crossing his fingers and his toes because there are still two to go

and nothing is certain quite yet. It is a good jump, there is no doubt

about that. The compensation point should be good because the back wind

has persisted and we could be looking at one, too, or three metres

added. We will see in a moment. He likes it. That is why. 130.5 points

scored. He takes his total onto 265, a 7-point advantage over second

place. Two to go and Thomas Diethart is in danger of being pushed off the

podium. This is the normal hill world champion but he is in short --

he is short and he knows it, I don't think he is going to be the Olympic

champion tonight. Fractionally late on the take-off. Anders Bardal was

not looking as relaxed as he did in the first round. A big moment for

him. He is seventh in the World Cup standings at the moment so perhaps

he was not expecting anything special and if he goes into the top

two he is obviously on for a medal and he would have settled for that

at the beginning of the night. He waits and waits and waits and he has

got the bronze medal at least. He has the bronze medal at least and

the tally for Norway goes up and up and up. They have claimed the bronze

medal in the men's skiathlon this morning. They got gold in the

biathlon yesterday. They got gold in the women's skiathlon. Now Poland's

number one is looking for Olympic glory. He is the world number one

and he needs the blue line. That is the way to do it. Once again Kamil

Stoch has flown to glory. That is three jumping victories in

succession. He won the last two world cups in Felling and he has

absolutely slaughtered the rest tonight. That was the best jump in

the first round by a country mile and he has done it again in the

second. Nobody can complain. There is like in all sports by not here

tonight. This was just pure talent and pure nerve from Kamil Stoch, a

sensational leap to secure his first Olympic title and his first Olympic

medal. It has been four years of hard graft for this man since

Vancouver. He was 10th in the World Cup standings in 2011 and then fifth

and then third and then this year he is the number one. He is a man who

built his own jump at the age of five and here comes confirmation

that Poland have a new champion. It is Kamil Stoch who is the man of the

moment and he will be massively popular in Poland with that

performance. Anders Bardal of Norway takes the bronze. A wonderful

performance from Peter Prevc of Slovenia to take the silver medal

here tonight but Kamil Stoch of Poland is above the more comic he is

the Olympic champion on the normal hill.

That is only the third gold medal for Poland in their history, their

long history and they have appeared in all 21 previous games.

Congratulations to them and to Kamil Stoch. Now we are heading to the

icebergs eight new arena and we are going to go inside -- iceberg will

stop. This is a glimpse of one of our

favourite sports. It is the men's's speed skating. That is Jack

Whelbourne. This is his second games. We are really looking forward

to this, it is one of our favourites and your favourites. We are weak

side at the Iceberg and I can tell you are itching to get your teeth

into this. Good morning. Lehman Good morning.

It is the first time I have spoken to you. There is an adrenaline rush.

You never quite know who is going to win. A bit of a lottery. Let me just

tell you are at this stage of the competition, it is a culling

exercise. We have 36 skaters lining up in six heats. We are looking for

the top three in each of the heats to progress into the semifinals.

Jack Whelbourne is in position two. Not too bad in 1500m. Jack

Whelbourne is in position two. Let me run through the line-up. Japan,

GB, Germany, Latvia and the Netherlands. That is the composition

of the sex in the first heat of the 1500m. Stand by for the fireworks.

The speed gets ramped up from the front. The early pacesetter is the

Dutchman. It is all about tactics. It is jostling and juggling for the

right position. It has already changed as well. It is like a pack

of cards, the way they shuffle them. Jack Whelbourne is clinging to their

coat tails. Jack Whelbourne is well positioned at the moment in third

place. The pace really beginning to ramp up. This is where mistakes

could occur. Eight to go. They are dropping their foot on the pedal and

it is still the Italian Confortola who is putting the rest to the

sword. Second, Takamido of Japan. Former European junior champion and

a Vancouver semifinalists. Five to go. Confortola still at the front.

Takamido coming around at the outside. Well Jack Whelbourne under

pressure. He sees the danger and goes for the inside pass. He

achieves it. Jack Whelbourne skating out of his skin at the moment. The

22-year-old looking to cruise through into the semifinal. Igniting

the burners now. Into the closing two laps. But well born in front

looking good. Ammann is right there with him. Final lap. Jack Whelbourne

is into the back straight. Stay upright, Jack. Here it comes. Jack

Whelbourne passes the line first. Oozing confidence there. That was

the performance of Jack Whelbourne. Excellent performance. Skated

tactically. Fantastic. Made the right moves at the right time. Did

not get caught up in the traffic behind. Him finishing first in that

race will put him in the better race in the semifinal. It would not

surprise me if the Japanese skater does not receive a penalty. A huge

class. You see him coming through on the inside there. Jack Whelbourne

tucked up on the inside behind the Italian. Knocking his left hand out

of the way as he came through. I do not think there should be any

problem there whatsoever. It will be interesting to see what the final

result is of this race. I think Jack Whelbourne is comfortably through

out of heat one. Before they line up for heat two, a good point you

should make about the ruling. There is a situation where they could be

an advancement. Absolutely. If a skater is in a qualifying position

and is impeded by someone else, they can be advanced to the next round.

They are reviewing the referee's replay. He is just informing the

announcer in the stadium here. I think here saying number two for

four. -- number 244. It was a very dangerous manoeuvre. I said that

Pukitis had got involved with the pushing. That is the result

confirmed. Pukitis has been advanced. He had to take the line

down the outside. He is now through into the semifinals. Even though the

third skater from Japan did qualify, he receives the penalty and will not

go through to the next round. The man coming onto the ice in the

second heat has drawn the inside position is the Korean who has won

three gold medals in Vancouver and he is skating for Russia here. I

will tell you a little bit about him once they have started. The line-up,

Russia in lane one, then Korea, Hungary, China, Hong Kong and then

Israel. Let me just tell you about Viktor Ahn, he opened in solid 60 --

in Salt Lake City. In Vancouver, he broken ankle and did not qualify.

Now has become a Russian and he is the repeal champion and Russia have

never won a medal in short track speed skating. They are pinning

their hopes on the former Korean and now Russian 28-year-old. He sat back

at the very back of this group of six skaters. The Israeli, flag

bearer at these championships, just being passed by the Chinese skater.

China at the front at the moment. You can see how quickly it changes.

The crowd are begging them to wake up now. The noise is resonating

around the arena. V an -- Viktor Ahn has come to the front foot career.

-- front for Korea. It is all about getting in the right position the

Russian is now in second place. The 17-year-old Chinese skater has now

once again been passed right Viktor Ahn. It is An at the front. Now they

are beginning to ramp the place up. Two to go as they come through the

finishing straight. The Israeli is in third spot. The hot seat. The

third spot, he is under pressure. An is still bleeding. The third spot

could change as they sweep of the burned. The tremendous skate from

Viktor Ahn. Will be interesting to see what will happen to the Korean.

Going into the last lap, he was passed by the Israeli. Will be

interesting to see the close-up of the finishing shot who got the third

spot. The Korean had quite a quiet skate. The former junior overall

world champion, we will see in the closing stages how he got involved.

Call skating for Viktor Ahn. He is certainly my favourite. -- cools

skating. Coming up to the line and looking around, feeling quite

comfortable. The Korean did slot himself into third. He kept a nice

quiet skate and progressed into the semifinals. Fourth, as a matter of

interest, was the Israeli. Two heats out of the way. Compelling action.

Absolutely gripping stuff. Hugely impressive. They are athletes of

gladiatorial dimension. An is a very quiet man. He moved the mosque -- --

to Moscow. When he changed nationalities, he approached the

Americans first. Apparently so. And the outcome was? I don't think

America had enough money. I tell you what, he is in with a great chance

of winning a medal for Russia. There is the line-up for heat three. They

are called to the line. On the inside, Japan. Then Belarus. In lane

three, representing Korea, Sin Da-Woon. He is probably the red-hot

favourite. The current overall leader of the World Cup and he is

the overall world champ. He is number 243, Sin Da-Woon, 20 years of

age. Nicely tucked into second place, Celski. Bronze medal at the

500m in Vancouver. Celski, a man with some pretty sharp pace. At the

moment, China is looking good at the front. A 19-year-old Chinese man,

fifth in 2011 in the World Championships. Cursory glances over

the shoulder from the second skater. Sin Da-Woon taking the pace

up with seven laps to go. Celski in third place. It would not surprise

me if this is a one to three qualifier going through to the

semifinal -- 1-2-3. We will look for a move from France who was in fourth

spot. He will have to make the move otherwise he will be the first of

the losers. The pace is now really beginning to increase. The Japanese

skater has been distanced. The field beginning to fragment a little bit

here. Four in the hunt for three places. It is the French man who was

fourth and he is not going to make it. The Japanese skater made a

mistake there. Big mistake. That leaves three clear to cruise down

the back straight. They move down into the next round. No problem at

all, over the line for Sin Da-Woon, the world champion from Korea. He

made it look very easy. He made it look very easy indeed. I think

Celski maybe a bit concerned about when he went up inside of the

Chinese skater. Whether or not he will receive a penalty, I can see

the referee in the middle discussing. Whether they will go

across to the video replay. There was some doubt. The Korean moving

into the lead. The inside, Celski comes through the inside with no

contact whatsoever. Shi of China may not get advanced. Already we are

getting fireworks. Skaters overcooking it as they come out of

the corners. You can see down the inside, there was the Frenchman and

already you will be observing the fireworks in this. Three heats down

and we have got three more to go. Hazel label we will leave it shortly

because Jack Whelbourne has gone through to the semifinals -- HAZEL

IRVINE:. If you want to keep following the short track please be

our guests. It is going on the red button now. We will concentrate on

the curling at the moment followed by the slalom one of the women's

super combined event. That is what we will do on BBC Two. Rocking and

rolling, bringing you the best bits. You can do what you like via

the red button but we will keep going with our plans this morning. I

talked about the curling, the men got under way for Great Britain with

a win over Russia. Now it is the turn of the women's team. They are

the reigning world champions. Very seldom are we favourites for gold.

Eve finds herself in that situation, alongside the Swedes. They are the

double defending Olympic champions and the reigning European champions.

They are starting this morning and it could not be more difficult. Eve

says that is the way she likes it. Jackie Lockhart, a former World

Championship winning skip, and Steve Cram, they are downing the Ice Cube

Curling Center for us now. I think this could not be a tougher start

for Eve and our women. I can hear the bagpipe is in the background.

Perhaps that will spur them on. What do you assess for this match this

morning? I think Jackie will agree that this

is a tough start for the women. You can afford to lose a couple of

matches in this competition and still make it through to the

play-off matches next week but you really want to start well. For Eve

and the young team here it is a big opportunity. It is a -- it is really

about how they play here and I think Jackie will agree. I do we need to

see how they get on but mentally they will really want to win this

that will carry them forward. It is going to be a tight game, right down

to the very wire. It will be close. The men had an EV win this morning

but we don't think it will be like that. -- an easy win.

I was just talking to Jackie this morning and she was telling me that

the Swedish double gold medal winning skipper has now retired. She

is a real superstar at home in Sweden. Isn't she doing Strictly

Come Dancing there or something? Yes, she has been doing the Swedish

version of Strictly Come Dancing and she will be doing a lot of press and

with the visiting dignitaries in Sweden. She is leading the high life

here at the moment but she is working here and commentary as well

so she will be hoping the best for her Swedish team today. All the

great champions work in the commentary positions. It is all

yours. Here we go, very interesting opening match for Great Britain.

Thank you, Hazel. Yes, thank you Hazel. Claire Hamilton will be the

lead here and they take on Sweden. The men play Swindon -- Sweden this

afternoon. Vicki Adams will play second. This team are a mixture of

having played together as juniors and moved on together into their

senior team. Eve Muirhead is the person who the media have really

concentrated on in the last few years. She had a brilliant junior

career and went to Vancouver and learnt a lot in Vancouver four years

ago as a youngster. She was the skip at the age of just 19 and this time

she comes to the Olympic Games leading a team which everybody, not

just the British contingent, thinks have a good chance of winning than

medal. But the Swedish team are the current European champions and they

beat Britain in the world champions and the European Championships and

they are undoubtedly defending champions but with a different skip

now so it will be tough. The girls will be a bit nervous setting out in

this big adventure. They will not show it. They have been a major

championships many times before but there is just something different

about the Olympic Games. The one to get the first couple of shots --

they want to get the first couple of shots under their belts and then the

game will flow. We were talking about the men this morning and it

was so important for them to get off to a good start, admittedly against

one of the weaker teams, Russia are not one of the stronger nations.

They played really well but there were a few nerves that they admitted

afterwards but it certainly didn't show through. They were always in

control but this might be a little bit different in terms of the

closeness of this match but it is important that they play well. I'm

usually in curling the skip for Sweden plays first. She plays lead.

Margarita Siegfried Sun is 30 years of age and has a lot of experience.

Even though their previous skip has now retired this is still a very

experienced and very talented team. Yes, these girls have played

together for a long time. They lost the World Championships to eat so

they are not unaware of how it feels to be in a world final. They have

the experience in front of them. Claire Hamilton will play lead for

Great Britain. A very young team but that is not unusual now. We have

quite a few young teams here across the competition. I expected either

would take the game on early but Blair has just overthrown that

corner guard and it has headed out over the back. -- Clare.

Margaretha Sigfridsson is going to take this one out.

In the first two players we have already seen what we did not see

this morning, there were not really any mistakes early on at all. If you

were not with us this morning, chat to us a little bit about the ice

conditions. I know the men came off and they were very pleased with how

they had handled it. There was some chat yesterday about it being

green. What does that mean? We talk about green ice and that is just

knew ice that has just been laid and not been properly played on. Once

you have a few games under your belt then the ice conditions should start

to change. I spoke to the girls yesterday and they were saying that

it is running pretty fast. It is running at 305 which is a nice

weight for us but they have to be careful on the forefoot and the

8-foot lines. If you edged the stone back at all it will stay very

straight so it is very weight dependent and they are hoping that

the curls and the swing will improve as the games go on. You will hear a

few cheers. There is a decent crowd here. There is another. It just

clips the British town at the back there. Russia are not playing. The

Russian women are playing Denmark so you will hear noise that is not

related to this match and the crowd are enthusiastic. It is good to have

a bit of atmosphere in here today. Vicki Adams just playing a draw. You

can hear the girls shouting. Nine is pretty close to the back of the Ring

said they are desperately wanting this stone to stop, as it does.

Regular curling viewers will have to come -- for give us a little bit if

we just remind people about some of the terms. You can see an arrow in

the top of your screen which means that Great Britain have got the

hammer which is the last stone advantage in this end which is so

important. You have got to choose really when you use that to your

advantage. It is not really about every end just transferring it. If

the end is blank and then that last stone advantage stays with that team

that had it. If you score it transfers over to the other team but

they can score off US and still around. -- they can score a few --

offer you as well. We are looking for a simple hit on

the nose but it is looking a tiny bit high. You have to be... It is so

crucial to play the proper weight. If you are playing heavy you are not

getting any of the intern or the out-turn here. They are playing on

sheet see which is great for you and I because they are looking right

down the sheet. There was a great view of the line there. It is a

tentative start from both sides here.

Both of these teams have had eight minutes practice before they came on

and off and that is where you have to get rid of your nerves in your

shots. We have to remind ourselves that this is the Olympic Games. They

will be ever so slightly nervous but I had to say that they are not

showing it at the moment Anna Sloan had a birthday last week and she is

20 years old and she is from Lockerbie. She is playing third. She

is really crucial to the success of this team. She is playing well and

setting either up well. If Eve is going to play the sort of game she

wants to play then all three have to play well, particularly an. Yes,

very much so. Anna was a skip in her own right and went to the World

Championships but what has strengthened the team is that she

fits in well with Eve but she has also been in that position where she

knows what a skipper feels and that is a huge help to any skip who has

got a wing man to support them at every turn. It is so crucial to be

supportive and not in any way trying to undermine the fact that Eve is

the skip and I don't thing that happens at all even though Anna has

skip to herself very successfully. To know each other very well and

they have played together through their junior careers and now they

are on the GB senior team and they have had a good start to their

careers together. Two nice throws therefrom and. She will be happy to

have performed well. -- from Anna. This is Maria Prytz. She plays for

Sweden. A lot of pressure will be placed on her in these tight games.

She is not the skip. Sigfridsson plays lead. She has a lot of

experience. The first stone from Eve Muirhead.

There is so much pressure, she is obviously the person that the media

have concentrated on for a few years but she deals with it very well.

Yes, she has really matured and as a maturing young lady for her 23 years

of age the experience of Vancouver without question has helped her. She

is very focused on where she wants to go and this is her dream. You

have a close-up view of that. People say it is a bad experience a good

one? I think it is when you are young because you can learn a lot.

As long as you take it the right way and you use it and you learn why

those things happened, although it was not particularly a great first

Olympic experience in terms of the results, she did, as you said, learn

an awful lot. Yes, she has got used on her side and will probably make

many Olympic Games if she wants to. Maria Prytz just through that strike

but it hit and rolled out. They will all be glad to get this first and

over and done and start afresh for end number two.

Jackie was explaining this morning that when you have the hammer you

really want to score to at least in this level if you can. That end was

blank there are four Eve Muirhead so they retain the hammer going into

the second end. As Jackie said I think a few nerves have just been

dispelled there and everybody can now settle down a little bit.

Plenty of chat on bedsides. How is your Swedish? I have absolutely no

idea! I am sure I can judge what they are saying, but no

understanding. Just to go over the format, if this is the first time

you have been watching the curling. There are ten teams. Each team plays

the other nine in a round-robin format. The top four teams go into

the semifinals. The winners play off for the gold medal match and the

losers for the bronze medal match. Straightforward as that. Plenty of

games over the next ten, 11 games. British fans, quite a lot of them

in. They are on the left this morning. I am being told they are

over on my right this afternoon. This morning UK time of course.

Textbook stuff there from Margaretha Sigfridsson. Centreline and Claire

Hamilton is going for the corner. We will want this to finish outside of

the rings. It will act as a corner guard. That will help pretend stones

later on in the game if they get in behind it. -- help to protect.

Maria Prytz giving and asking her to stop just outside the house and

protect the red. As we said, Maria Prytz and Margaretha Sigfridsson

have played together for a long time. Two nice shop is from the skip

there shops. For people who do not watch too much curling, the first

four stones, if they are out of the house, they cannot be taken out

until we have had fought stones played. -- four. The guards have to

be left there. Claire Hamilton's shot coming in. They do not want any

bounce. That is a lovely shot from Claire Hamilton. After the first

end, we have had four immaculate shots. They had to get rid of the

nerves and that was in the first end. Maria Wennerstrom. She has just

been asked to play the same shot as Claire They are looking for it to

sit on top of the yellow stone. No line at the moment so they are

having to leave it. Just hanging that little bit high of the line.

Vicki can see all of this. She will be happy to roll in behind the

centre red. Vicki Adams. This looks maybe a

little heavy. Just missed that. Good throw but just missed the sweeping.

They were not quick enough on it. Such a fine line between getting the

perfect role and just missing it. But a good throw from Vicki. This

looks spot on from Maria Wennerstrom.

A similar shot for Vicki Adams this time. Coming in from the other side.

The chic and exit -- let us see if she can execute it a tad better this

time. Going to have to go in... OK. She

did not get the role but it is plan B as they say.

This is Christina Bertrup. Another experienced player. 37, she is, as

well. She has played with various skips over the years. There you can

see what Vicki Adams was trying to do last time. Still not quite tucked

it in there. They want to play... Back to you

wait here, just to try and catch the yellow. Just enough to push the red

back. Hard! Not sure it looks like... Enough weight here. The

girls are working really hard. That was just wait. I think it was the

right line, if she had the correct weight.

Not sure why she did not clearly two front reds when she had the

opportunity at the front of the house. They will cause the problems,

especially now there are three sitting out there. Margaretha

Sigfridsson has just asked Christina to put a guard on. She will block it

up. Just coming across a little bit too

much. It is still very much acting as a barrier. Eve is going to have

to look at something to clear up the centre. Looking to move that stone

across to the two reds. They have decided... I am unclear here. Yes.

That will be close to that. Normal. Normal weight.

She will need to play a slightly better shot than with her previous

stone. Normal weight is 2.2 throw normally.

Did not quite work out exactly as they had planned. Not too bad. Their

coach 's there. Just saw a quick glimpse of Rhona. David is a very

experienced coach. He was the coach of the men's team in Vancouver, Dave

Murdoch's team. Maria Prytz here with an open hit and a tiny little

bit of a roll, I think she will be looking for.

Calling hard. It must be coming off the line. She is an experienced

player, Maria Prytz. We were chatting the other day and reading

about competitions last year. She sometimes has a tendency to go off

at the wrong times and when you want the big shot played by the fourth,

she can be a bit hit or miss. Very much so. She can crack on the big

shots. She does not seem to be pulling the shop is off quite as

easy at the moment -- the shops. Even wants to come down and move the

red back here. -- Eve wants to. Eve has seen a few shots coming

down. We just need it to bend a little. It is coming in. Almost.

That is unfortunate. That is a missed opportunity. These lines, as

we said earlier, sometimes, if you just put a little weight on, you get

no result at all. They do not move for you. It is not a disaster

because we still have our yellow sitting tee . The result is

obviously important, but it will be how they play and I think that is

going to be important. If you get defeated, there are another eight

matches, fine. It is really how you play. My worry is, and I can see it

in Eve Muirhead's face at the moment. If she does not score 100%,

she will crucify herself. She needs to run with this game. It is not a

disaster. It just was not 100%. We were chatting only run -- earlier on

about how sometimes any athlete going to a major games and what

you've learn through your career is actually to bring your best game

when you really need it. It is like a sprinter in the rounds, you do not

necessarily need to win your heat. When you are young, you feel you

have to show. It is about consistency and then when it really

counts, producing the big shot. It all -- we talk about bringing out

our A game. She just has to remember they have done all of their hard

work and the performance will follow. This is the last stone. She

really needs to sweep this hard to get the angle in. That is not going

to fit. Well, that is not a good start for Britain. Almost like you

said, you can see it, the personal indignation. Early stages though.

But it is really trying to accept that at the Olympic Games, you come

out in this first game, a big game like this, the first end, everyone

looked nervous. Not everyone has settled down yet. You are not going

to win the game on the first and second end, you will win it in the

ninth and 10th end. I have to say, from being a skip myself, you

desperately want to get the one good shot under your belt. You feel more

comparable. She needs one shot and then she will be back where she

should be, feeling confident. The shot made it difficult. She did not

give herself the chance. It has been a good start for Sweden. Margaretha

Sigfridsson will be delighted with that. Jackie is just pointing out on

the computer, the statistics, it is very early, only two ends, but they

get scored as to the shot that gets called as to how they perform that

shocked. She is operating at 33% success rate, Eve Muirhead.

Comparing that to David Murdoch, 100% this morning. As we keep

saying, when it counts. Obviously you know more about this than me but

I am always a bit wary of statistics in sport. They never tell you the

whole story. One big shot at the right time can we knew the whole

match, the gold-medal. Without question. There has been a lot of

talk about stats for the young curlers because they don't know

whether to tell them or not. You can win again and someone can come off

having played low percentages and they are disappointed but you have

to take the whole dynamics of the game and the whole team and it is

the team average at the end of the day. It is very important for the

skip to have a good percentage but quite often they will not have the

highest percentage. Margaretha Sigfridsson after having

played a very nice draw. This is almost a carbon copy of last time.

She played two very nice shots at the beginning of the end. Just

coming off the Central line very slightly. Clegg Hamilton has put

that corner guard in place. -- Claire Hamilton.

What are the buttons on the Swedish brash? It is a stopwatch that they

have wrapped around the bottom of their brush and the girls use it to

time the stone so that they can guesstimate where they are going to

finish up at the other end. Our girls do not have the stopwatches on

their brushes at the moment, they have them wrapped around their

waists, the old-fashioned kind of stopwatches but that is exactly what

that is. It is crucial that you know the weight of the ice and the

captain all the skip will constantly ask, where is it? The team at the

bottom end, if they have timed the stone correctly between the tee line

and the hog line, they can tell the skip where the stone is going to

finish up. It is up to them to take that stone down to the other end and

they are under full control of the weight of that stone. You cannot

make it go any slower but if it needs sweeping they can sweep it.

Sweeping can make a huge difference to the game and if you are very good

sweeper you can take that stone anything between six feet and 12

feet further than where it would normally go, with the help of

brushing. You may have seen Eve Muirhead they're just sweeping. Once

it is past the line then the opposing team can sweep in an effort

to try and take it right out of the house or certainly as far back as it

can. This end has been a carbon copy of

the previous end in the first four stones.

That is a nice shot from Vicki Adams. They had to leave it to the

very last minute to let it take its curl. It is pretty full in here now.

I would say it is about 90% full. They are getting on for 3000 people.

We have not seen a venue for yet and that has a little effect on the

humidity and the ice temperature. Before play started it was one of

the concerns that once this arena was at full capacity, with the

air-conditioned differ and what would -- how would that affect the

ice? But we are going to have to wait and see until after the game

and maybe the girls will be able to tell us if the timings have changed

or if the eyes did differ. It is a concern for them. They have to watch

and keep an eye on the ice all the way through the competition and

during the game. I think we need to move them! Yes. I

don't like the guard. There is a little bit of discussion there.

There is indecision here at the moment and that is a lack of

confidence. I think I like Eve 's first call. You can afford to split

easily aloes and Open up a little bit and make it harder for Sweden to

take the double, or if you are confident but it right round the

corner guard. This one is sitting a little bit

high but it finishes a lot at the end they just need to get anywhere

on that centre line. They are going to have to work this really hard.

That is a nice shot from Vicky. That is something they are just going to

have to watch for. Obviously Anna is a big help to Eve and the two of

them have had success, Eve probably more as a senior in terms of

experience although they are very close in age but there are not too

many scenarios where there are two suggestions coming in. The big

surprise to me is that Eve has changed her mind. She is normally a

very dominant force in the head and she knows what she wants to play but

she changed her mind pretty quick there.

Anna, of course, is a left-handed player so this is her out turn and

this is looking like a tighter line. She is going to come onto the top of

it. That is OK, that is a little bit fortunate but I will take that. That

is not bad. It is important that they don't panic. It is early stages

but they have two strike back and try and pick up a couple. They have

to be patient and not panic. I think Eve desperately wants to get some

big shots in to settle herself down. So the Swedes are looking at a few

options here. They are just looking for full tea

weight here. It looks like a better line this time. Yes, we are sitting

right behind this. This could be a good shot. It just turned at the end

there, didn't it? Yes, I thought she had plenty of weight on that but it

finished hard at the end and I think it's a prize the girls how well that

finished at the end there because they really wanted to take it in

behind the red. It was the perfect stone for us. This gives Sweden the

opportunity when it is set out in the Open there. They need to be

careful here. This is going to start put some pressure on Eve Muirhead.

Maria Prytz has a stance to really put the pressure on the British

skip. -- has a chance. They are struggling to hold the line

on that. She gets it though. So, now we face for. -- four. I might --

high-fives all around. This is a really testing time for a

team in the ahead early in her Olympic campaign. This is a big call

here. She could potentially take the double on the two reds at the front.

She is so aggressive as a player that she wants to draw in behind and

between these stones. Look at this, it is hanging wide.

Early days I would have seen either try to play the double on the two

reds at the top of the house. This is really surprising. Sometimes you

have got to think sensibly and not overthink the situation. I think you

are right. She is kind of looking for the big shot, she is looking for

the big shot by gives her her confidence back and instead of just

playing the game situation at the moment, they are lying four now.

Bearing mind that, yes, Eve has a hammer here but it is not setting it

up very well at all. All we have done now is leave a wall

at the front and Maria Prytz is going to guard up and how on earth

does Eve get to the four foot here? She is putting a lot of pressure on

herself and she maybe has to start thinking about the basics, take the

double at the front and set the yellow and leave room for yourself

to get in here. She has only covered half here so it

still has an opportunity to come down and pushed that yellow when but

she is certainly making it hard for herself at the moment. It is

probably not as difficult shot as she had to attempt in the previous

end but this is going to be so important to get the weight right

here. Eve wants to come down here and try and push the stone in here.

If she gets this badly wrong they could find themselves in a really

tricky situation. She does not want to give away too much it. She has

got to get this right. That is going to be two. That is

going to be a two against her. We are right behind the game here and

the minute the girls laid their brushes on that it sat right back.

They are going to have to watch. Not the start Eve Muirhead's team

wanted. They have lost three shots now in the first three ends so the

first three down. It has been somewhat of their own making. The

Swedish team are playing fine and they are making their shots. We just

heard Anna saying to Eve, make it simple. Simple is all we need. You

have got to take these last three ends and wipe them out of your mind

and you are on end four now, take became back to basics. Do not

overthink it. Picked up a two and you are right back in the game. We

just need one of the shots to get off and then your whole body and

persona changes. You can raise your shoulders more and feel confident

when you go out there and play. On the flip side, for the Swedish team,

things for them are looking brilliant. They are starting to

settle into it and getting confident. Certainly, their skip,

the last two ends has been spot on. That is the kind of fickleness of

this game. At end one, the Swedes looked nervous. Now it has flipped

and our goals are not quite getting it. They are not far away. Don't

panic -- our girls are not quite getting it. We need corner guard

here from Claire Hamilton. Just needs to be halfway between the top

red line at the top of the house and the house itself which is the

circles. Claire has done well. She certainly has not done anything well

-- wrong so far. As the end has developed, nothing has gone

Britain's ways so far. There is a lot of noise. The Russian

flag is flying. They have just tied up their match with Denmark.

Eve asking, clear. Come down on the out turn to draw in on the short

stone. We need it to stop on the tee line. Slow-moving. Not bad at all.

That is a nice shot. For the people who are not used to the curling

game, it might seem strange to leave the reds. But you have to use the

corner guard. There is no point putting it up and not using it.

Hopefully, should the Swedes catch the top guard, there is then the

opportunity to hit the Reds. It is a game of chess and ice -- chess on

ice. Things seem to be going the Swedes away at the moment. That one

just rolling that way. If she had gone down and placed it on the ice,

she could not have put it on a better place. Still the open red to

hit. Just needs to make sure she hits and

lies here. That is the crucial thing. She needs to stay in the

house. That is a nice shot there. Well judged by the whole team. They

need to work together now. They need to keep each other... The other

three need to get around Eve a little bit. She is the skip and

everyone looks to her. But as a small team, there are only four of

you. In previous years, they have worked with a buddy system. In

indication is key. They have got to be open and speaking to each other

-- communication is key. A nice shot there from Maria We

still have the opportunity here. Vicki has to hit and lie. The 8ft

Circle, that is what we are looking for. She has to get into the house.

There is no call and it seems a little high.

That is unfortunate. A fair few of these shots. The margins are so

small. We should make that point. You know better than anybody. You

are talking about half an inch, an inch, here or there. But that is why

they are here. I heard the girl saying it was a little bit up in

weight. It is such a small fraction in weight.

You can almost feel the Swedish team getting into their stride a little

bit. They are playing their shots, there is not much discussion.

Executing well. This situation for me is where you are putting a lot of

pressure on your team. Sometimes it might be easier to do the hit and

roll behind. At the same time, you are keeping the opposition's stones

down. Mine is good. Critical they get some

cover here. -- line is good. Let it drop. Good there. That is a good

shot from Anna Slid through the back of the centre of the house, the tee.

We see the difference in statistics here. 93% to Christina and 75% for

Anna I think we were saying, Claire Rand Vicky -- Claire and Vicki have

not done a lot wrong. There was a little mistake there

from Christina Bertrup. Well, not the best start for Britain but an

opportunity for them here. We approach the end of the fourth end

macro. -- the fourth end. If you want to

keep watching that, it is on the red button. You can select the sport

from the menu. Sorry to tell you away from it, with but we have

business up the mountain. The first of the gold medals will be

presented. The women's super combined. It is designed to try and

identify the best all-round skier. We have won one of downhill at 7am

your time. It is going to be followed up now with the slalom. We

will then find out the best of the athletes. Britain's Chemmy Alcott

was going in this. She is appearing in her fourth Games. It was a pretty

decent run. She broke a leg for the third time last year. Only made a

competitive return in January. She was 16th fastest after the downhill

section. Speed event specialists. She has decided not to compete in

the slalom section. Does not want to risk anything. This was her

reasoning. We managed to catch up with her after she crossed the line.

Because my downhill run was so good, I am going to pull out of the

slalom. It is injection and all of the screws and the nail, it will not

feel pretty. I want to save myself for the downhill and Super-G. I know

I am race ready and really excited. I was smiling at the start gate

because I thought of everything I have been through over the last five

months and just to get here, it was just awesome. She skied very well.

Looking good for the speed events. What about this slalom? Graham Bell

and Emma Carrick-Anderson managed to get a sneaky peek to see what the

female skiers are in for on the slalom run.

In the super combined event, the downhill is often the phoney war. It

comes down to this, the slalom. Often in a slalom part of the

combined, it can be just a rhythmical, slightly dull slalom.

This is anything but. 58 turning gates. It will definitely favour the

slalom skiers. Of the slalom skiers, who are we looking at? Nicole Hosp

could storm in from the back. Definitely. Then Maria

Hoefl-Riesch, super strong slalom skier. They are the favourites.

Would you say the distances are too close together for someone like Tina

Maze? I would not write her off. But they are certainly on the tighter

set when it comes to slalom course setting. What about the leader of

the downhill, Julia Mancuso? I think she can definitely hang on for a

medal. I do not think it will be gold.

She is certainly a big occasion skier, Julia Mancuso. Let me remind

you of the standings. Julia Mancuso with a 0.47 advantage over Lara Gut

of Switzerland. The Swiss Alpine women did not win a single medal at

the Vancouver games. They would love to put that right. Tina Maze is

away. Then some of the big guns, Maria Hoefl-Riesch, the defending

champion, and certainly not out of it, Nicole Hosp of Austria. Graham

is standing by. Just remind us what happens in this slalom section.

The start order is determined by the performance in the downhill. They

reversed the top 30. The 30 skiers in the downhill will start things

off. We will run through. There is quite a big time difference for the

early skiers. Probably the best slalom skier to pop up on the start

order will be Marie-Michele Gagnon who has won a combined this season

but she had a poor downhill run and she is over two seconds back. I

fully expect her to have a very good slalom run. I expect the same thing

from Nicole Hosp. I actually, having a good chat with Emma about it, I

think Nicole Hosp was probably favourite to win this race. Because

of the vertical height and the number of gates they have got to fit

in, they have set an awful lot of gates set straight down the hill

rather than open gates. It means that the pure slalom skiers will

have an advantage on this course. It is a very difficult and technical

slalom. Not just the degree of difficulty, what about the condition

of the course. With the latest art, Julia Mancuso going much later, will

the calls cut up a little bit -- the later start? It got very warm this

afternoon when we were doing the course inspection. Now the sun has

dropped, it has cooled down. Chemmy Alcott talked about the cause being

injected. This is a bar they have which has spikes on it and they

inject water into the snow and it means it freezes right the rate down

-- right the way down. We had a chat with a coach who is now working for

the venue. He says the piste is in perfect condition. That should help

Julia Mancuso and if she can hang on for a medal, it would be amazing. If

she can do something like silver that she did four years ago, it

would be awesome. My money is still on Nicole Hosp. We will remind you

of that at the end! We are looking forward to this one. Julia Mancuso

has the little advantage. With the absence of the great Lindsey Vonn

for America, big expectations on Julia Mancuso and the others in the

US team. What are we going to get? Let us find out from Emma

Carrick-Anderson and Matt Chilton. Hello, once again. Good afternoon.

It is an overcast rather dull day in the mountains with the threat of

rain. Pretty warm. A little cooler up here. Not much. Let us hope the

precipitation holds. Now they go in reverse order according to their

positions after the downhill. First out of the gate will be Kristina

Saalova from Slovakia. the slalom time is added to give the

total for her. We are just through the top section,

the first four gates are pretty steep. It is a really tricky course.

A lovely set but you have two work top to bottom. A rolling course,

with nine vertical gates and hairpins. Oh... That is slalom for

you, it is unforgiving. She didn't straddle. If the ski goes a

centimetre the wrong side of the gate, it is game over. This is her

except in slow motion so we can tell you. She got caught on the left

ski, she couldn't change. The reason she is so distraught is

if she had finished, she would get a position against her name. That

won't happen now. That slow motion showed how soft the snow is on the

top. The 18-year-old Australian, 29th

after the downhill. Greta Small, on her way.

It is interesting to see her, every turn, a bit of a check. If you watch

the really good skiers, they will accelerate through the gate. Here,

it looks like a stall each turn. Making sure she carries on through

this course which has been set by one of the Swiss coaches, a total of

59 spring-loaded alternating red and blue gates bringing us down to the

foot of the course. Athletes started at 11am local time with the downhill

course. That time added to this slalom run. You know what? The

18-year-old Australian is currently in Gold medal condition in the

Olympic combined. She smacks the pole up the way with

the guard on her hand. And a guard on the helmet in case miss it.

Karolina Chrapek from Poland. Quite a decent advantage over Greta Small.

But it is easy to tell she's not the most accomplished slalom skier,

steady but not spectacular. You see a lot of our pub body

rotation. She is holding her own. Oh, and she has gone. Watch the

upper body really swinging around. That is what is losing her speed.

The back of the ski drifts sideways. She started the second run with a

decent lead of three quarters of a second, not letting it slip too much

further. Nearly one seconds behind. It looks like Greta Small will stay

in Gold medal position for the moment. Chrapek, looking for the

finish. Into silver for the moment. Not only did they inject the piste

with water but they put salt on the top section. We saw that when we

were inspecting the first round. You can see the snow sprang up, wet

snow. Because of the temperature, it does feel like spring.

Greta Small leads for Australia. Next up, Jana Gantnerova from

Slovakia. She is going for it, trying to get the ski moving forward

and going through. A little bit wild. She is not always coming down

onto the turning outside the early enough.

She started with three quarters of a second, it has been reduced to 17

hundredths. It ends right there for Jana Gantnerova of Slovakia. I hope

she didn't hurt her knee in the process, she is holding her left

knee. Disappointment, especially when you

have managed a tough, nasty fast speeds of the downhill. Then,

halfway down the slalom and game over, what a shame.

18-year-old, youngest competitor in the competition, sitting in

gold-medal position. Let us see what she can achieve.

She certainly likes the quick turns, moving her feet fast from side to

side, it shows in her time. A little bit wild in the upper body but you

do see that now in slalom now. She is really attacking this course.

Adding to her advantage, up to more than two seconds.

The lead is about to change. As long as Sara Hector stays on her feet.

The last vertical section. And she is there. Good slalom action from

Sara Hector from Sweden. She moves into gold-medal position. Greta

Small goes into silver now. She is really low and aggressive.

Driving herself forward to the next gate, not waiting for the gate to

come to you. As a downhill skier, you're not used to going towards the

gate. The first of the real true slalom

specialist, Sarka Strachova from the Czech Republic. A former alpine

skiing slalom world champion. She took the gold in Sweden at the World

Championships in 2007, silver two years later in France. And that

skill is beginning to show. It is, you can see a calmer style than

Hector before. Much calmer. She doesn't look as

fast because there is less happening but she is very smooth on her skis.

Everything is calm, driving forward to the next gate. Getting deeper

into the Green zone as she hits the intermediate time checks on this

steep Olympic slalom hell and she leads comfortably. Moving into

gold-medal position. You can see how she is moving the

skis from side to side. No thought of hitting the gate with the pole.

It might look like it but the girls are so used to smashing the control

gate out of the way. They are thinking what the skis are doing.

The first of the Swiss, Denise Feierabend. Former junior world

champion in slalom back in 2009. She has made steady progress up into the

senior ranks. Here she goes, top of the course. Slightly nervous looking

start. Looks tentative to me, not quick off the edges. She has lost

her advantage. Look at the snow spraying from the skis, a tell-tale

sign of the skis moving sideways and not forwards.

She is churning by 0.65. Onto the final steep section. Denise

Feierabend for Switzerland starts to make a few mistakes. I don't think

there is any way she can claw back that lost time. She is down in

second. Quite a gap. The fastest races are waiting at the

top to begin their slalom run. The interesting thing with the

combined is the girls are skiing on 220 skis, then the short shaped

slalom skis, two ends of the spectrum in ski racing.

World Championship silver medallist is Michaela Kirchgasser. She didn't

have a great downhill but she will be able to make some moves up the

standings if she produces her best slalom skiing form. Decently coming

into this second section, just three quarters of a second ahead. She has

built on this. A classic, calm slalom skiing technique, almost

picture perfect but she will be disappointed after her downhill run

this morning. One of my favourites. She has left too much to do even if

she does come down now and lead. I wonder if this is aggressive

enough to keep her ahead of Strachova. It is. She knows it won't

win any medals but it put her into gold-medal position for the moment.

She was hoping to be further ahead. That shows how strong Strachova's

run was. Ski boots kept cold at the top in

these warm temperatures, important for the athletes. That is Nicole

Hosp. So they don't flex to freely. The plastic changes quickly with the

differences in temperature. Especially for slalom, you need to

be careful. Federica Brignone. A much better

giant slalom skier than a slalom practitioner. This is a reasonable

start from the Italian. She is certainly attacking this

course, her upper body looks very well. -- looks very wild. But she is

overturning the skis because the body is rotating too much. Comes in

through one of these many vertical gates.

The bottom part of the course. Running out of ideas. Reasonable at

the top. Time is ticking on. Her legs are starting to burn, she is

struggling to keep pace. It is only good enough for third. Quite a gap.

Kirchgasser holds on. Brignone into third. Strachova between them in

second. There is the leader, Kirchgasser.

You can see the right arm far too forward, ideally you want to move

the pole slightly in front to quickly get the control gate out of

the way. But not that much. Back to the top. Marie-Michele

Gagnon, her lead over Michaela Kirchgasser is 0.33 seconds. She had

her first World Cup win this season having had if you near misses. She

struck lucky in January 12, won the only other super combined at the

highest level this season. On the form guide she is in good shape but

her lead has been lost already. She was disappointed with her

downhill run. This is not the slalom skiing we are used to. Oh... She

straddled that, that was nasty. She looks like she has hurt herself. She

may have done some damage to her wrist. She has come down very hard,

that is evil. This has been the story of her last

couple of seasons. The win in Altenmarkt... So far, she has got

away without hurting herself but I fear, looking at her body language,

and she immediately reached for her left wrist, she might have done some

damage. It is either the wrist or arm, she

felt very hard. It has softened up slightly, underneath, it is like

concrete. I sincerely hope that does not put

her out of contention for the remaining events, she is due to race

in Super-G, grand slalom and slalom. One of the Americans, you can see

straightaway she is not a regular slalom race. Ian Smith. -- Leanne

Smith. The focus is not on the poles but on

the skis. She is not used to hitting the gates up the weight and focusing

on the wrong thing. Poor thing, she tried to get into that, strict

income instead of coming in from above. It was always a shot to

nothing, after a reasonable downhill run. The sun is just coming out. The

floodlights are bathing the course. With the sunshine. The next starters

will have much improved visibility. The weather might play its part.

Sorry seems for the Canadians. LN Eiger Bush Avena, the only Russian

competitor in their competition -- Elena Yakovishina. She would be best

to keep it cautious. I hope she stays on her feet and finishes. The

crowd are driving her on. She is bringing it through the finish. She

is sixth. Not a bad day of skiing for the improving racer. You tend to

cross blog so that you can take a tighter line. She can enjoy it now.

She stops and starts. You will not see that with a good slalom skier.

Nearly two seconds adrift. Another one making sure of getting the

finish. A lot of these girls do not get the chance to try the slalom. It

is all about letting the skis run downhill, rolling quickly from edge

to edge. She is delighted to have made out. -- made it. She has an

Olympic finish under her belt. She is relieved to be in the finish. It

is a story to tell. I came 23rd in the Olympics, not many people can

say that. Marusa Ferk had a good session this

morning. It almost looks as if her skis are too sharp. Still

aggressive, just a little hard through the edge. She is now the

wrong side of the leading time. No danger to Michaela Kirchgasser's

time. Marusa Ferk is third. We can expect to see Michaela Kirchgasser

hold onto that lead for a few more. She is one of the top slalom gears

and did a very good run. The course will be getting slightly bumpy.

Slightly pedestrian turns from Edit Miklos. Her chance has gone. She had

a couple of really big checks at the top, it was almost as if she got

overexcited at the top and you cannot allow that to happen, the

movement has to happen so quickly. Another one looking for the finish

my wants to be sure of crossing the line and soaking up the atmosphere.

We will perhaps get a slow motion but you can see the back of the ski

breaking away and she is losing three or four tenths every time. The

fastest riders are yet to come. Julia Mancuso will bring a lot of

confidence into the slalom after her performance in the downhill. If she

can come out of the start gate and throw caution to the wind and go for

it, you never know, anything is possible. A lot depends on what

happens with those who go before her, the specialists who know how to

shake it up on the slalom. She has had a longer delay because of a

repair to the broken control gate. Ragnhild Mowinckel off to an

aggressive start. She is a little too hard on the edges. I think if

she continues being as hard as she is, especially over the flat

section, she is going to lose a hefty amount. A chance she could

seize the gold medal position away from the Austrian who has held the

lead for some time. She leads the way by a quarter of a second.

Excellent second run, she is jumping for joy. She is delighted, it is so

nice to see. She settled into that. She was very hard on her edges and

then she's off and then she softened it and was quicker. She is not a

regular slalom World Cup racer, she has clearly trained well. Gold medal

position for the moment. She always has a smile, particularly today.

She is very heavy, very sluggish off the edges and that is how you would

imagine the downhill skiers to ski the slalom because the training is

so different as well. Living dangerously. She has given it up.

She could have on back-up and made the turn, but there was no real

point. Ten to go. Ragnhild Mowinckel joining those in medal positions.

Dominique Gisin can ski reasonable slalom, she is more of a downhill

racer. She is trying to give it a good goal, a little bit heavy on the

edges, but still good. Her sister is a good slalom skier, her brother

represents Switzerland in slalom so clearly it is there in the family.

Can she turn it around and give herself provisional gold medal

position? She is taking a risk or two. She has got gold medal

position! The Swiss celebrate. They still have Lara Gut to come. That

was a job well done. You could see the determination on her face.

Trying to be quick off the edges. Dominique Gisin is the new leader.

Francesca Marsaglia did well in the downhill. She has built on the lead

that she brought in. She means business. She is pushing

super-hard. The commentator's curse. Her super can bind is that a

better end --, combined. We get towards the CD is slalom contenders

beginning with the next racer. Nicole Hosp is ready. A good

performance in the downhill. Third in the World Championships in

February. A very solid downhill performance. She has plenty of

experience. She settles into the rhythm of the hill early on. This is

when is true that might the proper slalom skiing comes through. Her

upper body is former and she is quick and early.

A couple of late turns, risking it onto the steep section. Pushing

hard, accelerating. Skiing for Gold medal position, she has got it, with

a massive lead, more than one second.

Nicole Hosp is into gold in the Olympic combined. She will be very

happy with that. She will see a couple of mistakes at the top but

she really pushed hard. The bottom section was sensational.

Nicole Hosp leads the way, Gisin is second. The fastest seven after the

downhill leg are still to go. A triumphant finish.

Nervous moments now for Nicole Hosp, will she hold on for a medal?

Next to go is her team-mate and rival a similar vintage, Elisabeth

Gorgl. Out of the gate, straight into it. A couple of stamps with the

ski poles. Her advantage over Nicole Hosp coming into this second stage

is six hundredths of a second. Gorgl is not a regular slalom race but she

can do it when it counts. This looks like a reasonable start. She is

still in touch. You can see she is a little slower

from one edge to another, the ski breaking sideways just that bit

more. She lost a lot of time on that section. And she has gone! She lost

the time coming onto the flat course where there is no gravity or

steepness to help you accelerate. Did she miss a gate, I am not sure?

She got later in the line. She lost all her speed. Oh, she straddled it.

The ski is going either side of that red gate and she is obliged to stop

if she straddles a gate. Nicole Hosp stays in Gold medal position. Gisin

in silver. Mowinckel in bronze. Tina Maze getting ready. There is Lara

Gut. This is Lotte Smiseth Sejersted from

Norway. A 10th of a second, her lead over Nicole Hosp. She is not an

accomplished slalom skier and she is already late. That lead has already

been wiped out. It looks like a battle against the snow and Mt. She

is out, no finish for Lotte Smiseth Sejersted. Nicole Hosp heads closer

to a medal. Just five to come, including the defending Olympic

combined champion, powerful Riche. -- Hofl-Riesch.

When the ski goes slightly the wrong side of the gate, it can catch. This

is when it gets interesting because this next lady is another big

favourite. These are the standings. The big

advantage for Maria Hofl-Riesch if there is a TV time out, a commercial

break. The course workers come onto the hill and spend a little longer

than normal repairing the course. That often favours those who start

after that TV time out. So the defending champion will have a

course in slightly better shape. Looking up to the commentary box, we

can see all the workers. Taking the top section of snow. Just smoothing

it out. There is our leader, Nicole Hosp, with Austrian television. One

minute is the call. Double Olympic champion in 2010, won the slalom,

and the super combined. Her goggles are down, skis are

slapping on the snow. She is thumping herself. In a few moments

she will slide the skis over the ledge. Then, the timing technician

will lean forward. He gives the athletes account in their own

language. From Italian, French, Spanish, German, whatever it is. She

has just had the 32nd count. Here we go. A tap of the ski poles over the

ledge. Maria Hofl-Riesch is ready to race for a second time today. The

defending champion on Highway to tackle -- on her way.

A very tall racer, the legs moving from side to side. It will be

interesting... Here we go. She has just lost 200th. She is not always

happy under a lot of pressure. -- just lost two hundredths.

She has just about doubled her lead over Nicole Hosp. Still some tough

gate to come. The steepest part of the course looms for the defending

champion. A little skip sideways but she has done enough to lead. Maria

Hofl-Riesch in gold-medal position again. As she was four years ago in

Whistler. A great bottom section. Slightly

tentative in the first few gates. For more to go. No one is guaranteed

a medal just yet. -- Four more. But you fancy Maria Hofl-Riesch ending

her date on the Olympic podium. Tense moments ahead, Matt?

There for remaining athletes at the top. The is Anna Fenninger. -- There

are four remaining athletes. World champion in 2011. She doesn't

often race slalom. That she has the skills available to her. Can she

turned on right here and right now? She is not doing it job. You can see

the steep section, the skis breaking sideways at each turn. Not

accelerating through the gate. Here, we see her just letting the ski

break sideways on each turn a tiny bit.

She is now more than one second down. She will be lucky to get in

among the medals. She has plenty of chances to come. A shot at a medal

in downhill, Super-G and giant slalom. She is in sixth place. A

good downhill, disappointing slalom. Maria Hofl-Riesch is in

Gold. There is our leader, Maria

Hofl-Riesch of Germany. Anna Bellinger -- Fenninger.

Lara Gut still looks pretty relaxed. She will watch Tina Maze

step out onto the course ahead of her. Tina Maze, despite her

incredible achievements, has never won an Olympic gold. Maybe today.

Her slalom skills are fantastic. She has won many world cups, the

consummate all-rounder. Is this course going to soothe her? She

looks slightly cautious at the start. She was too conservative at

the top 13 maze. She didn't attack, she didn't move quick enough. The

skis broke away. Tina Maze is still behind. She has

found 100th of a second. A little skip sideways. Onto the final steep

section. Tina made looks stiff and untidy. She will finish but in the

medals? She is into bronze medal position, with two more athletes to

come. That means Maria Hofl-Riesch is guaranteed a medal now.

Disappointing slalom run from Tina Maze. Uncharacteristically tense.

Very tense, until about halfway. There was no movement. You have to

be liked and loose in the legs to absorb the bumps.

To skiers stand in the way of Maria Hofl-Riesch defending her title. --

two skiers. Maybe she can win back-to-back Olympic titles.

The first is ready to go. Lara Gut from Switzerland. Tense moments for

Maria Hofl-Riesch. And Nicole Hosp. They will be joined by Tina Maze who

is in bronze medal position for the moment. Lara but is ready to go.

-- Lara Gut. A very different view to what she is

used to. She is doing a good job, right angles. And it has gone!

Back to a standstill. That means now, with just one more to come,

Nicola Hoss is guaranteed an Olympic medal, in silver medal position at

the moment. At least silver for her. The final order of medals

depends on what Julia Mancuso can produce, she is the last to go.

Her Olympic Games is just beginning, she could walk away with a clutch of

medals, downhill, Super-G, giant slalom. That was a shaman -- that

was a shame. It was a good top section.

It is down to the final race, Julia Mancuso, the runner up four years

ago to Maria Hofl-Riesch, and for years before that, in children, she

took the giant slalom gold -- in Turin.

Julia Mancuso with the Starts and stripes on her race suit. -- Starts.

Such a big race skier. We'll Julia Mancuso denied a gold medal to Maria

Hofl-Riesch? She doesn't scheme much slalom. But look at that lead. A big

chunk of time in her favour coming into this slalom leg. A good,

positive attacking start. She has recovered. It is going to slip away

if she's not careful. Half a second. She will have to rip it up along the

flat into that bottom section. This is better, it is clean and smooth.

Half a second up. Mancuso is behind. I am not sure she can

overhaul the lead of Maria Hofl-Riesch. I think she is skiing

for a medal but I am not sure it will be gold. Unless she produces a

fabulous finish. It is bronze for Mancuso. Maria Hofl-Riesch defends

her Olympic super combined title. Mancuso is thrilled to get a medal.

Nicole Hosp takes the silver. There is our Olympic champion. As she was

in 2010. Maria Hoefl-Riesch is the Olympic

super combined champion. What a podium. Another Olympic medal

for Julia Mancuso. She has added a bronze with a courageous slalom

ski. They need to get in position. The gold to Maria Hoefl-Riesch for

the second Olympic Games in succession.

Congratulations to Maria Hoefl-Riesch, she carried the

Olympic flag for the Germans at the opening ceremony and she's

excessively defended her title. She is the complete all-rounder -- she

successfully. We can return to the curling. They were 3-0 down, but it

is looking a lot more promising. It is much better than it was after

steels in the fifth and sixth. It turned our way and the whole thing

is starting to turn Britain's way a little. It is all tied up at 3-3.

The momentum is going Britain's way. This end is developing quite

nicely. She is going to try to follow the

draw in that has just been played. She is just starting to feign her

game. -- find. The team getting behind her. Not a bad shot, but you

can see that at the beginning those shots were coming off for Sweden and

the momentum is starting to go towards Britain. The Swedes are

clearing a shot behind. They have last stone and they want to open up

that four foot and they do not seem to be doing that until too late.

They are starting to play into our hands and we are clearing a better

game which makes a big difference. Eve has more confidence. She is

pulling off some olive oils -- shots. Much better in the last two

or three ends. She has been working hard on it. She wants this want to

get right up in there. Perfect. The momentum has changed. It is putting

pressure on the fourth player for Sweden. She has been having to make

shots and the last couple of ends she has not been able to. On both

occasions with the last stone she did not execute the shot in the way

she would have wanted to and that opened the door for Britain. Such a

crucial game. The result is of course important, you have to win as

many matches as you can, but it is the way they have been playing that

is finally starting to come together which will please most. That is a

better shot. That finished well. Nobody touched that stone. That was

a good call, well played. Eve is going to try the run back. We have

second, third, fourth and fifth shots here. Forcing one would not be

a bad position to be on as we head into the eighth. Then at least you

have to hammer in the 8th. That was unfortunate. It hit it straight on

the nose. Sweden lie one with every opportunity of taking two. You can

hear the frustration of Eve Muirhead.

She looks reasonably comfortable with it.

Looking to draw in to take two, and she has done it. It looked as if

there was an opportunity for Great Britain and they closed the door. A

little bit unlucky. Sweden taking two. The hammer is going to Great

Britain. This game is far from over. The two teams know each other

so well. They have contested the finals of the last two major

championships, the World Championships less than 12 months

ago when Britain won and the European Championships in December

when the Swedes came out on top. You can see how the match has panned

out. Not a good start from Britain. The first three ends were stolen.

They were 3-1 down. It looked as if it was going to turn into 6-1.

Doing what she has done on pretty much every end.

Not quite there, but she has been playing well. So his Claire

Hamilton. For the first time at an Olympic Games, she has held her

nerve and played very well in this game. You want this one to stop half

way. Critical that these stones stop out of the play. They direct how the

rest of the game is going to go. Looking for this to come and sit on

the centre line. Another bread and butter shot for her. See how it

finished at the end, there's a lot more movement in the than I was this

morning -- in the sheet than there was this morning when we watched the

men's. It seems to be pulling really hard and the girls are having to

work it's hard. That is a lovely shot. Well played. Important that

these stones finish above the tee line. That will prevent Sweden from

coming up onto the top of that full.

We have to leave that at that point. It continues on the red button.

Moving to BBC One at 12pm. At 1pm it is back to BBC Two. The men's moguls

is at 4pm. Our seven hours on the air is up,

but we have witnessed history, Maria Hoefl-Riesch has retained her

title.