Day 4, Part 3

:00:56. > :01:19.welcome back to Sochi, where we've got a little bit of everything for

:01:20. > :01:26.you this afternoon. We have curling, some speed skating and we are going

:01:27. > :01:30.to start with cross-country. Andrew Musgrave, many of us will not have

:01:31. > :01:36.heard of him a month ago. Then he won the Norwegian sprint title.

:01:37. > :01:40.Today it was the Olympic sprint championships. Qualification, Andrew

:01:41. > :01:48.went 27 out of 30th, which pretty qualified. This is what happened.

:01:49. > :01:57.And away they go with the slowest qualifying time... Musgrave finds

:01:58. > :02:03.himself on the outside of the first term. I think he needs to conserve

:02:04. > :02:08.some energy. He has pushed the pace into that first turn. They break to

:02:09. > :02:13.the right and up the climb. No drama so far. Everyone is safely to that

:02:14. > :02:18.initial stage. Brilliant skiing from Musgrave. He is so agile but he

:02:19. > :02:20.needs to calm it down. The tempo drops. Good skiing now from

:02:21. > :02:50.Musgrave. Look at this composure from Andrew

:02:51. > :02:56.Musgrave, on the right of picture, wearing 27. He won the Norwegian

:02:57. > :02:59.sprint championships. He has immersed himself in the light ridge

:03:00. > :03:04.of Norway, the culture. He is studying over there and has done

:03:05. > :03:10.something special. -- the language of Norway. He has earned the respect

:03:11. > :03:14.of the Norwegians because they recognise he has some genuine

:03:15. > :03:19.ability in this sport. Very surprised to see Musgrave going so

:03:20. > :03:22.wide on that right hand turn. He gave away the first two positions

:03:23. > :03:26.and he wanted to be first down this hill. Now he has two hope that the

:03:27. > :03:30.two in front of them do not fall. It's getting harder and harder to

:03:31. > :03:36.stay on your feet. Around here goes. A brilliant alpine skier as well as

:03:37. > :03:44.a cross-country skier. He's lived in Dorset, Aberdeen and Alaska. He now

:03:45. > :03:50.lives in Norway. He's seen it all. He's doing is proud today. They

:03:51. > :03:55.break to the left. That aerial shot flattens that fill out. I can tell

:03:56. > :04:00.you, this is the steepest hill I've seen on a course like this. Some 40

:04:01. > :04:03.seconds of all-out effort starts now. Musgrave is losing -- losing a

:04:04. > :04:18.bit of ground. Musgrave is still losing a bit of

:04:19. > :04:26.ground but he is not out of it yet. He needs to get into the top two.

:04:27. > :04:33.This could go any which way because the leader has not made a decisive

:04:34. > :04:37.break. Musgrave is back in sixth at the moment but he has a huge amount

:04:38. > :04:45.of support in the stand. Can he pull off a magician's act? Are we going

:04:46. > :04:48.to get a lucky losers from the seat? We could well because they are two

:04:49. > :04:50.seconds inside the first heat. Musgrave is still off the pace at

:04:51. > :05:01.the moment. This is a really composed piece of

:05:02. > :05:06.skating from the leader. He has the advantage and the name of the game

:05:07. > :05:12.is to qualify. There is a semifinal and a final to come. The Norwegian

:05:13. > :05:14.leader is first around that corner and he will open up as he comes into

:05:15. > :05:30.the last 100 metres. The Norwegians getting their revenge

:05:31. > :05:35.over Andrew Musgrave, who won a Norwegian championships. But not

:05:36. > :05:39.today. A sad, sad picture. Musgrave will not go through. He dreamt of

:05:40. > :05:53.much bigger things. Slight disappointment for Andrew

:05:54. > :05:57.Musgrave. Also, the ladies are competing today in the sprint. We

:05:58. > :06:06.can catch up the first of semifinals now.

:06:07. > :06:14.The first semifinal of the women's sprint.

:06:15. > :06:23.Only the first two are guaranteed to go through as of right.

:06:24. > :06:30.Nielsen is targeting on the inside and she will have the advantage as

:06:31. > :06:43.they round this corner. Jakobson is just on the inside. They must tear

:06:44. > :06:44.has come round quickly there. -- the Icelandic skier has come around

:06:45. > :07:11.quickly there. Fabiani is trying to continue

:07:12. > :07:17.Slovenia's success. They are all still there. It is noticeable how

:07:18. > :07:21.intense that first climb walls, in contrast to the men's, which was

:07:22. > :07:26.under control. I think they have all decided you need to be in the first

:07:27. > :07:31.two or at the very least, in the first three, at this top corner to

:07:32. > :07:37.give yourself a chance when you come into the stadium. The first of the

:07:38. > :07:44.two semifinals. So far, Falla has not put a foot wrong in any of the

:07:45. > :07:51.rhymes. She is driving on towards the finish. She has got

:07:52. > :07:57.Ingmarsdottir right behind her. Fabiani is in third place. This is

:07:58. > :08:03.the corner that could cause problems. It was where another skier

:08:04. > :08:11.came through on the inside. Very gingerly around that corner. Fabiani

:08:12. > :08:21.is still in third place. At the moment, it looks as though Falla has

:08:22. > :08:25.got his under control. She has put Ingmarsdottir under pressure. She is

:08:26. > :08:33.coming up onto the shoulder of Falla.

:08:34. > :08:47.Ingmarsdottir needs to keep going here.

:08:48. > :08:56.They both crash over the line at the end. It's taken by Falla. A photo

:08:57. > :09:01.for the second automatic qualification spot. I just wonder

:09:02. > :09:05.whether Fabiani wasn't quite aware of the speed with which

:09:06. > :09:09.Ingmarsdottir was coming through on the inside. Very, very tight for the

:09:10. > :09:16.second spot but no mistake at all for Falla. She looks class. I think

:09:17. > :09:22.Fabiani was just alert to the danger at the 11th hour.

:09:23. > :09:32.It is heard team-mate who sets the pace up to the first corner.

:09:33. > :09:37.Coldwell of USA, well positioned by the -- behind the Norwegian leader.

:09:38. > :09:43.That is certainly an advantage. If you save .5% by being in the

:09:44. > :09:47.slipstream of the athlete in front, that's an improvement on your

:09:48. > :10:01.chances of producing a sprint finish at the end.

:10:02. > :10:06.This is certainly not the kind of race where you can afford to sit at

:10:07. > :10:10.the back for too long, especially not in a Winter Olympic semifinal,

:10:11. > :10:19.with only the first to guaranteed to go through as of rights. So far,

:10:20. > :10:41.Erstberg has taken the inside line. Remember, there is no second climb

:10:42. > :10:46.for the women. That reduces the chances... She does have the

:10:47. > :10:50.strength to come through in the finishing straight. It looks as

:10:51. > :10:57.though that might be what she has to rely on. Down towards the hairpin

:10:58. > :11:02.bend. The right-hand turn is fast but not technical. The left-hand

:11:03. > :11:10.turn is very, very tricky indeed. The Norwegian leading.

:11:11. > :11:16.The Olympic champion is in danger of going out, in danger of going off

:11:17. > :11:20.the course. Very close to dropping off the side of the track but she is

:11:21. > :11:23.still in this race. Looking for the time compared to that first

:11:24. > :11:29.semifinal, just to see if we could get a lucky loser. They are exactly

:11:30. > :11:35.on schedule with that first semifinal. Six are in contention for

:11:36. > :11:51.this one. The new sermon being forced wide. -- Denise Hermann. And

:11:52. > :11:54.the reigning champion is out! A good finish from Sophie Coldwell from the

:11:55. > :11:59.USA to come through in second place. The Italian just 0.2 of a second

:12:00. > :12:16.outside. Anything can happen. Nothing is

:12:17. > :12:34.guaranteed in this game of cross-country sprinting.

:12:35. > :12:42.What a wonderful finish from Sophie Coldwell. Absolutely superb. She

:12:43. > :12:45.timed that to perfection. We are expecting Randall to be in a final

:12:46. > :12:58.but she won't be. Coldwell from the United States will be. The woman who

:12:59. > :13:03.has dominated the sprints at world championships since Vancouver 2010,

:13:04. > :13:06.and the most elementary of mistakes and stop the poll planted inside the

:13:07. > :13:13.ski. There is very little chance of recovery from that. We thought it

:13:14. > :13:17.would be technical, Rob, and it is turning out exactly that way. As we

:13:18. > :13:20.get to the latter stages, we are seeing more and more people in

:13:21. > :13:23.contention as they come around the final corner. Actually, the course

:13:24. > :13:28.looks wide enough but there still isn't enough room for six to race

:13:29. > :13:31.side-by-side. There certainly is not. So many of the big names have

:13:32. > :13:51.gone. We now turn our attention to the two

:13:52. > :13:54.semifinals in the men's sprints. Gloeersen one of the sprint in

:13:55. > :14:03.December. That was a good performance from him. Hattestad

:14:04. > :14:20.Missed out on a medal, finishing the worst place of all a few years ago.

:14:21. > :14:36.Representation from Russia, from Gafarov. Hell night came through as

:14:37. > :14:41.a fastest loser. -- Hellner. Can he go one stage better and make the

:14:42. > :14:49.final? The first of two semifinals in the men's sprint. Edit a bit of a

:14:50. > :14:54.wobble at the start from Hattestad. The man who qualified quickest is

:14:55. > :15:07.out nice and safely, Peterson of Sweden. He has taken the best inside

:15:08. > :15:25.line. On the inside, Peterson. He has got Hattestad outside him. Such

:15:26. > :15:31.is the dominance of the Scandinavian nations. And as we have just seen

:15:32. > :15:47.with the second semifinal of the women's sprint, anything can happen.

:15:48. > :15:53.So easy to run into problems in these sprints, and you have so

:15:54. > :16:01.little time to turn it round. Peterson in second place. Hellner is

:16:02. > :16:07.there in third. Fairly cagey at this stage. I am surprised they haven't

:16:08. > :16:12.gone for a faster pace, because the second semifinal is worthy of any

:16:13. > :16:20.final, the strongest field we have seen so far this year. These guys

:16:21. > :16:25.need to go 100%. The stronger ones will try to slow it down to save

:16:26. > :16:32.some for later on. And we have another tumble, one of the Russians

:16:33. > :16:45.has gone down. Such a shame. The same fate befalling him as overtook

:16:46. > :16:49.Cologne in the previous round. We do have two Russians going in that

:16:50. > :16:58.second semifinal. But he had done really well here. This corner has

:16:59. > :17:01.produced so many problems. Gafarov in the second semifinal will have

:17:02. > :17:09.practised this corner on this course time and again. Back with the

:17:10. > :17:15.leaders. Closing in on what they hope will be a place in the final.

:17:16. > :17:38.Hattestad leads. Number six is Peterson. Number four is glorious --

:17:39. > :17:42.Gloeersen. Hattestad leads. I don't want to put the commentators curse

:17:43. > :17:47.on him, but he has yet to put a foot wrong. Carefully around that corner

:17:48. > :17:52.which has caused issues for one or two of them.

:17:53. > :17:59.Helmer is trying to come through on the outside as Gafarov cuts a

:18:00. > :18:07.sorrowful sight there as he gets towards the finish. He will be way

:18:08. > :18:13.off the pace. Helmer putting himself in a great position to qualify for

:18:14. > :18:22.the final. The skiathlon silver medallist is doing well. Hattestad

:18:23. > :18:33.leads, but coming through on the inside is Peterson. He has denied

:18:34. > :18:38.Hellner a place in the final. Hattestad was very assured and

:18:39. > :18:45.confident, did what he needed to do. Peterson left it late, but he has

:18:46. > :18:51.done what he needed to do. You can see the broken ski of Gafarov there.

:18:52. > :18:57.His Olympic dream is going down as he fell. I think that is what is

:18:58. > :19:02.hurting more than his body. It didn't look as though he made any

:19:03. > :19:07.impact. Hattestad won the qualification and his quarterfinal.

:19:08. > :19:17.Is he going to be able to make it a full house? We did see it from

:19:18. > :19:20.Simeon Hamilton of the USA. Now for the first time, you get some

:19:21. > :19:26.impression of how steep that Hill is. There are not many men on this

:19:27. > :19:32.planet who could double poll a bit. The front left ski has completely

:19:33. > :19:39.snapped. But all credit to Anton Gafarov, he is determined to finish

:19:40. > :19:45.this semifinal, and he is doing so. That ski has now completely

:19:46. > :19:52.disintegrated. I wonder if he really is going to limp towards the finish

:19:53. > :19:59.line. He might as well take it off, because it is no use to anyone. He

:20:00. > :20:04.is skiing to the finish on one leg, that is how determined he is. And

:20:05. > :20:08.now he is going to go for a replacement. He deserves to get a

:20:09. > :20:17.massive reception when he gets to the finish line. It is a very

:20:18. > :20:21.special event, the Winter Olympics. Completing the race is important to

:20:22. > :20:27.many of these guys, irrespective of how far ahead the rest of the field

:20:28. > :20:35.are. Real credit to the Russian here, showing true class after

:20:36. > :20:40.disappointments during the race. Russia's hopes are not over, because

:20:41. > :20:46.they're too strongest skiers are in the second semifinal. He will have

:20:47. > :20:52.to wait until the next major before that is the case. But we still have

:20:53. > :20:59.missed you cough and Alexey Petukhov. They would have taken the

:21:00. > :21:08.scalp of Gafarov were he in the final as well. Just look at the

:21:09. > :21:17.reception for the Russian. His race is over, but all credit for him for

:21:18. > :21:22.deciding to finish, nearly three minutes adrift. Coming unstuck on

:21:23. > :21:29.that corner where we have seen so many others have problems, but he

:21:30. > :21:32.does finish the race. Hattestad, the world champion five years ago, is

:21:33. > :21:41.through to the final. Peterson coming through late to deny

:21:42. > :21:48.Gloeersen. The last race before the medals are decided. And the man who

:21:49. > :21:56.wins this is worthy of a medal, because it is an unbelievable

:21:57. > :21:58.line-up. Ustiugov in lane one. Federico Pellegrino is very fast in

:21:59. > :22:06.the last hundred metres, so don't rule him out. Johnson has been one

:22:07. > :22:14.of the top sprinters in the last five years. There is Pellegrino. He

:22:15. > :22:24.will drop his body weight on the start and accelerate out of the

:22:25. > :22:32.blocks. Emil Jonsson has had injuries, but will forget those if

:22:33. > :22:40.he wins today. Bernhard Tritscher, number eight. Alexey Petukhov, I

:22:41. > :22:45.have been watching him for five years and I have never seen him

:22:46. > :22:51.smile. But surely if he wins today, it will be from ear to ear. And

:22:52. > :23:02.number two, Ustiugov, tactically brilliant. He just has to contain

:23:03. > :23:11.himself. You cannot afford to go to early. And here is Peter Noorda

:23:12. > :23:20.junior, a multimillionaire from Norway, the maverick of

:23:21. > :23:30.cross-country skiing. Has he got anything left to give? And away they

:23:31. > :23:39.go. 3.36.33, the winning time of the first heat. He is biding his time in

:23:40. > :23:43.showing in Al and have patience, which I think has to be a good

:23:44. > :23:46.thing. The second climb is so hard. You cannot afford to build the

:23:47. > :23:59.lactase levels on this climb. This is a powerful technique, but it

:24:00. > :24:24.will sack -- sap them on the climb. Petukhov just going ahead of the

:24:25. > :24:35.Norwegian now. Tritscher now starts to make a move as they come up

:24:36. > :24:40.towards the first 180 degree turn. Now they start a fast downhill where

:24:41. > :24:49.they will exceed speeds of 60 kilometres per hour. I think they

:24:50. > :24:53.need to bear in mind that the first semifinal wasn't particularly fast,

:24:54. > :25:04.so various the opportunity for four men to get through to the final from

:25:05. > :25:11.this semi. Joensson Staying out of trouble. You can see them all waving

:25:12. > :25:17.their arms on that corner, it is tricky and getting sleepier. They

:25:18. > :25:26.are all safely round, and safely round the hairpin. Ustiugov is in

:25:27. > :25:32.second for Russia, Pellegrino inferred. And here is Tritscher,

:25:33. > :25:39.will we see an Austrian in the final? He is sitting in fourth at

:25:40. > :25:45.the moment. Now comes Petukhov, putting his foot down and

:25:46. > :25:54.accelerating up the climb. First little of weakness from Joensson,

:25:55. > :26:00.who has let the Russian getaway. He has got to be within 15 or 20 metres

:26:01. > :26:06.at the top of the climb. Pellegrino is spent, back in sixth place and

:26:07. > :26:18.losing ground all the time. Joensson And Ustiugov, in a battle. Joensson

:26:19. > :26:25.Hits the downhill in first place. The last semifinal were at 2.58

:26:26. > :26:34.around this corner, and they are on the same time. Tritscher is ahead of

:26:35. > :26:39.Petukhov, who lost a lot of early ground in the early stages and has

:26:40. > :26:50.yet to make it up. This top corner, tighter than it looks on the screen.

:26:51. > :26:57.Careful step from Joensson. No man can do it quite like he can.

:26:58. > :27:06.Joensson Driving, and Ustiugov still has some strength in the upper body.

:27:07. > :27:16.Ustiugov comes home, and the winning time, waiting for confirmation.

:27:17. > :27:34.3:36.95 was the time they were after. So no lucky losers, I don't

:27:35. > :27:37.think. It looks as though Glooersen and Hellner we'll go through as the

:27:38. > :27:45.lucky losers. Both of them were looking around and

:27:46. > :27:51.looking behind from the point at which they got to level with the

:27:52. > :27:54.Olympic rings, very cool and calm qualification from both of those

:27:55. > :28:03.guys. It will be a fascinating final. 3:37.37 from Ustiugov, and I

:28:04. > :28:11.think he could take another few seconds of that. The first climb was

:28:12. > :28:16.only at 95%. It is a brilliant sprint course. I don't think we have

:28:17. > :28:24.ever seen one like this on the World Cup circuit. It has steep ups, fast

:28:25. > :28:31.downs. It has all the elements that you want for a final. And we have

:28:32. > :28:37.seen it cause issues for some of the very best technicians in the sport.

:28:38. > :28:43.Two fascinating finals in prospect, the first will involve the winning.

:28:44. > :29:05.There is no BO can, the defending champion. We have far -- Falla in

:29:06. > :29:19.there, and Fabjan. Sophie Caldwell, the American. Can she get on the

:29:20. > :29:40.podium and recreate the superb achievements. Wouldn't be fantastic

:29:41. > :29:45.if Jacobsen could come through and win, although she is going to be on

:29:46. > :29:49.the outside, so she will have to work hard to catch up with the

:29:50. > :29:53.leaders on that first corner. She may feel that her best hope is to

:29:54. > :29:57.take the start steady and progress through the ranks she goes up that

:29:58. > :30:03.first climb. But Falla has looked invincible today. Can she upgrade

:30:04. > :30:10.from the bronze she produced a championship last year? Ostberg, one

:30:11. > :30:16.win and three places on the World Cup podium. Sophie Caldwell, what a

:30:17. > :30:23.performance in the semifinal to make the showdown. She is in it and she

:30:24. > :30:38.has got a chance. Ingemarsdottir, Silver medal last year.

:30:39. > :30:49.What tragedy she is performing through hear, Astrid Jacobsen.

:30:50. > :30:57.The women's final. They are underway. It is the fourth time

:30:58. > :31:00.today they will have completed this circuit. In just a few minutes

:31:01. > :31:20.time, we will have a new champion. Three Norwegians, a Swede, an

:31:21. > :31:22.American and a Slovenian. Half of this six will get medals but who

:31:23. > :31:37.will it be? Remember, if you've been with us for

:31:38. > :31:39.the last little while, this is a shorter course for the women. Only

:31:40. > :32:00.one are sent. -- ascent. They are bunching and this is tight.

:32:01. > :32:03.Any of these women could still feature. Coldwell is in fourth

:32:04. > :32:11.place, the American. She is going to have to concentrate here. She is on

:32:12. > :32:20.the shoulder of Oestberg. This is very tight and cagey. Around the top

:32:21. > :32:24.corner and Falla has used the same tactics in every heat so far. She is

:32:25. > :32:29.doing the same in the final. My only concern is that she doesn't have the

:32:30. > :32:33.sprinting speed of the last 150 metres. She needs a six metre gap

:32:34. > :32:37.before the top of the final climb. As they descend now, she hasn't got

:32:38. > :32:43.it so she is still in danger of being pipped on the line. Now we get

:32:44. > :32:48.to the crucial part of the rage -- race. Watch for any slips and

:32:49. > :32:56.slides. Very carefully around there. In third, Oestberg. Can anybody

:32:57. > :33:15.close the gap? Falla has been brilliant today. One

:33:16. > :33:20.more turn, one more straight. She has got to keep it going. The cut

:33:21. > :33:23.Fabiani on the near side. The Slovenian wants to upgrade the gold

:33:24. > :33:35.but she is not going to do it. Wearing number one, Falla. It is

:33:36. > :33:44.glory for Norway once again. Oestberg May just have come through

:33:45. > :33:48.for the silver. Disappointment for Jacobsen, who comes in four.

:33:49. > :34:05.Coldwell is an isolated figure coming across the line. Falla Is the

:34:06. > :34:08.Olympic champion. They are still looking at the photo to see it if it

:34:09. > :34:19.will be gold and silver for Norway or gold and bronze. Falla Was

:34:20. > :34:25.imperious today. Fabiani was unlucky on the line. There was no way you

:34:26. > :34:31.can maintain your speed when that happens.

:34:32. > :34:37.There is the fall from Sophie Coldwell. Nobody can be blamed too

:34:38. > :34:45.much but it certainly involved the stick of Astrid Jacobsen. There is a

:34:46. > :34:53.photo finish again. We need to see this slogan. That is Falla across

:34:54. > :34:59.the line. Oh, my goodness. There is a toenail in it. On the near side,

:35:00. > :35:04.that was Oestberg of Norway. She will take the silver and Fabiani

:35:05. > :35:13.will have to settle for the bronze. Well done to Falla. She won her

:35:14. > :35:17.quarterfinal and semifinal. She has sealed the gold medal as well, using

:35:18. > :35:21.the same tactics all the way through. That's very interesting. It

:35:22. > :35:27.shows you how tough this courses. What about a word for Jacobsen in

:35:28. > :35:32.fourth place? Desperately disappointing. It is amazing she is

:35:33. > :35:33.still here performing, in light of the personal tragedy which has set a

:35:34. > :35:49.family. Two goals for Norway. The dominance

:35:50. > :36:02.goes on with a different name today, the name of Falla.

:36:03. > :36:13.Fabiani getting the blondes -- bronze, replicating her bronze from

:36:14. > :36:21.four years ago. A superb set of races today and a genuine test of

:36:22. > :36:27.speed, endurance... They get the crowd moving in a little bit of a

:36:28. > :36:31.wave formation. Four races in one day. That is a brutal way to earn a

:36:32. > :36:49.gold, silver and bronze. They really do deserve their moment to shine.

:36:50. > :36:54.I think the course designers need to be applauded. That is a fantastic

:36:55. > :36:56.sprint event for the women. Were they racing the men's course, it

:36:57. > :37:05.would have been an endurance race. That have -- that had every element

:37:06. > :37:08.that it should have. I hope that the FIS learned from that and we don't

:37:09. > :37:14.see 1600 metre courses on the World Cup in future, and they stick to

:37:15. > :37:17.1200 maximum. It is like fireworks watching them in action. The men's

:37:18. > :37:22.is a different story. Here are the top six men lining up. We had three

:37:23. > :37:23.Norwegians in the women's final. We have three Swedes in the men's

:37:24. > :37:37.final. Just moments to go until they get

:37:38. > :37:41.under way. They will be presented to the crowds once again. A good crowd

:37:42. > :37:56.for this final. Nice to have the tracks lined all the way. That is

:37:57. > :38:09.what the athletes like this is going to be epic, this confrontation.

:38:10. > :38:16.Will it be a repeat of the women's event? Fastest in qualification was

:38:17. > :39:11.Hattestad. It is a longer course for the men.

:39:12. > :39:15.Will anybody come unstuck on that second difficult sound -- downhill

:39:16. > :39:21.section? Who will make a bid for glory about massive incline, under

:39:22. > :39:25.the shadow of the five Olympic rings and into the stadium, to the huge

:39:26. > :39:28.reception and roar which will await the winner from the crowd? It could

:39:29. > :39:35.be close and it is going to be dramatic. Let's go through the

:39:36. > :39:40.line-up. Wearing number one, Hattestad the world champion from

:39:41. > :39:48.2009. He is looking to add the 2014 Olympic title to his list of

:39:49. > :39:52.honours. The Russian has looked the most convincing of all the

:39:53. > :40:04.performers out there. Second fastest qualifier, behind Hattestad.

:40:05. > :40:09.Petersen hasn't shown his previous form over the last 18 months but

:40:10. > :40:30.he's done nothing wrong today. Hattestad is tall, lean, mean and

:40:31. > :40:38.quick. He has won not only the qualifying run but his quarter and

:40:39. > :40:40.his semifinal as well. Gloeersen, who won in Davos earlier this year.

:40:41. > :41:01.That is a good benchmark. Don't forget this man, who has

:41:02. > :41:03.proved that you can recover from a 30 K Skiathos in 30 hours because he

:41:04. > :41:21.is in the final. -- skiathlon. The countdown has started. Olympic

:41:22. > :41:25.gold is at stake. Just to add to the drama, we get yet another false

:41:26. > :41:31.start. I've seen one or two this season. We've seen five or six in

:41:32. > :41:36.one sprint event. He has done this already today. He looks very calm

:41:37. > :41:41.and gives it the big yawn and pretends to be relaxed. It is a

:41:42. > :41:57.moment to refocus and regather. This time, we get away and everyone

:41:58. > :42:06.accelerating out of the blocks. It is Hattestad who is first into his

:42:07. > :42:14.easy stride. He switches to skate two. A little lot of -- loss of

:42:15. > :42:17.balance from Hattestad. It is Petersen who seizes the opportunity

:42:18. > :42:22.and heads up the climb with no one in front of him. Now he can just ski

:42:23. > :42:40.his own race. High speed from Hattestad.

:42:41. > :42:50.Very very strong, Petersen. He hit the World Cup circuit with a bang in

:42:51. > :42:55.2012. He surprised many with his printings of -- ability. Today, he

:42:56. > :43:17.bids to beat the Norwegian and claim goals. Number four is Gloeersen.

:43:18. > :43:24.Five are now contending for the three medal positions. Hattestad

:43:25. > :43:35.Leads into the downhill. The speed bills. -- builds. Down goes

:43:36. > :43:41.Gloeersen. He's out of this one. The Russian has gone as well. We have

:43:42. > :43:51.only... What do we have left? We have Hattestad out front. It is a

:43:52. > :43:56.two-way race for the title here. Petersen Avoided the mayhem at that

:43:57. > :44:02.corner. What a disaster for Russia and the potential winner of this

:44:03. > :44:10.race. It will be between Hattestad and the man in second place,

:44:11. > :44:14.Petersen of Sweden. Unbelievable. They fell like dominoes down that

:44:15. > :44:19.hill. We've seen so much drama and in both big races so far, it has

:44:20. > :44:23.been Russians who have come unstuck, in a course they should be so

:44:24. > :44:30.familiar with. What a climax in prospect? Can you believe it, the

:44:31. > :44:38.skier who had given up the chase is now back into third place. If you

:44:39. > :44:46.stick in there, you always have a chance. Hattestad leads into the

:44:47. > :44:53.downhill. He can't afford to leave any space on the inside, or Peterson

:44:54. > :44:56.will use his opportunity. And Peterson stumbles, his chance has

:44:57. > :45:02.surely gone, but he recovers quickly. Hattestad looking tired for

:45:03. > :45:12.the first time today, but it is no wonder. Four times round 1800 metres

:45:13. > :45:20.course. Many saying it is harder than the 50 K. Now we see the burst

:45:21. > :45:25.from Hattestad, and he winds up his six foot four frame. But Peterson is

:45:26. > :45:31.closing and closing with 50 metres to go. But Hattestad is too strong

:45:32. > :45:36.on the day, and the gold medal goes to the world champion from 2009, and

:45:37. > :45:42.a brilliant silver medal for Teodor Peterson. And Joensson is going to

:45:43. > :45:47.get the easiest ride to a bronze medal but we have ever seen at the

:45:48. > :45:54.Olympic Games. What a disappointment for Russia, but what a spectacle.

:45:55. > :46:00.That was incredible. You couldn't take your eyes off that race for a

:46:01. > :46:06.single second. Joensson gone on the first climb, and then courtesy of

:46:07. > :46:12.three athletes in contention with a medal tripping each other up, he is

:46:13. > :46:17.back into the mix, and even in that final descent, a little trip by

:46:18. > :46:22.Peterson resulted in his challenge for gold falling by the wayside.

:46:23. > :46:29.What a sad end to the race the Ustiugov. Your heart must go out to

:46:30. > :46:32.the Russians. They have had more chance than anyone to get familiar

:46:33. > :46:41.with the twists and turns of this course. And just as was the case in

:46:42. > :46:48.the women's race, the fastest qualifier has come through to win

:46:49. > :46:52.again. Another race, and another gold medal for the cross-country.

:46:53. > :47:02.What a race it is turning out to be for them.

:47:03. > :47:05.And Hattestad, now 34 years old, older than some people feel is the

:47:06. > :47:17.right age to be at the best in sprinting. Joensson cannot move,

:47:18. > :47:22.having crossed that line. But had he stop when he was 100 metres behind

:47:23. > :47:25.the halfway stage, he wouldn't have had a chance, but he suddenly found

:47:26. > :47:32.himself in position to take the bronze medal. Extraordinary. He must

:47:33. > :47:39.have been hardly able to believe his eyes, because he was miles off the

:47:40. > :47:42.pace. We hope he is OK. We are used to seeing cross-country skiers

:47:43. > :47:48.struggling at the end, but I wonder if he has some kind of issue. There

:47:49. > :47:54.could be something, maybe a little virus has started to take hold. He

:47:55. > :47:58.must have thought, I am going to come last, I will just finish the

:47:59. > :48:03.race. Then three men take each other down, and he goes from last to

:48:04. > :48:11.bronze in the blink of a knife. Incredible. He has not been 100%

:48:12. > :48:19.this season. He has suffered from illness in the past. This sprint

:48:20. > :48:23.racing is very intense. I know you don't get the micro-trauma that you

:48:24. > :48:28.get when you run, but you are still expending an enormous amount of

:48:29. > :48:32.energy, and for Hattestad to do it for times in the space of three and

:48:33. > :48:39.a half hours, quite phenomenal. He deserves the gold. Peterson has

:48:40. > :48:44.shown us what he can do. He had a poor season last year, he will have

:48:45. > :48:50.forgotten about that now, claiming the silver medal today. And but for

:48:51. > :48:57.that slip round the final turn, he could have got closer. I think

:48:58. > :49:04.Hattestad had his measure, but Peterson would have been closer.

:49:05. > :49:09.Well, here is the mayhem. That was a nasty crack on the head for

:49:10. > :49:12.Gloeersen. I am surprised they haven't put extra barriers there.

:49:13. > :49:21.You can see the padding on the corner. That is Ustiugov, furious

:49:22. > :49:25.with himself, and a broken pole. He was first up onto his feet, and as

:49:26. > :49:33.he dug his pole into the snow, it snapped. And this was the little

:49:34. > :49:38.stumble by Peterson. Hattestad was leading, but it would have cost him

:49:39. > :49:44.a little bit of momentum there. He sat up as he watched the Norwegian

:49:45. > :49:49.go away from him, but he will love his moment on the podium, picking up

:49:50. > :49:59.the silver. Hattestad the world champion five years ago. Suddenly,

:50:00. > :50:04.the winner from back in 2009 is once again the athlete they are all

:50:05. > :50:09.talking about. And what a week for the Norwegians, they have now taken

:50:10. > :50:19.three of the four golds in this arena. That is why so many locals

:50:20. > :50:25.turn up to watch this one. They saw Kriukov go earlier, and they had to

:50:26. > :50:28.watch Ustiugov go down in the final. They have been practising on

:50:29. > :50:32.the course more than anyone, but that shows you it is a brutal

:50:33. > :50:37.course. And if you have one former, there is a chance that those behind

:50:38. > :50:46.cannot get through, because the Riz and quite enough space to get

:50:47. > :50:53.through. Delight from the silver medallist. I think they heard that

:50:54. > :50:55.in Stockholm! Hattestad is the winter Olympic champion. Silver and

:50:56. > :51:22.bronze for Peterson and Joensson. Nothing like a big Nordic roar.

:51:23. > :51:25.Norwegians are flying high in the medals table. This is a long

:51:26. > :51:35.stand-by, it would be a great tournament. In the Bolshoi, men's

:51:36. > :51:52.ice hockey starts tomorrow. Behind me, the ice cube Stadium. Ice hockey

:51:53. > :52:00.and curling. Next, the clue is in the chair. It is speed skating. Talk

:52:01. > :52:06.about the Norwegian domination of cross-country. The Dutch have

:52:07. > :52:14.dominated speed skating. They have won seven of the nine medals on

:52:15. > :52:18.offer so far. A clean sweep in the 500 is yesterday, with the Mulder

:52:19. > :52:22.Twins taking the gold and bronze medals. I don't think the Dutch will

:52:23. > :52:53.win here. Let's go over and see. We could see a changing of the guard

:52:54. > :53:02.here at the top will Jenny Wolf, winner of the silver

:53:03. > :53:21.medal four years ago. At the moment, good skating by the

:53:22. > :53:31.American, who has gone off the mark well. 0.42 of a second. The silver

:53:32. > :53:37.medal last year from Vancouver. Can she backs this up? If she can, she

:53:38. > :53:45.will become the new leader. The time to beat is 37.58. The American gets

:53:46. > :53:52.a good bend, and maybe just a little ahead. It looks as though she is. Up

:53:53. > :54:07.to the line, Wolf goes third and Richardson second. Jenny Wolf 37.94.

:54:08. > :54:12.Disappointment for Wolf, a slight shake of the head. For Heather

:54:13. > :54:23.Richardson, that is an excellent first 500 is. I would expect her to

:54:24. > :54:30.finish in the second 500 with a much quicker start. It looks like Wolf

:54:31. > :54:37.had a slight slip there on the start. And there you can see Heather

:54:38. > :54:44.Richardson on the inner lane really attacking that bend and trying to

:54:45. > :54:49.stay tight coming out. Staying low and pushing the skate forward, the

:54:50. > :54:54.right skate will stop and there is the high five, or the low five as

:54:55. > :55:00.you might call it, putting her into second place. There are three more

:55:01. > :55:16.pairs to go, and the first of the three just lining up on the ice now.

:55:17. > :55:42.From China, Wang Beijing. And her opponent, Olga Fatkulina of Russia.

:55:43. > :55:52.Wang Beixing second in the world Championships on this rink. She was

:55:53. > :56:02.winner of the Bronze in Vancouver. The crowd is really getting behind

:56:03. > :56:07.Fatkulina of Russia. It is Wang Beixing who is 0.4 of a second up on

:56:08. > :56:12.the time of her fellow countrywoman. Can she back it up? She is a

:56:13. > :56:17.specialist when it comes to these 500 and is. Into the finishing

:56:18. > :56:22.straight, lining up for the run to the line. The Russian is having a

:56:23. > :56:32.really great finishing straight as well, and she could go into the lead

:56:33. > :56:42.here. 100th of a second sliced off, Fatkulina is the new leader. The

:56:43. > :56:49.Chinese Wang Beixing goes forth. She had a good start, and she backed it

:56:50. > :56:52.up. That was a fantastic race, and the Russians are going crazy here in

:56:53. > :57:04.the stadium, the Adler of, 8000 people. And Fatkulina of Russia

:57:05. > :57:09.trying to get this crowd to remain a little bit quiet for the start of

:57:10. > :57:14.the next race. And Wang Beixing really attacked the first 100

:57:15. > :57:23.metres. But of course, going to the outer lane gave Fatkulina someone to

:57:24. > :57:30.chase. She almost went over there, left arm really stretched out. The

:57:31. > :57:33.coach there from Russia, really enjoying this competition. There is

:57:34. > :57:43.the other Russian coach. Two heats to go. The penultimate

:57:44. > :58:25.pair are now preparing. Kodaira from Japan. And Boer. From

:58:26. > :58:30.the Netherlands. This Dutch skater is carrying the hopes of the

:58:31. > :58:38.Netherlands. They have never won a medal of any colour in this contest.

:58:39. > :58:47.Both skaters away successfully. Two hundredths of a second above that

:58:48. > :58:54.leading time of the Russian skater. Boer is the world record-holder at

:58:55. > :59:00.the 1000 metres. Here comes Boer lining up for the run to the line,

:59:01. > :59:05.but not on the pace of the leader. But remember it is the two times

:59:06. > :59:24.added together. Fourth! She is always forth. The time is 37.77, and

:59:25. > :59:29.Kodaira has 37.88. There is the name again on the skate. She will have

:59:30. > :59:36.the advantage in the next race of the 500 and is. She will actually be

:59:37. > :59:45.going on the outer lane. Very tall, long Dutch skater. And fourth place,

:59:46. > :59:50.it is almost unbelievable. It is as though she has it written into her

:59:51. > :59:59.CV that she will always be forth. I hope not for her sake. There is her

:00:00. > :00:06.coach, the former Olympic champion. I remember how brilliant she was.

:00:07. > :00:19.And now we await for the Princess of the ice, the Korean skater. She is

:00:20. > :00:25.unbeatable, is Lee Sang Hwa. Absolute fantastic athlete. She has

:00:26. > :00:30.one seven World Cup races out of seven, nobody can ever really get

:00:31. > :00:35.the better of her. A lot of pressure on her, she is the world champion,

:00:36. > :00:42.she won it on this ice, but she has already seen her record taken away

:00:43. > :00:51.from her, taking 71 hundredths of the mark. -- seven 100th s. Her

:00:52. > :01:02.opponent is Brittany Bowe. Brittany Bowe is her opponent. The

:01:03. > :01:13.world record holder of the world record holder further 1,000m. -- 40.

:01:14. > :01:20.She is already quicker. This is sensational skating already by Lee

:01:21. > :01:25.Sang Hwa. As I say, not beaten in any World Cup, seven straight. The

:01:26. > :01:29.Korean commentary team beside me going bananas. They can see that

:01:30. > :01:51.their great hope is possibly going to depose the Chinese skater of the

:01:52. > :01:53.lead. She is ahead coming up to the line. Stopping the clock at 37. 42.

:01:54. > :02:04.That She is certainly in the form. Her

:02:05. > :02:09.coach, Kevin Crockett, moved from Canada to become her coach, this is

:02:10. > :02:20.an exceptional start, opening in ten. 33. She sat on the outside of

:02:21. > :02:28.this 400m track. Coming down the next 500 macro -- 500m calmer will

:02:29. > :02:39.have the inside lane. Next up, Jenny Jones. Coming in

:02:40. > :02:44.switch to the first jump. Great grab. Looking very, very solid here

:02:45. > :02:52.for Jenny Jones. Is she going for the front line? She went for the

:02:53. > :02:59.seven. Solid. Jenny Jones has just taken Britain's first ever Olympic

:03:00. > :03:03.medal on snow. Yes, great celebrations a couple of

:03:04. > :03:05.days ago with Jenny Jones as she took bronze in the snowboard

:03:06. > :03:11.slopestyle, Britain's first-ever medal on snow. There is a chance

:03:12. > :03:17.again for Katie Summerhayes, this time in the freestyle ski slope

:03:18. > :03:24.style. ED LEIGH: The excitement levels are

:03:25. > :03:29.ramping up in this commentary box. -- GRAHAM BELL: the excitement

:03:30. > :03:30.levels are ramping up in this commentary box.

:03:31. > :03:35.Does she go in with a chance of gold?

:03:36. > :03:42.TIM WARWOOD: Absolutely, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. So

:03:43. > :03:53.Silvia Bertagna from Italy gets us underway with the first round of the

:03:54. > :04:02.women's first ski slopestyle finals. Coming down the stair set. Into this

:04:03. > :04:10.box. There is the sweatshop, spinning around on that box. Went

:04:11. > :04:18.for the safety grab. The judges are going to be looking for nice, clean

:04:19. > :04:30.grabs. 540, Switch 540. You can see how bumpy it is on the skis. Into

:04:31. > :04:38.unnatural 360. And then a big 720 nuke grab and she holds onto it.

:04:39. > :04:41.Good run. We have seen in the snowboarding that slopestyle is all

:04:42. > :04:46.about execution, it is about flow, it is about making yourself look in

:04:47. > :04:49.control to the judges. Maybe you don't feel so in control, but as

:04:50. > :04:58.long as you look in control, you are doing all right. It will be

:04:59. > :05:15.interesting to see. 69. Six. First place. To -- 69. 6. She started

:05:16. > :05:19.first. Kerry Harman, -- Keri Herman, she improved on her

:05:20. > :05:23.qualifiers but that is not the best start. Not very clean, so she misses

:05:24. > :05:26.the second element. Basically, she needs to forget this runner, a

:05:27. > :05:31.training run to the bottom and all to play for on her second run. That

:05:32. > :05:35.will crank up the pressure and we talk about it, time and time again

:05:36. > :05:39.until we are blue in the face, basically they have got to put a run

:05:40. > :05:43.down, got to get a score on the board and then they can really go

:05:44. > :05:51.bigger on the second run. Yes, it really is about when the pressure is

:05:52. > :05:55.coming on. If you compare this to... The crowd don't know what

:05:56. > :06:00.happened at the top or maybe they are just cheering anyway that final

:06:01. > :06:05.kicker. If you look at what happened in the snowboarding slopestyle, the

:06:06. > :06:10.medallists were made up of riders who had done really well on their

:06:11. > :06:15.first run. It is just key, really keen to put down a solid run and you

:06:16. > :06:19.can then improve on it. We have had a lot of chat on Twitter on the ACL,

:06:20. > :06:23.we have been mentioning them left right and centre and I guess you

:06:24. > :06:27.might not know what an ACL is certainly what it stands for. Graham

:06:28. > :06:35.permit you have snapped both of yours, -- Graham Cummins you have

:06:36. > :06:39.snapped both of yours. The ACL is the anterior cruciate ligament. Two

:06:40. > :06:45.footballers, it is the Gazza knee, it first became famous when Gazza

:06:46. > :06:53.tore his in the FA Cup semifinal playing for Spurs. Good work, John

:06:54. > :06:55.Mutton. Oh, no. That is Camillia Berra of Switzerland, the

:06:56. > :07:04.19-year-old from the poor disallow a region. -- port to

:07:05. > :07:11.coming back off the rails, leaning back on her heels, too far back. And

:07:12. > :07:16.it has just put her in the back seat. She is either listening to a

:07:17. > :07:24.stand-up comedy audio or she is pretty happy. I don't think she is

:07:25. > :07:30.happy. No, just giving it the smiles. Smiling to stop crying,

:07:31. > :07:34.actually. Now the other Swiss, Eveline Bhend, 32 years old, a big

:07:35. > :07:44.difference in age between the two of them, 19 and 32. Her husband will

:07:45. > :07:50.compete in the halfpipe. She switched from snowboarding ten years

:07:51. > :07:55.ago. I have got to say, making the Olympic final, it was the right

:07:56. > :08:02.thing to do. 180 of the butter box. Bad landing didn't look too clever.

:08:03. > :08:07.A little bit bumpy. Nothing to do with the way she was landing, she

:08:08. > :08:16.was balanced, it was the whole she was landing in. We have seen

:08:17. > :08:25.back-to-back seven. And then a misty 720 to finish things up. That is the

:08:26. > :08:31.lead. It has got to be. You saw her spin to the left and right with the

:08:32. > :08:34.720 and then this misty 720, no grab, and the judges will be looking

:08:35. > :08:43.for things like that, to penalise when can. It is not first. Second

:08:44. > :08:52.place. No grabs on of the jump. Julia Krass, 16 years old, from the

:08:53. > :09:00.United States. The pressure on this young lady's shoulders. Olympic

:09:01. > :09:05.Games at 16. Well. Well, she is in the final, and you have got to say

:09:06. > :09:09.that the North American riders have done very well, Canada and the USA

:09:10. > :09:19.both with three riders in this final. Coming around to fakie off

:09:20. > :09:30.the Canon. She did really well to hold onto the switch 540. Straight

:09:31. > :09:34.air, we call that a dead sailor. It is not going to help the score. You

:09:35. > :09:42.can see how important speeders. My goodness! What was she doing? It is

:09:43. > :09:50.like jumping off the roof of your house and landing on straight legs.

:09:51. > :09:57.She straight airs because of the spin, she will not make it over the

:09:58. > :10:04.jump. Landing on the knuckle, the worst place to land. Not a good run.

:10:05. > :10:09.Anna Segal, from Australia, her mum and dad are in the crowd. She has

:10:10. > :10:18.the experience, can she put that into practice? She has a minute and

:10:19. > :10:25.a half to do her best. 270 out on that down rail. Bringing a lot of

:10:26. > :10:29.speed. Nice top two elements, nice and clean and fast. Goodspeed

:10:30. > :10:35.through the rails. Maybe she has seen some of the other riders coming

:10:36. > :10:44.up short. She knows she has to go faster through the rail sections.

:10:45. > :10:54.Tucking them, going as fast as she can. Big, unnatural 720. And then a

:10:55. > :11:03.nice corked seven. She is happy with that. And so is he! You see the nuke

:11:04. > :11:11.grab. Anna Segal, very consistent in the qualifying rounds, 75 and 78. It

:11:12. > :11:15.is about getting that good score in and she has done that here, mission

:11:16. > :11:20.accomplished for run number one. It is the best of two runs, so if you

:11:21. > :11:26.do fall on your first run, it doesn't mean all that much... It

:11:27. > :11:33.means a lot, because the pressure is just on. But at least you get

:11:34. > :11:38.another go. 77, our new leader. Very much on a par with what her school

:11:39. > :11:49.was in the qualifying rounds. -- what the score. The Swedes had a

:11:50. > :11:53.good showing in the men's snowboarding slopestyle and they

:11:54. > :12:03.will have a good showing in the skiing slopestyle, and so Emma

:12:04. > :12:10.Dahlstrom gapping out. In the down box. Very, very stylish. See how the

:12:11. > :12:19.hands are almost felt wrote to her hips. -- stuck to her hips. Backflip

:12:20. > :12:27.doesn't score much but we love it. She needs some nice big trickster

:12:28. > :12:37.bumped her scorer. Switch. -- some nice big tricks to bump her score

:12:38. > :12:43.up. And a 720 tail grab. It is a solid run from Emma Dahlstrom. But

:12:44. > :12:47.she has not really done anything different in this run that she did

:12:48. > :12:54.in her qualifying round. Not really. We saw the backflip again off the

:12:55. > :12:59.butter box, which looks good but doesn't score as high as some of the

:13:00. > :13:03.spinning tricks. Just reaching for that grab. Not as solid as she would

:13:04. > :13:07.have liked and it is things like that that the judges will be looking

:13:08. > :13:18.for, mistakes like that. Second placed so far. Next up on course, it

:13:19. > :13:26.is Devin Logan from the United States. I think she is listening to

:13:27. > :13:36.some Biggie Smalls, judging by the lip syncing. Always a good showing

:13:37. > :13:41.on the X Games, another one of the competent North Americans. Pretzel

:13:42. > :13:45.out of that rail. Basically, she is skiing against inertia, she jumps

:13:46. > :13:51.one way to stop herself continuing that way and then spins out the

:13:52. > :13:56.opposite way. Super nice Darcy, she held it when she came off the rail.

:13:57. > :14:06.She has slightly overcooked that but this is good. Switch 540 with the

:14:07. > :14:11.safety grab. Nice, deep into the transition, carrying a lot of speed.

:14:12. > :14:18.And a big 720 and holds onto it. That is a good run. A good run from

:14:19. > :14:26.Devin Logan of the United States, how good will it be? Her score in

:14:27. > :14:29.qualifying, 80. 40. In the snowboarding, we have seen Jamie

:14:30. > :14:36.Anderson and Sage Kotsenburg take gold medals in the snowboarding

:14:37. > :14:42.slopestyle. Are we going to sue the first in the skiing go to America as

:14:43. > :14:44.well? Spree killers she is happy, that is what we like to see, first

:14:45. > :14:56.place -- she is happy. Devin Logan takes the lead for the

:14:57. > :15:06.United States. Yuki Tsubota now taking her turn. She might stand a

:15:07. > :15:16.chance of pushing into the top three. Just a little hand drag on

:15:17. > :15:22.the landing, but technically strong. That's landing there looking choppy.

:15:23. > :15:28.She is 20 years old, lives in Pemberton.

:15:29. > :15:39.There is a golden eagle reservation there. She is good, this girl. And a

:15:40. > :15:47.big 900! Good stuff from the Canadian. They love it, and rightly

:15:48. > :15:56.so. She is going to be absolutely delighted with that. When this

:15:57. > :16:01.starts to go down, she just pops a little 180. A little in the

:16:02. > :16:11.back-seat for the landing, but she holds on. Short on the knuckle on

:16:12. > :16:17.that 900. A good run, but we have to be picky, because this is the

:16:18. > :16:26.Olympics. And she is in fourth, there you go. Now, Katie

:16:27. > :16:31.Summerhayes. Here we go, bring it home. The great wit and and

:16:32. > :16:40.Yorkshire, come on, Katie Summerhayes. -- Great Britain.

:16:41. > :16:55.She needs to be nice and clean. Beautiful. A 540 off there, careful

:16:56. > :17:06.of the landing. She is coming in backwards here. A switch 1260! Oh,

:17:07. > :17:12.no, she's dropped it. She went for broke on her first run. Is she not

:17:13. > :17:18.listening to our commentary? It did not stick. It did not stick. Can I

:17:19. > :17:24.just explain the difference between her qualifying run and what she went

:17:25. > :17:31.for their in the first of her final runs. Before we have had the switch

:17:32. > :17:39.540, the switch 900 even, two and a half spins. Here she goes to put in

:17:40. > :17:43.another whole 360. She speed checks it just a little, hits the sweet

:17:44. > :17:48.spot, the right part of the landing. But she is just in the back-seat,

:17:49. > :17:57.she couldn't hold on, and one ski comes up. She wasn't quite as clean

:17:58. > :18:02.on the grab as she would like to be. She is getting a cheer from the

:18:03. > :18:05.crowd, they are loving her. But she has got it all to do. She is doing

:18:06. > :18:24.it the hard way. And Kim Lamarre, from the East,

:18:25. > :18:32.Quebec. It is 270 there, the first rider we have seen do that. And she

:18:33. > :18:35.has dropped it as well! Oh, no. I think the top three almost no they

:18:36. > :18:39.are head and shoulders above everyone else, and they are all

:18:40. > :18:46.stepping up the degree of difficulty and fighting it out for the gold.

:18:47. > :18:50.That is basically leaving the door open for anyone who has put down a

:18:51. > :19:02.solid run. Devin Logan is looking very comfortable. Ski off, hold off,

:19:03. > :19:08.yard sale. With these conditions the way they are, with the coaches not

:19:09. > :19:13.be better to say, stick with one of your qualifying rounds down? Like

:19:14. > :19:23.Devin Logan did? You would think, wouldn't you? One skier left at the

:19:24. > :19:31.top. She can turn the screw the little here, Dara Howell. Will the

:19:32. > :19:39.Canadian coaches have the same game plan for both girls? Lets see what

:19:40. > :19:45.he sends her out to do. So, all of the favourites from qualifying,

:19:46. > :19:55.including Katie Summerhayes, have crashed out. Nice and solid there,

:19:56. > :20:01.flat down. It cannons you out into that landing. The switch now to this

:20:02. > :20:10.jump. You can hear the helicopter overhead. Switch 720, very nice. Is

:20:11. > :20:20.this a switch nine? Beautiful stuff! Into the touch, and a big

:20:21. > :20:25.540, sends it deep, and you have to say that is well-deserved. A

:20:26. > :20:34.brilliant run. A great grab on the end there. Was that a truckdriver?

:20:35. > :20:42.She is fizzing! She cannot believe it. She is in gold medal position.

:20:43. > :20:47.That is what you have got to do. You have got to go out and do that, and

:20:48. > :20:54.then you can relax. She now has the luxury on her second run, she can

:20:55. > :21:01.watch every body else go before her. For me, she has been the skier of

:21:02. > :21:09.the day right there. We have just got to wait for the judges to

:21:10. > :21:15.confirm. A big 900, and a tuck make sure she keeps the right speed. The

:21:16. > :21:21.bow and arrow, they call that. We were corrected on Twitter, thank you

:21:22. > :21:27.for that. It looks like a truckdriver, but that is both legs

:21:28. > :21:34.extended. The bow and arrow has one leg pulled in.

:21:35. > :21:45.94.20! Dara Howell has taken a commanding lead on this Ski

:21:46. > :21:55.Slopestyle event. That will take some beating. And it is very likely

:21:56. > :22:02.to be the gold medal for Canada. I think we have just seen a gold medal

:22:03. > :22:11.run laid down there. Devin Logan, 85.4. Katie Summerhayes

:22:12. > :22:20.unfortunately crashing out, but on her first run qualifying scores, she

:22:21. > :22:30.would be in a medal position, so she has it all to do.

:22:31. > :22:43.Her husband will compete in the halfpipe. This is Eveline Bhend. 32,

:22:44. > :22:53.the oldest competitor in the winning's Ski Slopestyle. A little

:22:54. > :22:56.180 over the gap. 720, didn't quite get the grab. She spins and natural

:22:57. > :23:11.720, . And there is that misty 720, just

:23:12. > :23:15.throwing that shoulder down to add a little forward rotation into the

:23:16. > :23:25.spin. I think that will be an improvement on her first run score.

:23:26. > :23:36.Happy birthday, Amanda, that says. Second place for evil in Bend. And

:23:37. > :23:44.this is Emma Dahlstrom. -- Eveline Bhend.

:23:45. > :23:51.Emma Dahlstrom knows that she has to pull something out of the bag. She

:23:52. > :23:56.has a really nice style, her hands down by her hips. There is no

:23:57. > :24:02.flailing around or erratic movements. That backflip is the

:24:03. > :24:25.crowd-pleaser. A natural 540. Tuck and push. A 720 tail grab,

:24:26. > :24:29.lovely. That is how you do it. I thought she would come up short, but

:24:30. > :24:38.she seemed to get tuck. There is team Sweden. They are loving it.

:24:39. > :24:47.She needs to improve to at least 77 to squeeze into bronze medal

:24:48. > :24:59.position. Has she done enough? I don't think so. And here it is. She

:25:00. > :25:05.is forth. It is cruel! 75.40. We were in agreement with the judges on

:25:06. > :25:15.that one. Right, here is Devin Logan. She has got absolutely

:25:16. > :25:21.nothing to fear here. She is no stranger to the podium, lying in

:25:22. > :25:26.silver medal position. She has been a stranger to Olympic gold medals,

:25:27. > :25:35.though. Doing this backwards, and came up a little short there. And

:25:36. > :25:40.then she hits the big and bar there. You can see how holding it before

:25:41. > :25:46.she puts her feet down, holding it at 90, showing the judges she is in

:25:47. > :25:49.control. Winding the windows down. When they go forward like that, you

:25:50. > :25:55.know they are going into the front seat. She is in autopilot now.

:25:56. > :26:11.And now we see a seven... Oh, dear, no. So she will not improve on her

:26:12. > :26:20.first run score of 85.40, which leaves the door open. If Katie can

:26:21. > :26:23.stick one down here, there is room on the podium.

:26:24. > :26:54.He is Yuki Tsubota now for Canada. She needs some solid grabs, and it

:26:55. > :27:02.doesn't look like we are going to get it. Speed is a real issue here,

:27:03. > :27:06.she is coming up short. It is very difficult to carry the spin, and she

:27:07. > :27:14.has come off really short, a horrible job. Oh, my word. We said

:27:15. > :27:20.how dangerous this sport can be, and that can happen if you come up short

:27:21. > :27:25.and land that hard on the knuckle. Speed is your friend because it will

:27:26. > :27:30.carry you onto the steep section. It is never going to end well if you

:27:31. > :27:38.come up short like that. She knew she had to go big here. I think she

:27:39. > :27:42.hit her head on her knee there. What effect is this going to have on

:27:43. > :27:48.Katie Summerhayes? It is harsh to say, but crashes like this are part

:27:49. > :27:53.and parcel of the sport. They are just being safe here, taking her off

:27:54. > :27:58.to get medical treatment. She is getting a round of applause.

:27:59. > :28:06.Canada, USA and Australia in the middle positions. Dara Howell looks

:28:07. > :28:12.unbeatable now, I would think. Still one more run to go. Devin Logan in

:28:13. > :28:19.silver and Anna Segal hanging on to bronze. Can Katie Summerhayes do

:28:20. > :28:26.something about that, to affect the podium? There are only three of them

:28:27. > :28:32.left at the top, Dara Howell in gold medal position. Here we go. Katie

:28:33. > :28:43.Summerhayes takes a deep breath, drops in. She needs the run of her

:28:44. > :28:45.life. 450 out of the rail. We will see that switch up here, and it is

:28:46. > :29:02.absolutely textbook. That is nice. She needs this switch

:29:03. > :29:10.1260. Yes! She has put it down! Come on, Katie Summerhayes. Hold it. And

:29:11. > :29:19.into this on John. It is all on this last kicker. Nice and simple. Yes,

:29:20. > :29:26.and she has pulled off a 1260! Katie Summerhayes, Team GB has absolutely

:29:27. > :29:35.pulled the lid off it. I am sure it is a medal. I get the feeling. She

:29:36. > :29:42.450s out here. Look at the execution. Perhaps a little bit

:29:43. > :29:53.messy coming out. And the hands down. She had the Japan grab there.

:29:54. > :29:58.My heart is just pumping. What must she be feeling like? What must Katie

:29:59. > :30:05.Summerhayes be feeling like waiting for the score? She will feel like

:30:06. > :30:16.somebody is electrocuting her upper play -- probably. She needs 77 to

:30:17. > :30:19.get on the podium. let's see what the judges make of this, I guarantee

:30:20. > :30:26.they will leave is waiting for about 16 years. I think I have aged about

:30:27. > :30:31.16 years in the last five minutes. Come on, judges. They kept Jenny

:30:32. > :30:50.Jones waited the longest. -- waiting. Oh, no. 70 points 60. It is

:30:51. > :30:55.not enough. -- 70 points 60. The hand drags have cost up. They really

:30:56. > :31:03.have. She is 18, she will be 22 in South Korea. You had to stick it on

:31:04. > :31:07.the first run with the way the conditions are. On the second run,

:31:08. > :31:14.it is so much harder. We have seen it with all of the skiers. It came

:31:15. > :31:18.down to not landing that first run. Katie Summerhayes is going to feel a

:31:19. > :31:25.little bit robbed, but she has done herself proud. She has done UK sport

:31:26. > :31:29.pride. But let's not get too distracted, because this girl could

:31:30. > :31:34.still upset the apple cart. She could get on the podium as well. She

:31:35. > :31:41.was in the same position as Katie, looking to get on the podium. The

:31:42. > :31:51.podium right now stands as Canada, USA, Australia, 77 is the score to

:31:52. > :32:06.get on. No spin in that, but very technical. We got so carried away

:32:07. > :32:10.with Katie's run. We did. We just wanted it so badly, because it means

:32:11. > :32:18.so much to British skiing and snowboarding. Katie Summerhayes is

:32:19. > :32:23.widely regarded as the best of these girls on the rails. We had guys in

:32:24. > :32:29.practice cheering on her tricks. But she can win a medal at the next

:32:30. > :32:34.Olympics, she can win gold. So this one, backwards to backwards, we like

:32:35. > :32:38.that. I wouldn't like to do that. There is no way I could do that! She

:32:39. > :32:48.is happy with that. Is this enough for a podium? It is third place. It

:32:49. > :32:57.has knocked the Australian off the podium. And only zero point for --

:32:58. > :33:15.no point for they point between zero and bronze. -- only 0.4 of a point.

:33:16. > :33:20.So Devin Segal can unclip her boots -- Dara Howell can unclip her boots

:33:21. > :33:24.and walked down. She won't do that, she will give them a show. She's

:33:25. > :33:29.getting her folks from her coaches and managers. The emotion you must

:33:30. > :33:36.be feeling now and she still has two ski. Is it safe? Well, I know, it is

:33:37. > :33:42.like when I go snowboarding listening to music, just unsafe.

:33:43. > :33:48.Well, this is a victory lap. Good, good, because it is not the

:33:49. > :33:53.conditions to be trying to throw massive tricks. Look at the

:33:54. > :33:56.landings. This is what has cost Katie Summerhayes, not landing it on

:33:57. > :34:00.her first run. The conditions have got warmer and warmer and warmer and

:34:01. > :34:09.it has got more and more dangerous as the competition has gone on. She

:34:10. > :34:14.is going big to be safe. Absolutely. Look at that, she has gone straight

:34:15. > :34:20.and just about made it. There you go, ladies and gentlemen, your

:34:21. > :34:27.Olympic gold medallist, 19-year-old from Ontario in Canada. Dara Howell

:34:28. > :34:41.takes the gold. Devin Logan, from the United States, in silver-medal

:34:42. > :34:46.position. And her fellow Canadian, Lamarre in bronze. Katie Summerhayes

:34:47. > :34:50.ends up in seventh position. Giving a really good account of her cell,

:34:51. > :34:56.really strong in qualifying. She fell in the finals here, couldn't

:34:57. > :35:00.put it down clean enough. And all of the scores from the first round,

:35:01. > :35:11.apart from Kimi Lamah, counting on the podium. -- Kim Lamarre. But you

:35:12. > :35:18.had to do it in the first run. That is what Dara Howell did. So gold and

:35:19. > :35:27.bronze for Canada, silver for the USA. So here they are, the official

:35:28. > :35:34.confirmation of the results. Dara Howell with that incredible

:35:35. > :35:37.first-run, a score of 94.20. Devin Logan also on the first run. Kim

:35:38. > :35:43.Lamarre did exceptionally well on the second run in the conditions.

:35:44. > :35:48.And Katie Summerhayes in seventh position. A great second run but

:35:49. > :35:54.with conditions as they were, not good enough to climb up onto the

:35:55. > :35:57.podium. Seventh place, very, very respectable for our British skier

:35:58. > :36:04.from Sheffield, Katie Summerhayes. Katie, first of all, your reaction.

:36:05. > :36:08.I am honestly gutted. I skied really well in qualification, I think,

:36:09. > :36:12.which kind of made me feel good, but I'm gutted with my result. It

:36:13. > :36:18.happens, everyone falls. I made two massive mistakes. How difficult were

:36:19. > :36:24.conditions today, because it was getting noticeably warmer. It was

:36:25. > :36:28.difficult, but I made a plan to stick with the small drums, and just

:36:29. > :36:33.do those in training. I was the luckiest out of the girls, hitting

:36:34. > :36:37.the small side, not having to go up things as big. You had quite a delay

:36:38. > :36:44.before your second run because there was a clash right before you --

:36:45. > :36:47.crash. How did you cope? To be honest, we had no idea what was

:36:48. > :36:52.happening, we thought it was normal, which was good, because I'm good

:36:53. > :36:56.friends with Yuki, so it is probably good that I didn't know. And

:36:57. > :37:00.overall, do you think this is good experience or are you going to feel

:37:01. > :37:05.regretful of a missed opportunity? I think a little bit of both. I am so

:37:06. > :37:09.lucky to be at the Olympics at 18. I never thought I would get this

:37:10. > :37:13.chance and I can use it as experience to go to the next one.

:37:14. > :37:16.But I feel I skied really well in qualification, so I am honestly

:37:17. > :37:27.gutted. But I think later tonight, I will be really happy.

:37:28. > :37:33.Jonathan -- and you cannot help but think she will get to bed tonight

:37:34. > :37:38.and think, did I let an Olympic medal getaway? It was there for her

:37:39. > :37:41.at the start of qualification. Today was dull and overcast, but we are

:37:42. > :37:46.going to get a beautiful sunset over the Black Sea, just behind the

:37:47. > :37:50.Bolshoy. No sunset in the mountains, it is overcast, we are heading down

:37:51. > :37:59.to the swanky running centre for the women's luge. -- to the running

:38:00. > :38:04.centre. Here is run three. Here is the start list of those that will be

:38:05. > :38:11.seeing early doors. They go in reverse order to the way they they

:38:12. > :38:15.finished last night. Natalie Geisenberger, Tatjana Maria, the

:38:16. > :38:18.Olympic champion. Alex Gough starts in that leading group -- Tatjana

:38:19. > :38:31.Maria. That second group are over a second

:38:32. > :38:49.behind, just below, in fact. Leading through to about 1.5 seconds. Nina

:38:50. > :38:51.Reithmayer is the silver medallist from four years ago. That is the way

:38:52. > :39:01.they will start. So we are ready and waiting for

:39:02. > :39:10.Natalie Geisenberger to start first, to get this third run under way.

:39:11. > :39:17.These are anxious times at the top of the track, last-minute

:39:18. > :39:25.preparations by the athletes. Huefner has the course record,

:39:26. > :39:28.managing to beat Geisenberger, but Geisenberger definitely has the

:39:29. > :39:42.track record. Here she is, about to go, leading the Olympics. She is

:39:43. > :39:43.very special indeed. She has got over 0.465 of a second in the lead

:39:44. > :40:00.over everybody else. Geisenberger goes, this is run

:40:01. > :40:05.number three. A decent start. Very good indeed, just a fraction of

:40:06. > :40:15.Huefner's start time record. -- off. A huge margin over the rest of the

:40:16. > :40:17.world already from the first two runs. She looks in a great position

:40:18. > :40:32.for the gold. Down from 11, you must avoid the tap

:40:33. > :40:38.on that wall. Speeds in excess of 130. Perfect so far. This is about

:40:39. > :40:53.as good as it gets, coming down, and that is magnificent. 49 points 765

:40:54. > :40:58.-- 49. 765, that is a track record. Her family have come from Bavaria to

:40:59. > :41:03.see her. She has been dominant all season, a massive favourite for this

:41:04. > :41:11.event. The ice is colder today, she has cranked up the temperature and

:41:12. > :41:15.it has given for harder and faster conditions. Geisenberger has held

:41:16. > :41:21.her cool overnight, she has held her run. A little bit wavy in corner

:41:22. > :41:24.ten, you want to hold the flattest line possible, but it doesn't

:41:25. > :41:29.matter. She really could crash now and still win this. As long as she

:41:30. > :41:37.crashes late on down the track in the final run. Look at Huefner's

:41:38. > :41:41.time, she is in second place at the moment but both runs are outside of

:41:42. > :41:52.50 seconds. She is the latest let defending champion and a lot of

:41:53. > :42:01.pride is at stake the track record holder from the start gets underway.

:42:02. > :42:08.What sort of start has she got. It is good almost as good as she

:42:09. > :42:12.managed in the second run yesterday. She gives away roughly three

:42:13. > :42:16.quarters of a second on Geisenberger, an almost impossible

:42:17. > :42:21.margin to pull in, unless Geisenberger was to make a bad

:42:22. > :42:26.mistake in the final run. Soap Huefner, in many ways, this is

:42:27. > :42:32.cementing her place as the silver -- some four.

:42:33. > :42:43.The head picks up a little bit, sticks it back out of the airflow.

:42:44. > :42:53.The speed is around about 136 km per hour. And that is her fastest time

:42:54. > :42:59.by far. Absolutely magnificent, however, she is still a second

:43:00. > :43:03.behind Natalie Geisenberger, the gold medal seems all but lost. But

:43:04. > :43:14.nevertheless, she would have gained a silver medal in the process. She

:43:15. > :43:22.just has to hope that Erica Hamlin, sitting in the bronze position,

:43:23. > :43:30.doesn't put into much of run. It is a really small margin for the next

:43:31. > :43:35.woman coming, so it really is for Hamlin to cement the bronze, because

:43:36. > :43:40.people are snapping at her heels. The guy in the middle with the beard

:43:41. > :43:49.has been here as a regular visitor to this sliding Centre every day for

:43:50. > :44:08.the last two days. -- Sliding Center. Away goes Hamlin. She is not

:44:09. > :44:14.a good as starter as the German girls. She is giving away quite a

:44:15. > :44:18.bit of time there to Geisenberger but really, the comparison here is

:44:19. > :44:30.to Huefner. It was five hundredths of a second difference, it will be

:44:31. > :44:36.more like 1500. Actually, she is having a great slide. She could move

:44:37. > :44:52.up to the silver-medal position. It is a really good performance. 1:30

:44:53. > :45:05.4.2. Confirmed in third place. One. 218 behind Geisenberger.

:45:06. > :45:09.So she is in the bronze-medal position and the next two or three

:45:10. > :45:16.women are all very close behind in terms of time. Probably wanted to

:45:17. > :45:21.take the final couple of corners a bit better, we look at the exit at

:45:22. > :45:24.11 in super slow motion. You must come off well or you will get kicked

:45:25. > :45:29.over to the left-hand wall. And they had eyes coach for the American

:45:30. > :45:34.team, who are on the cusp of getting their first-ever Olympic medal in a

:45:35. > :45:46.singles event. In fact, the entire North American continent have never

:45:47. > :45:51.had a singles Olympic medal. Natalie Khoreva now, the representative of

:45:52. > :45:58.Russia. She starts head down, and away she goes. She has really got to

:45:59. > :46:09.pull out all the stops to get the fastest start. 3.945, a good start.

:46:10. > :46:19.All she cares about right now is trying to beat Hamlin, who is in the

:46:20. > :46:24.bronze medal position. This will give us a good idea whether she has

:46:25. > :46:34.gained back some of that. She wants to be no more than about 1.2 seconds

:46:35. > :46:40.behind Geisenberger. Coming through right between the uprights, that is

:46:41. > :46:52.not bad at all. She has lost a little bit of speed here. 1:34.3,

:46:53. > :47:05.that is about the same as Hamlin. She is a long way behind the leader,

:47:06. > :47:15.but more importantly, what about Huefner and Hamlin. They are in a

:47:16. > :47:22.real dustup for the bronze. Each run counts, and they all add up one

:47:23. > :47:26.after the other. A mistake in any of them. That is exactly what Huefner

:47:27. > :47:27.yesterday, she said, I can still beat Geisenberger. Anything can

:47:28. > :47:43.happen. She yet may. Alex Gough now, the Canadian, who

:47:44. > :47:50.has been so close in the past. That is what awaits her at the finish

:47:51. > :47:59.line, a lot of Canadians down there. Here goes Alex Gough. She has got to

:48:00. > :48:09.appear at 3.91 or thereabouts. She has done it. Geisenberger is in the

:48:10. > :48:16.gold position, and she needs to try to claw back in some of that, those

:48:17. > :48:23.2.5 tenths between her and Hamlin of America.

:48:24. > :48:30.Alex Gough holds her form well. She is trying to steer as much as

:48:31. > :48:39.possible with her hip is, not putting too much on the front

:48:40. > :48:47.uprights. Just coming around the final turn and across the finish

:48:48. > :48:54.line, 50.286. She has overtaken the Russian! Goodness. There is going to

:48:55. > :49:00.be a battle for bronze now between Hamlin and Alex Gough. They want a

:49:01. > :49:12.first North American Olympic medal in singles. A good start from Alex

:49:13. > :49:20.Gough, really attacked that. She is a power starter, that is what she

:49:21. > :49:40.has got over Hamlin. A good run, and she could be on the podium. 0.25

:49:41. > :49:46.seconds, or thereabouts. Now, Kimberly McRae from Canada. This is

:49:47. > :49:56.all about who can be the smoothest to get the medals. Here goes

:49:57. > :50:06.Kimberly McRae, going well. 3.940, she wanted, a little outside that.

:50:07. > :50:14.She gives away ever so roughly three tenths of a second Hamlin, and she

:50:15. > :50:18.is quite a light woman, so she is carrying a little extra weight to

:50:19. > :50:22.get her up to that allotted maximum weight that you are allowed.

:50:23. > :50:28.Everyone will be running at that, because these uphill sections, you

:50:29. > :50:34.need that momentum. A little tap there, that looks painful. She will

:50:35. > :50:42.lose some speed there. She doesn't seem to have lost too much. 1.29 or

:50:43. > :50:54.thereabouts. It is pretty decent. 50.356, not bad. She is in fifth

:50:55. > :51:06.place, and Khoreva is way down in sixth. A little bit more for Erin

:51:07. > :51:11.Hamlin to have to do. Kimberly McRae has had a very good season. She

:51:12. > :51:15.chose to take a little tap there rather than steering. You can see

:51:16. > :51:22.her trying to shift her hipster move away from the wall.

:51:23. > :51:27.Natalie Geisenberger looking good for the gold medal. Time now to

:51:28. > :51:33.catch up with some women's ice hockey. We are going to catch up

:51:34. > :51:39.with Germany and Sweden. Here is a guide to the equipment that they

:51:40. > :51:45.use. Each ice hockey team has 20 players.

:51:46. > :51:51.Six are on the ice at any one time, two defenders, three forwards and a

:51:52. > :51:55.goalie. Rolling substitutions happen throughout the match, and players

:51:56. > :52:01.must swap within a designated area close to the substitutes bench to

:52:02. > :52:06.avoid being penalised. Since body checks are allowed, all players must

:52:07. > :52:12.wear protective equipment. The players used sticks to move the puck

:52:13. > :52:23.around the ice. The park itself is made from vulcanised rubber. -- the

:52:24. > :52:29.puck. The fourth day of competition in

:52:30. > :52:33.this women's tournament. It is the yellow of Germany against the blue

:52:34. > :52:43.of Sweden. It will be Germany who will try to

:52:44. > :52:54.create something in the opening stages. A flick into the corner

:52:55. > :53:02.there. This is going to be a tight game, they were looking for the

:53:03. > :53:07.penalty, but nothing was called. Sweden were thinking of a line

:53:08. > :53:18.change, Germany were trying to capitalise. Space to work in the

:53:19. > :53:37.Anderson, who turns it around. The Germans can clear their lines. And

:53:38. > :53:52.Sweden takes the lead with a goal! That was Eliasen. What a moment for

:53:53. > :54:01.Sweden to open up this game. That gets a touch, and where the VAT was

:54:02. > :54:14.off Norden in front, she will get credit for the goal.

:54:15. > :54:32.Too many on the ice. Spielberger looks a little confused.

:54:33. > :54:35.The power play is now given to Sweden. Sweden are looking

:54:36. > :54:50.threatening. That was a good save. That first

:54:51. > :55:04.shot coming in early was stabilising for the German team. I think Eliasen

:55:05. > :55:21.will get credit for the assist. The German side look a little lethargic.

:55:22. > :55:57.That was claimed comfortably. That was a good shift their from Norden.

:55:58. > :56:04.The referee couldn't see what happened there, but she has decided

:56:05. > :56:12.that there are enough players there! It is difficult to control. Once you

:56:13. > :56:18.have to go up high, and the puck leaves the ice. You have to maintain

:56:19. > :56:29.body control, it can become a real difficulty to be able to track it.

:56:30. > :56:41.She pounced on that one. Did she ever! She jumped on it like it was

:56:42. > :56:48.her last meal. It was quite scrappy and a little bit broken down, and

:56:49. > :56:52.then the puck just dropped down. She had seen enough of it to realise she

:56:53. > :57:00.had to get out there and save the day. The first great save on the

:57:01. > :57:09.doorstep. That was a fortuitous break on the puck. They couldn't get

:57:10. > :57:14.it past the goal-tender. It was an acute angle, and then all of a

:57:15. > :57:21.sudden they have an acute chance on the back post. It is sloppy, but it

:57:22. > :57:30.is almost underestimating the angle and the liveliness of these boards.

:57:31. > :57:37.A second chance, they can't finish. Two great opportunities for the

:57:38. > :57:42.Germans, not taken. Much better play there, and the first real threat we

:57:43. > :57:47.have seen in the first five or six minutes. There could be too many

:57:48. > :57:56.players on the ice, but it is not called. She sends this one long down

:57:57. > :58:02.the ice, and that will be an icy call. There is a big difference

:58:03. > :58:07.between a shot on goal underscoring opportunity. It is the second one

:58:08. > :58:13.that is most dangerous, after the rebound. So often in the sport of

:58:14. > :58:18.ice hockey, it is the second bounce that gets the cheese. Not quite

:58:19. > :58:37.satisfying enough. Sweden with a narrow lead, looking

:58:38. > :58:45.to try to double that. A hard shot from out in front.

:58:46. > :59:00.And a bad giveaway here, a chance for Germany. It went over the top.

:59:01. > :59:11.And this is a crucial moment for Germany. A great save there. She was

:59:12. > :59:17.denied as Spielberger sends it in front. A penalty coming.

:59:18. > :59:25.Things are going to level up in this third period. A little trouble, and

:59:26. > :59:32.that is straight in. It hits the right in the chest. The shot comes

:59:33. > :59:40.in and is kicked aside. She went low, and it is too on one for the

:59:41. > :59:54.Swedes. 2-0! And just like that, the

:59:55. > :00:01.transition was swift. The mistake was made in the defensive zone to

:00:02. > :00:07.allow the Swedes to have the lead. It is a high risk later come across

:00:08. > :00:13.here. Once you have committed, you are done. It is getting the player

:00:14. > :00:21.back into the front of the net, number 11. She brought the defender

:00:22. > :00:29.towards her. And the defender just gets ploughed over. They are not

:00:30. > :00:35.fighting it off at all, and that makes a big difference. A second

:00:36. > :00:43.chance there! Nearly. Nearly doubled up. Another effort comes in, and it

:00:44. > :00:49.has gone all the way through. The Swedes take a 3-0 advantage now as

:00:50. > :00:54.to who will claim this, we don't yet know, but the scoreboard doesn't

:00:55. > :01:22.tell a lie, and Sweden know the deal.

:01:23. > :01:38.Another shot comes in. A fine, fine finish from Lindbergh. Finally, she

:01:39. > :01:43.announces herself. It is handed over at the blue line. There was a little

:01:44. > :02:05.bit of a slot shot. Look at that. A perfect shot in the top left

:02:06. > :02:11.corner of the German goal. Comprehensive stuff. Sweden rated

:02:12. > :02:16.back-to-back wins. Germany are now eyeing a seventh and eighth place

:02:17. > :02:24.play-off spot, unless there is a miracle. It finishes, Germany,

:02:25. > :02:40.zero... When winter turns water to frosted

:02:41. > :02:54.glass, beauty comes with a soundtrack of silence. Born of this

:02:55. > :03:01.silence is ice. The hush, broken by the rumble of granite, like a child

:03:02. > :03:12.of the wilderness. The roaring sport was heard and then slid away. Half a

:03:13. > :03:20.century in the Olympic wilderness. It returned with its soundtrack of

:03:21. > :03:34.silence, the soft growl of granite, the sweeping frenzy and the crack of

:03:35. > :03:43.precision. Curling, the sport of a silence beautifully broken.

:03:44. > :03:51.A little earlier, we saw Dave Murdoch and his team get a last gasp

:03:52. > :03:55.victory against the Germans. They stole the final end. An important

:03:56. > :04:04.victory for Dave Murdoch. They have played three, lost two and -12 and

:04:05. > :04:07.lost one. We will be heading to the Ice cube shortly. Let me tell you

:04:08. > :04:13.about the different options to watch the Winter Olympics on the BBC. Live

:04:14. > :04:19.streams, including the curling. And then the Iceberg, for the figure

:04:20. > :04:30.stated. -- figure skating. Great Russian interest there. Stacey Kemp

:04:31. > :04:38.and David King going for Britain. We have seen the luge ad the sliding

:04:39. > :04:43.centre. Then there is also short track speed skating from the Adler

:04:44. > :04:53.Arena. Will there be more Dutch domination in that venue? We will

:04:54. > :04:56.wait and see. And then Shaun White going for an unprecedented third

:04:57. > :05:06.gold medal in a row. Also, we've got the ice hockey continuing. The USA

:05:07. > :05:11.and Canada will fight it out. One more bonus track, for biathlon, up

:05:12. > :05:26.at the cross-country centre. But now, it is time to head to the

:05:27. > :05:31.Ice cube for the killing. An absolutely crucial match for Eve

:05:32. > :05:37.Muirhead and 13. Jackie Lockhart and Steve Cram in the commentary box.

:05:38. > :05:45.Welcome to the Ice cube again, for a crucial match for Great Britain, in

:05:46. > :05:48.the sense that one defeat already, against USA... The USA have already

:05:49. > :05:54.lost their first two matches and they did finish last in Vancouver,

:05:55. > :06:00.four years ago. Of course, Eve Muirhead and her team will have

:06:01. > :06:03.targeted this as a match to win. After the dramatic last stone

:06:04. > :06:07.victory of the men this afternoon, let's hope that has lifted the

:06:08. > :06:09.women's team and they can put in a good performance here tonight. They

:06:10. > :06:14.were a little out of sorts in the first match yesterday. Claire

:06:15. > :06:19.Hamilton will play lead and Jackie Lockhart, sitting next to me, as her

:06:20. > :06:23.fingers crossed. We were buoyed by that victory from the Menard lets

:06:24. > :06:25.hope the women can give us something to cheer tonight. Yeah, let's hope

:06:26. > :06:30.they come out today with more confidence than they had yesterday.

:06:31. > :06:38.I'm sure they will have. They will have had a rest this morning.

:06:39. > :06:43.They just have to remember they've done all the hard work. They've got

:06:44. > :06:48.to believe in their performance and that will hopefully shine through at

:06:49. > :06:51.the end of the day. Yes, for some teams, this set of matches tonight

:06:52. > :06:55.is their third match. That is the case for the USA team. And going

:06:56. > :07:15.first for them is Ann Swisshelm. The Great Britain team would not

:07:16. > :07:43.want to lose the first two matches. It was very uncharacteristic to see

:07:44. > :07:47.Eve Muirhead losing in that kind of manner. She looked quite defeatist.

:07:48. > :07:52.She could have raised her again. She just kept not quite getting the

:07:53. > :08:00.shot. She is such a perfectionist. She wanted that 100%. Nothing was

:08:01. > :08:08.going to be good enough. I hope she has taken the best from what

:08:09. > :08:14.happened the other day. She loves this environment, the big game, the

:08:15. > :08:20.big shots. She is certainly a player that can pull them off. Let's see if

:08:21. > :08:33.we can see that today. The Americans had two matches. The first one was

:08:34. > :08:36.against Switzerland. A defeat against Switzerland might have been

:08:37. > :08:41.fair enough but then they came up against Russia. The young Russian

:08:42. > :08:49.team, with all of their support, and you will have been hearing plenty of

:08:50. > :08:54.Cheers whilst they play China, they were 4-1 and then they fell away.

:08:55. > :09:01.There was a disappointing finish over the last three or four ends for

:09:02. > :09:05.the Americans. We almost saw that with the men this afternoon, if any

:09:06. > :09:10.of you were watching. It was a really tight match between Great

:09:11. > :09:15.Britain and Germany. Just in the last three ends, the German

:09:16. > :09:28.player... They don't have the skip playing. Schultz fell apart, didn't

:09:29. > :09:33.he? They were fairly straight forward shots but he fell apart over

:09:34. > :09:40.the last three ends. You really have two hold your nerve. It really is a

:09:41. > :09:47.game of patience and having your nerve. Unfortunately, Felix's crack

:09:48. > :09:52.that the last end and our boys still the end which was great for us. It

:09:53. > :10:05.was sad to see a player falling apart like that. So, this game, the

:10:06. > :10:07.USA versus our very own GB. Eve Muirhead is sitting with two shots

:10:08. > :10:20.in the house at the moment. Unfortunately, they are behind the T

:10:21. > :10:23.and we don't have the last stone. The girls have to draw a shot to see

:10:24. > :10:29.who gets the hammer in the first end. It's fantastic to see Eve

:10:30. > :10:34.Muirhead and Erika Brown both hit the one foot. Unfortunately, it goes

:10:35. > :10:37.to a toss of a coin. The Great Britain girls must have lost the

:10:38. > :10:50.toss and the USA have the hammer here, in the first end. Anna Sloan

:10:51. > :10:58.played together with Eve Muirhead as a junior. This new team has been

:10:59. > :11:04.very successful. She is a perfect foil for Eve. This shot is looking a

:11:05. > :11:14.little bit high. It's not going to take any other poll. -- pull. If I

:11:15. > :11:19.could take anything from anything from the first game. The lines on

:11:20. > :11:25.either side of the middle of the white that you can see, if the girls

:11:26. > :11:28.are throwing and in or outturn, especially on that side when they

:11:29. > :11:38.are throwing the intern, if you edge out at all, turn it. There is no

:11:39. > :11:44.rotation to come in at all. The very weight depends on the sheet. All of

:11:45. > :11:49.the sheets are. I think Eve found that frustrating in the first game

:11:50. > :11:52.that she played. She has two read the ice and give her team the ice

:11:53. > :12:02.that is appropriate for this kind of game. She needs to tighten up the

:12:03. > :12:05.ice and give them a chance. Debbie McCormick, after a disappointing

:12:06. > :12:15.Olympics in Vancouver, has said that she was ready to quit the sport. She

:12:16. > :12:21.is playing third now. She caught that guard on the way through. She's

:12:22. > :12:26.40 years of age. A lot of experience in this American team. By sword

:12:27. > :12:28.being described as a team of all-stars. -- I saw it being

:12:29. > :12:56.described. In their trials, If they bring on Allison, it would

:12:57. > :13:01.be later in the competition. These four ladies have stuck together to

:13:02. > :13:11.try to win the trials. And they did. Their Olympic qualification was

:13:12. > :13:23.successful. Anna, who is a left-handed player, playing her

:13:24. > :13:29.outturn freeze on that stone. That is a nice stone. Definitely going to

:13:30. > :13:33.put the pressure on the USA there. Right from the beginning, there is

:13:34. > :13:38.no question of having an end to let everybody settle down. The USA has

:13:39. > :14:14.the hammer but it is a good start from Great Britain.

:14:15. > :14:23.Debbie MacCormack playing third here for the USA.

:14:24. > :14:40.She just wants to hit this fully on the nose of the red shot.

:14:41. > :14:43.Eve Muirhead, just having a little look. She is having a discussion

:14:44. > :14:49.with Anna Sloan. We have to be very careful that our

:14:50. > :15:38.two other USA stones sitting there. She's just hoping to hit that yellow

:15:39. > :15:42.shard of the USA on the nose and hopefully take-out two of their

:15:43. > :15:57.stones. A little roll into the centre. She would really like a roll

:15:58. > :16:01.here. This might be pretty good. Certainly, one has gone on the line.

:16:02. > :16:10.Two stones in the back that still need to be thought about. She's just

:16:11. > :16:19.having a luck. I think she will be reasonably happy with that but

:16:20. > :16:22.obviously... Yes, Anna did say she would not get two of the shots

:16:23. > :16:37.there, and that yellow at the back is lying. But the yellow stone at

:16:38. > :16:42.the front... It is actually causing the USA a bit of difficulty here,

:16:43. > :16:51.because they do not have a free shot to these two reds in the house. I

:16:52. > :17:04.think if I had the option here, might be thinking about driving the

:17:05. > :17:08.yellow, driving the USA stone here. I would be driving it into one of

:17:09. > :17:12.these shots to try and clear it, and then at least then, at least then

:17:13. > :17:16.you are opening up the house and you have got the last stone and you want

:17:17. > :17:25.to make sure that you have got a free draw or a free area to get into

:17:26. > :17:29.that four foot. Just to make the point that we have made on a few

:17:30. > :17:34.occasions, that when you have the hammer, it is ready important to try

:17:35. > :17:46.and score two. So the Americans skip Erika Brown, throwing the first

:17:47. > :17:50.stone of her match. She saw the angle from down the other end of the

:17:51. > :17:54.eyes, so she can see all of Eve Muirhead's stones sitting on the

:17:55. > :18:02.foot, but this would be too light. It catches the guard. It acts as a

:18:03. > :18:13.blocker for her, but is two perfect guards on for the Team GB stones.

:18:14. > :18:19.Eve will be happy to put her guard up here, to try and make it

:18:20. > :18:26.difficult for America to try to force up her own reds into the

:18:27. > :18:30.house. I think that was probably a mistake from Erika Brown, I would

:18:31. > :18:34.have tried to push these yellow stones into the play, and if it

:18:35. > :18:40.didn't work, she opened up the house, and these two red stones

:18:41. > :18:48.would be lying free, but as it is, she has left two guard and front. A

:18:49. > :18:57.little bit of discussion, I think even as favouring putting the stone

:18:58. > :19:05.at the top, in between those two. You can see a way through there, she

:19:06. > :19:14.wants to put a guard there and close it out.

:19:15. > :19:22.She doesn't need to cover all of the holes, she just needs to make it

:19:23. > :19:27.small enough so there isn't enough room for a stone to get through

:19:28. > :19:35.there. These early draws, they start to hit the spot. This gives you some

:19:36. > :19:44.confidence in terms of reading the ice. That is a nice shot from Eve

:19:45. > :19:49.Muirhead. The match this afternoon with Great Britain and Germany, we

:19:50. > :19:53.said, you just have to keep putting on the pressure, keep asking

:19:54. > :19:58.questions, keep playing the shots. If they make the shot, great, but

:19:59. > :20:03.keep asking them to think about what they have got to do. Do not leave

:20:04. > :20:18.any straightforward, easy shots for them. This is a big shot here. A big

:20:19. > :20:30.shot for Erika Brown. A big shot for Erika Brown on the first end. And

:20:31. > :20:38.again, this is a lot of ice. She has called Hack weight. She wants to

:20:39. > :20:44.push that yellow in the left-hand side of the picture up into the pack

:20:45. > :20:54.in the centre of the house. Trying to score her one. If she doesn't get

:20:55. > :20:59.that right, there is a chance to run straight through as well. So, Erika

:21:00. > :21:05.Brown, already under a little bit of pressure here but the hammer and the

:21:06. > :21:13.last stone of this first end. Try to come up with the big shot. You have

:21:14. > :21:15.to be very careful here, if you lay too much weight, you do not get as

:21:16. > :21:24.much policy would have done. too much weight, you do not get as

:21:25. > :21:29.much pull as you would have done. That has run out. Certainly from

:21:30. > :21:34.where we have been looking, that is a great start for Great Britain. It

:21:35. > :21:40.wasn't bad. It was close, but not quite good enough. Great Britain

:21:41. > :21:47.take the steel. 1-0 after just one end.

:21:48. > :21:54.That was the perfect start Eve Muirhead and her team, Edu can

:21:55. > :21:58.follow the action on one of the six HD streams as well as the red

:21:59. > :22:01.button. Trust-macro and you can follow. Now, we return to the slopes

:22:02. > :22:18.for the red pipe. Iouri Podladtchikov, he is the owner

:22:19. > :22:47.of the yellow flag. He is almost a carbon copy of Shaun

:22:48. > :22:56.White in that he is just as good at skating as he is snowboarding. He

:22:57. > :23:02.did a lot of practice, almost as much practice is anybody else.

:23:03. > :23:08.Again, going really... It feels like he is quite safe with these runs by

:23:09. > :23:15.his own standards. Great double turn. He would be happy with that,

:23:16. > :23:25.that will get him through to the finals.

:23:26. > :23:31.Interesting to see him under this much pressure at this stage of the

:23:32. > :23:35.contest. If you had shown me the start list, I would have given him

:23:36. > :23:45.one of the top six places three to the final. Struggled with this pipe.

:23:46. > :23:49.The late couple of times, but talk about putting the rundown when you

:23:50. > :23:58.need to. Look at how much pull he had here, he gave the board of

:23:59. > :24:03.Yank, it was flexing up. -- gave the board a bit of April. Coming off the

:24:04. > :24:12.back of a win at the Burton European open. If confidence should be high.

:24:13. > :24:17.This is the high marker anyone else to beat. Watching the Australians

:24:18. > :24:23.ride, Nathan Johnstone and Kent Callister, what is your opinion on

:24:24. > :24:27.the? We spoke about them earlier, we said they had fantastic runs, how

:24:28. > :24:34.much further can they realistically go, they said they were at our

:24:35. > :24:43.courses? Nathan Johnstone, he can get in there, some good tricks, and

:24:44. > :24:49.he is not afraid to go big. This guy is brilliant, he was the rookie in

:24:50. > :24:54.the 2010 team, and as we have said many times before, the US Grand Prix

:24:55. > :24:58.series is one of the hard disk on petitions in the world, editors the

:24:59. > :25:03.series that qualifies you for the US team. He has won one of these events

:25:04. > :25:14.and in the process he beat Shaun White.

:25:15. > :25:29.Spinning with his front facing the platform, and switching back across

:25:30. > :25:39.the pipe. A switch double Cork. The backside 900. The frontside 900,

:25:40. > :25:45.frontside ten. Yes. Very interesting. We will see how that

:25:46. > :25:51.lines up against the last run. The amplitude on Greg's run was much

:25:52. > :25:58.lower. What we have seen consistently is a hide scorers. He

:25:59. > :26:06.did back-to-back double Cork and back-to-back tens, so quite

:26:07. > :26:11.technical. He started to lose it through that. We are absolutely

:26:12. > :26:16.tearing these runs to bits. This is what the judges want to do, but by

:26:17. > :26:20.any mortal standards, these are just ridiculous heights. If you are into

:26:21. > :26:27.snowboarding or skiing and you get to go to a resort with a pipe, go to

:26:28. > :26:30.ride into one, because you will realise how difficult it is. Even to

:26:31. > :26:45.get across the pipe is hard enough, let alone get out of the top of it.

:26:46. > :26:54.Second place Lexmark! The amplitude definitely worked. This is made

:26:55. > :27:07.Johnston, I was training with him during the summer. -- this is Nathan

:27:08. > :27:20.Johnstone. He is a good guy, a solid rider. Hoping for a good things from

:27:21. > :27:28.him. The incentive to do well is so high, you come in so hot, that you

:27:29. > :27:35.end up blowing up. Let's hope that Nathan doesn't blow up. That could

:27:36. > :27:46.been a classic case of the commentator curse. He looked a bit

:27:47. > :27:55.tense through his run, didn't look... I think it might have been

:27:56. > :28:06.some nerves. He shook his head as if to say, what am I doing? I need to

:28:07. > :28:19.calm down. That is not a place where he would normally fall.

:28:20. > :28:29.I think you landed quite flat, you can see here on the frontside. It

:28:30. > :28:36.was tough for him to set up. Did it all go wrong on the take-off or did

:28:37. > :28:39.he not commit to the spin? I think it went wrong from the previous

:28:40. > :28:45.triggered when he went into the cab, his leg was not in the right

:28:46. > :28:57.position. -- from the previous trick, and when he went .

:28:58. > :29:17.Next, the Chinese rider. Shi Wancheng. His team-mates is

:29:18. > :29:28.incredible. That's his team-mate. He was the highest scored rider who did

:29:29. > :29:37.not prequalify for this competition. Come down very, very hard. That was

:29:38. > :29:41.tough. That looks very sore. It is almost better that he landed on the

:29:42. > :29:50.top and did not bounce back into the pipe. He was going so high. That has

:29:51. > :29:57.got to hurt. His hand goes up to indicate that he is all right. You

:29:58. > :30:04.could see his legs almost skippered a little bit, which might have put

:30:05. > :30:09.him off. We have got some slow Mo pictures of Shaun White dropping in

:30:10. > :30:14.really slowly at the qualifiers. The way that he is flexing, he absorbs

:30:15. > :30:21.the bombs into that first hit. It is treacherous. It looks really

:30:22. > :30:25.dangerous. You can go and practice in the perfect halfpipe, but it

:30:26. > :30:37.shows who the good riders are to handle going through these. You have

:30:38. > :30:40.to have good board control. Unbelievable that he has managed to

:30:41. > :31:07.ride away from that, when you watch it.

:31:08. > :31:36.The backside and was smooth but it wasn't massive. That is big, though.

:31:37. > :31:43.That is ready big. Came in very nicely at the top of the transition.

:31:44. > :31:49.Backside five and the frontside seven. Very nice. I would call that

:31:50. > :31:53.a workhorse style run. There is nothing show me about it but it will

:31:54. > :31:59.crank up a viewpoints. The execution was good. The execution was good. A

:32:00. > :32:07.lot of frontside spinning tricks. That is lovely.

:32:08. > :32:15.He is the Shire horse of half pike riding. That was a beautiful

:32:16. > :32:36.frontside 900. A double grab! To remind you that the curling is

:32:37. > :32:40.continuing. Eve Muirhead going well against the USA. A crucial match

:32:41. > :32:44.that they win. That's in their bid to make it through to the last four.

:32:45. > :33:11.We are going to continue with a snowboarding, the live semifinals.

:33:12. > :33:19.Do you think the judges got it right in the slope style? But you on the

:33:20. > :33:29.spot. It's hard to say exactly because I didn't see every single

:33:30. > :33:41.track. Yeah, I mean the winners were -- the winner did a 16. With those

:33:42. > :33:54.grabs, they were awarded... For a 16, the landing was incredible.

:33:55. > :33:57.Johann is a gentleman from the French team. A very nice guy. He

:33:58. > :34:23.works very hard. Tres gentile! Flip side 900. Backside 900. He hit

:34:24. > :34:30.a bump there but he managed to hold one. It was going so good, wasn't

:34:31. > :34:35.it? You could see him hitting the bumps but he was keeping on it. At

:34:36. > :34:39.the end of that trick, his legs couldn't take it. You can see now

:34:40. > :34:43.where all of those lumps, bumps and kinks in the walls were soft before

:34:44. > :34:48.and maybe the board would absorb them or cut through them. Now, as it

:34:49. > :34:55.starts to get colder, it is starting to throw them around. Yeah. We've

:34:56. > :34:59.definitely seen a lot more falls than if it was completely smooth.

:35:00. > :35:04.That is what people like to see, crashes. As long as it's not too

:35:05. > :35:12.bad. No one wants to see a crash here. Maybe that's just me. I didn't

:35:13. > :35:19.want to see Johann crash, that's the shore. I reckon I've been

:35:20. > :35:30.commentating on snowboarding for about 18 years. What, you started

:35:31. > :35:35.doing it when you are five? Some of the slams you just awful. It becomes

:35:36. > :35:45.the hardest part of the job to watch. There was a big crash today,

:35:46. > :35:51.in the ladies slope style. The Canadian crashed and we can report

:35:52. > :35:55.she is OK. She has fractured her jaw and has gone to hospital but is in

:35:56. > :36:00.good spirits. She is feeling a bit better. That's a night out that a

:36:01. > :36:07.nice outcome. Not the fractured jaw but she will get better. Next is

:36:08. > :36:09.Seamus O'Connor. He managed to land a triple, I think, in the slope

:36:10. > :36:28.style in the end. You said he's got a 12. He has. If

:36:29. > :36:34.he lands this, I'm calling it a 12. Oh! You could see his knees, they

:36:35. > :36:46.didn't say strong on the transition. At the moment, this is really

:36:47. > :36:52.difficult to watch because everyone is going for broke. He is going to

:36:53. > :36:56.look back on that, undoubtedly, and say, if I had gone gently there, I

:36:57. > :37:01.would have landed. He has watched the two guys in front of him. There

:37:02. > :37:05.are only five guys missing out on the final. By going for that 1260,

:37:06. > :37:11.he has denied himself what would have been a solid score. I mean,

:37:12. > :37:14.maybe if he had gone for the nine, it would have been a safer bet. The

:37:15. > :37:18.other side of snowboarding is you want to show off and show your best

:37:19. > :37:24.tricks. If there is a time when you want everyone to watch, like the

:37:25. > :37:29.Olympics, you would have want -- wanted to go for it. The endgame is

:37:30. > :37:33.the finals. That is when you pull out your 1260. Right now, he doesn't

:37:34. > :37:40.need that. To me, that was a foolish move. If I had been his coach, they

:37:41. > :37:46.would have been no way I would have recommended that. You wonder if

:37:47. > :37:51.Seamus knows that. He looks pretty upset. He is in fourth at the moment

:37:52. > :37:53.so he is safe but you've got to say, with the riders left to go, I don't

:37:54. > :38:21.know. The question is, what is

:38:22. > :38:23.Podladtchikov going to use this run for? Would he test out his big

:38:24. > :38:35.tricks? Look how bumpy it was running

:38:36. > :38:44.through there. What is happening here and what could really say it

:38:45. > :38:54.beautifully... If he does do the other flip, it might be there.

:38:55. > :39:04.What I was going to say, Yury is getting to write this pike as a

:39:05. > :39:07.transition from slush to hard pack and that could be critical when they

:39:08. > :39:20.reach the finals because all the other riders last road despite when

:39:21. > :39:23.was slushy. -- this pipe. They will have pre-finals training and that

:39:24. > :39:29.might give them 45 minutes to get to grips with it but... It will be a

:39:30. > :39:35.lot different. It will have iced over and will be scary to ride. I

:39:36. > :39:43.think that was the first and second head.

:39:44. > :39:54.I have spoken to Shaun White's coach about this and he says Shaun's

:39:55. > :40:00.muscle memory is his greatest gift. That's his biggest talent. Watch him

:40:01. > :40:11.ride through that pipe. No better score there. No surprises. This man

:40:12. > :40:21.could do with a slightly better score, though. Greg Bretz is

:40:22. > :40:25.currently sat on 82. There are no guarantees. In second place at the

:40:26. > :40:47.moment. He is going to rely on his first run

:40:48. > :40:56.them. He's hoping that nobody will be to score. Do you think it will be

:40:57. > :41:03.enough? Going back to Shaun, there is always that element, especially

:41:04. > :41:07.when we've seen him ride the pipe and is looking so confident... The

:41:08. > :41:13.big question is not who is going to take gold but who is going to take

:41:14. > :41:15.silver and bronze? Absolutely. Someone is going to have to do a lot

:41:16. > :41:48.to beat Shaun. There was a contest where he tried

:41:49. > :41:55.it on the first hit. It wasn't thinking about doing it on the third

:41:56. > :41:59.last hit. Talk about jeopardy. Talk about danger. That's it. You put

:42:00. > :42:08.that trick first, your points are going to go through the roof. There

:42:09. > :42:14.we go, 44.25. Greg Bretz is in second at the moment. We have only

:42:15. > :42:40.seven Ryder -7 riders left. You like this guy, don't you, Don? Yeah.

:42:41. > :42:55.He is one of the riders who didn't manage to land his whole run so he's

:42:56. > :42:58.got to lay this down. Right now, if he can put this together, he still

:42:59. > :43:02.stands a chance of making this because no one else has got

:43:03. > :43:10.anything. Even though he missed that, I think he's got a chance of

:43:11. > :43:15.banking a high 50 or low 60 score. He's got to get more than 45 points

:43:16. > :43:19.which I think you can probably do. You would have to agree, wouldn't

:43:20. > :43:22.you? Yeah, it wasn't his best run but he stayed on his feet, so I

:43:23. > :43:33.think he might just have enough. He put that really flat into the

:43:34. > :43:40.transition and his legs turned on it. He did just save that, doesn't

:43:41. > :43:43.he? He managed to get back into his rhythm. That was almost sheer

:43:44. > :43:53.determination. He works out a lot in the Jim Sims

:43:54. > :44:00.got nice strong legs for those landings. I spoke to Jamie Nicholls

:44:01. > :44:03.and he said, I'm going to go out and have a couple of nights drinking and

:44:04. > :44:09.then I'm going to get into the gym, ready for 2018.

:44:10. > :44:16.That's a big score. It's good enough for third. Johnson has a spot in the

:44:17. > :44:38.finals, just from carrying on with that run.

:44:39. > :44:49.The first of our two Chinese riders, debuting at the Olympics, from the

:44:50. > :45:04.men. He landed deep at that front end. He didn't land on the platform,

:45:05. > :45:12.which is always a bonus. Not very high on the backside nine. Just

:45:13. > :45:20.holds onto the frontside nine. He was happy to make it down in one

:45:21. > :45:23.piece. We had an in-depth discussion during the qualifiers about this

:45:24. > :45:33.rider, when we saw the slow motion replay, about his grabs. There is

:45:34. > :45:40.some tail fish that we have seen, a couple of newts. The judges marked

:45:41. > :45:48.him really highly. That was a definite tail fish. They do not seem

:45:49. > :45:53.to be penalising him for this. There are certain grabs that are

:45:54. > :45:57.off-limits. These grabs, the areas between the back of your binding and

:45:58. > :46:02.the tail of the board or the nose of the snowboard, the areas on the edge

:46:03. > :46:13.are off-limits. You grab on the tail or the nose or between your feet. He

:46:14. > :46:18.has gone into third position. I cannot condone this. The judges are

:46:19. > :46:35.ignoring simple, snowboarding etiquette. I feel a bit strange

:46:36. > :46:44.after that. It is like wearing socks with sandals. Exactly! You can do

:46:45. > :47:01.that, but it looks awful axe back -- awful!

:47:02. > :47:09.Lovely front ten, manages to control it, even though he has two wash

:47:10. > :47:25.around. Both ends of the spectrum! How did he save that?

:47:26. > :47:41.That method, that could literally bring about world peace if it wanted

:47:42. > :47:48.to! I will bet that is a low score. That is amazing. In the presence of

:47:49. > :47:53.greatness. If you look at this, he is playing his get out of jail free

:47:54. > :48:01.card into out of these tricks. He fights the end of the rotation. The

:48:02. > :48:16.gravity train tries to drag him back to earth but he fights it.

:48:17. > :48:30.Seamus O'Connor is on 54, that is the bubble we want to go over. Even

:48:31. > :48:42.with the mistakes! Who did he beat? He did! He just put one over Shi

:48:43. > :48:53.Wancheng. A beautiful method. We will see him in the finals. Now, one

:48:54. > :48:58.of the riders that was pushed down. He was in the top three at the start

:48:59. > :49:02.of this run, he is now in the bubble. Three very good riders that

:49:03. > :49:09.are still to go that are not in the top six after him. The face of this

:49:10. > :49:15.semifinal changes with every rider. The pressure is being ratcheted up

:49:16. > :49:19.here as well. It looks like they are starting to just get on with it in

:49:20. > :49:31.the pipe also, bulldozing through the imperfections. Lovely. Hold it

:49:32. > :49:43.together. Beautifully across the bottom. Nice bit of style. He is on,

:49:44. > :49:47.he has done it. The less the rotation, the more time you have to

:49:48. > :49:59.style it out. He did that beautifully. Slovenia have done it.

:50:00. > :50:04.Well done. Currently in sixth position with a 72. Maybe Seamus

:50:05. > :50:08.O'Connor will be thinking, I needed the 1260 by the end of this, because

:50:09. > :50:13.there have been some really big brands coming down. I take back that

:50:14. > :50:23.comment about disagreeing with his or his coach's strategy. Hindsight

:50:24. > :50:28.is a beautiful thing! If you want to gauge how big these guys are going,

:50:29. > :50:32.then look at the photographers standing on the platform. You will

:50:33. > :50:44.not get a chance now! Next time around, have a look when the slow mo

:50:45. > :50:55.is up. He knows that he needs to up the 72 from his first run. Fifth

:50:56. > :50:58.place, 75.5, it only pushes him up once. Nathan Johnstone has been

:50:59. > :51:11.pushed down onto the bubble with 73.5. Two more, three water left to

:51:12. > :51:17.run. -- three more. Taylor Gold, the rookie on the American team, can he

:51:18. > :51:32.join Danny Davis and Shaun White in the final? Some good showings in the

:51:33. > :51:37.past. If Taylor Gold can do this, it would be all four Americans in the

:51:38. > :51:41.final which takes up one third of the spots, which is no mean feat.

:51:42. > :51:44.The Americans have always been traditionally the superpower of

:51:45. > :51:54.halfpipe snowboarding, the men and women. Beautiful 542 start things

:51:55. > :52:03.off with the Japan grab. -- beautiful 540 starting things of.

:52:04. > :52:21.He has repeated a trick. He sat down at the end. That will cost him. I am

:52:22. > :52:34.positive that he pulled out two of the same tricks.

:52:35. > :52:41.This was so big. He landed pointing straight down the pipe. That was

:52:42. > :52:53.absolutely lovely. That was huge. He just could not put

:52:54. > :53:19.it down. It will not be enough, I don't

:53:20. > :53:26.think, my friend, I am sorry to say. The judges are taking their time.

:53:27. > :53:31.The trick is counted and that landing has marked him down. He

:53:32. > :53:35.would be the only American from their full team not to advance to

:53:36. > :53:45.the finals. And he is desperately disappointed. Try to usher him

:53:46. > :53:48.through, the lady at the bottom, trying to usher him through the

:53:49. > :53:57.press bit, but he is absolutely distraught, so he is pleading, do

:53:58. > :54:07.not send me to the lions den. Taylor Gold has got at least one, possibly

:54:08. > :54:18.two cycles ahead of him. Super relaxed style, this boy.

:54:19. > :54:29.Oh, now! We had been denied one of the most stylish snowboarders in the

:54:30. > :54:34.final. He is one of my favourite snowboarders, I am not afraid to say

:54:35. > :54:44.it. I do not think he got to grips in the pipe today. We spoke about

:54:45. > :54:50.how difficult this pipe is to ride. It has just been a tough pipe to get

:54:51. > :55:05.on with. It has taken a few unexpected victims.

:55:06. > :55:14.You can see how much his board flexed. It's not back. A lot of

:55:15. > :55:20.people spend a lot of time in the gym, he is arguably the snowboard's

:55:21. > :55:26.snowboarder, not somebody that will spend the day working out, just

:55:27. > :55:34.somebody that likes to be on his board. Look at his face. If ever you

:55:35. > :55:41.have seen disappointment personified, it is on the face of

:55:42. > :55:50.Arthur Longo. The disappointment and the what ifs that will come from

:55:51. > :56:15.that run could have gone around in his head.

:56:16. > :56:26.This is one of the few people to have been able to beat Shaun White.

:56:27. > :56:37.Winding up. Look out quickly he has got that double cork into the lazy

:56:38. > :56:47.crippler air. Front, tight 720 to finish. Nathan Johnstone will be

:56:48. > :56:54.very, very concerned about that run. Nathan Johnstone, currently in sixth

:56:55. > :57:05.place. He will get pushed out if this score is any higher than 73.5.

:57:06. > :57:13.He is so good at the back-to-back double cork. He has practice it so

:57:14. > :57:23.much. He is a double cork machine. Yes. It is interesting, the bottom

:57:24. > :57:35.of the run is in comparison, quite pedestrian. He did his two

:57:36. > :57:40.back-to-back double cork tricks, and he is relying on them to give him

:57:41. > :57:45.the points. The judges taking a while again. The two Chinese coaches

:57:46. > :57:57.there, getting plenty of screen time.

:57:58. > :58:16.So, when his score get him into the finals? We know for sure who has

:58:17. > :58:23.made the finals. I think you might do it, he might push Nathan

:58:24. > :58:29.Johnstone out. Good enough for fourth place. Nathan Johnstone has

:58:30. > :58:34.been pushed out. The Australian hopes are not over, Kent Callister

:58:35. > :58:41.and that beautiful method are still there in third place.

:58:42. > :58:48.That halfpipe finalist coming up very, very shortly. Can anybody stop

:58:49. > :58:52.Shaun White winning his third consecutive gold medal? Bet is it

:58:53. > :58:55.from me, I am back tomorrow at midday, until then, goodbye. -- that

:58:56. > :58:57.is from me.