Day 6, Part 1 - 5.00am to 9.00am Winter Olympics

Good morning from the Ice Cube curling Center as the band strikes

up and we get ready for day six of the curling competition. It is nine

o'clock here in Sochi. It is well before dawn in yours. If you have

set your alarm clock to coincide with our coverage of day six, we

salute you. We reckon you have made the right decision. This is a

critical morning for the medal hopes of Team GB. Eve Muirhead's team know

what it is like to win a world title but they are walking on thin ice in

their hopes for Olympic gold. They cannot afford any slip-ups against

China. James Woods is a big noise in Freestyle Skiing. This is his big

moment in free slopestyle. And there are not one but two medal hopes in

skeleton for Team GB. Lizzy Yarnold is ranked number one in the world

while Shelley Rudman won Silver eight years ago. We will see their

opening two runs at the Sanki Sliding Centre today. And in the

thick of things at the Ice Cube curling Center, David Murdoch's men

will meet the USA at ten o'clock, your time. We have got the sleaze

sculpts -- ski slopestyle after six. In the meantime, we're focusing on

events here. It is getting a bit twitchy for Eve Muirhead and Great

Britain team. With one win and two defeats against Sweden and Canada,

they cannot afford to make too many more mistakes. Only the top four

teams go through at the end of the round-robin phase next week. With

Great Britain sitting seventh in the table, there is much work to be

done. Jackie Lockhart is a four-time Olympian in curling. She has been

living and breathing every moment. Let's talk first of all about that

dramatic last stone conclusion against the Canadians last night.

That was a ding-dong of a game last night. A lot of people will be

talking about that shot for a long time to come. It was not the right

shot to play. Eve supports the thought that the middle red would

have stayed. Maybe in hindsight she should have gone for the draw. And

taken the Canadians into an extra end. I saw the momentum changing.

The Canadians were getting a bit twitchy. There were a couple of

misses. If Eve had put the pressure on them, she may have stolen it.

This game may come back to haunt us. There is not much wriggle room for

Eve Muirhead. Realistically, how many more matches could Britain

afford to lose? We really don't want to lose any more than one or two. If

we lose two we could be relying on teams playing for us. These girls

really have to remember what they have practised. They have done all

the training, all the preparation. They have to go out there, believe

they can do it and hopefully the wins will come. Be -- they are the

world champions. What is missing from their performances so far? Eve

Muirhead has a lot of pressure on her shoulders. Much more than she

ever had in Vancouver. I always said before she came out here, it was how

the girls were going to handle the pressure. She's not quite the Eve we

are used to seeing. She is very confident. She just seems a little

bit edgy. I am hoping the coach will have said to her, relax and enjoy

the games, and hopefully the technical ability of throwing the

stone will come for her. What have you made of the Chinese? The Chinese

are not adverse to this level of competition. They have brought in a

Canadian to help them. They have had a couple of slack years where they

have not made the play-off stages. This Canadian guy is bringing their

confidence back up. They should not be underestimated. We're going to

get to this match. You are going to attempt a personal best to get into

the commentary position to join Steve Cram. Steve, she is on her

way! Letup for good things in this one, shall we? -- let us hope.

Yes, I think obviously it is a scenario we are all saying this is a

must win game. I think Jackie is right. You look at all of these

matches and they are all tough. If you lose this one, you have lost

three matches. You could still go through with five wins. It just

means you are sleeping so much pressure on this young team to do

well. They have shown, of course, in championships they cope well with

pressure in the past. It is always easy when things are going for you.

It is how you respond when things are not going for you. Eve takes all

of that responsibility. She said after that loss that that is the way

it is for the skip. You go for the big shots and you are the hero or

you only person everybody questioning. She accepts that. Let

us hope this morning they do as the men did against Switzerland. Play a

tight game, control at all the way through. Switzerland are a good

team. So are these Chinese. A lot of experience. And this team, the one

that has come back together, with Betty Wang as skip. You playing the

lead stones. Olympic bronze medallists last time around. The

last couple of years have not been as successful. Signs that they are

starting to play well again. They have had a couple of good tournament

wins in preparing for these Olympics. They just needed to get

off to a good start this morning. That is the key. Do not make any

mistakes early on. Do not get behind. I was watching them about

half an hour ago when they were practising. Both skips get to do

their jaw to the button to determine who gets the hammer. Eve's was well

short. In some ways that may be a good omen. Until this point she has

been doing that very well in each match. That meant that China started

this match with the hammer at the first end.

Before the game started there were a few high-fives. Just trying to get

themselves hyped up, psyched up, whichever you would like to call it.

They certainly seemed as though they were coming out this morning

understanding the situation they are in. Hopefully ready to play a little

better than they have done so far. The first bit of real work for the

sweepers. That is not bad. They have done well. Almost there.

Generally a figure Vicki Adams has been playing pretty well at second.

-- generally I think. And it has really been just some of the

decision making, and some of the shots that have not come off, that

have left Britain in the situation they are in. There were lots of big

shots played against Canada. It always seemed as though it would go

down to the wire. They were being made to react to Canada a little too

much and were chasing the game, I think. So, Anna Sloan... I thought

she was quite generous in her interview afterwards. The first

stone she had sent down on the last end, she took responsibility for

that. She said it was not just about Eve's. It was how they had built it

up until that point. Not such a good shot from the left

to begin with. A little tentative. This is the union. -- Liu Yan.

Somebody Betty Wang has relied on a lot. Delighted to have her back in

her team. That is a nice shot for her to begin with. Right behind the

stone left there by Anna Sloan. Jackie has finally made it. It only

took about half an hour to get down the stairs! Was not maybe 500 metres

away and not 50 yards? ! Vicaut starting to come in. There is a fair

bit of British support this morning as well. -- the crowd is starting to

come in. Just three matches this morning. That is better. Canada are

playing Denmark, and Switzerland against Sweden will be an

interesting one. Switzerland and Canada with an unbeaten record so

far of three wins. So Eve's and find themselves in equal seventh at the

moment. It is still early. China with two wins and one loss.

I'm not sure how much time they spend with the Chinese men's team.

The men take this competition by surprise. They top the men's

standings. I'm not sure most people would have predicted that after four

matches. Yes, I think the fact they have got in a Canadian coach, Marcel

Rock, multi-world champion himself, probably has made a huge difference.

All of these countries now are definitely pulling in the cultures

from all over the world to make any sort of improvement in the game.

That stone, I am not sure whether it curled more than anticipated.

She certainly wears her heart on her sleeve. You can definitely tell when

Eve is not at all impressed by her shots.

So, China here with the hammer. They are going to play and in-turn drawl

-- draw to make it difficult for Eve to get to it. This Chinese team was

put together a good few years ago. Betty Wang, everybody calls her

Betty, she has been playing top-level curling for many years. So

much experience. They pretty much base themselves in Canada,

particularly leading up to'. -- leading up to the games in

Vancouver. That has just not come round as much as she would have

liked. No, it hasn't. Maybe it will give Eve the opportunity to play it

down weight shot and get a little curl at the end, and maybe a flop in

behind her on guard at the front. You get the feeling, I was saying

and your weight down, it is so important to start well,

particularly for Eve A nice shot here would be mission accomplished.

She needs to get a couple of good stones early on to settle her down.

We only have one game today. We really would like to finish this

game on a win. She will have plenty of time to recover for the game

tomorrow, but it is a lot of time to wait. I was saying, we cannot afford

to have many more losses or we may end up in tie-break situations. This

has left Betty for this straightforward shot to get her two

here. Did not quite tucked in enough. What you said with Hazel,

underlining the point that, given the way some of the results have

gone, looking at matches to come, Japan and Korea to come. This is

certainly a much they can win, but you have to actually get the wins on

the board. Two for China in the first end. Fairly quiet start,

really. One or two errant shots, particularly from Anna and Eve. They

are going to have to tighten up and be on the game. You cannot come out

cold. You cannot let China Spring out. The Chinese team are playing

better than they have done over the last couple of years. Into the

second end, Britain with the hammer now.

This is the quietest we have seen probably in the arena because the

Russian women are not playing this morning.

That will be quite good for the girls on the ice. They will be able

to hear the calls. When the Russian crowd get going, it is very noisy

and here. A lot of the girls have to revert to hand signals to let the

players know what they want. The calling of the shot. Claire

Hamilton, she just wants to lie shy of the rings, short of the rings, to

use has stone for cover. -- her stone.

I was reading an article this morning about the growth of curling

in Asia. We talked about Korea and Japan, the next two matches. Eve has

a group of Asian matches here, China, in particular, after the

world when and the Olympic bronze medal, you forget about the amount

of people who they could call into the game. When you start getting

more and more people playing, the standard is going to rise. In one or

two provinces, curling is now part of the school programme as well. If

you start getting them playing early, who knows where it can go.

Without question, the sport that was a minority sport is growing,

especially in many other countries. Girls are going to have to work this

one hard. Slightly over curling there, came right out the other

side. Yue Qingshuang. Just talking about

this team that has been together for a while. They lost their third who

went off, she got married and went away for a period and is back in

this team and I was saying that this experience of -- the experience of

these players, they accept that people have been looking at Canada

and Sweden and Britain, but the Chinese quartet are well capable of

getting any medals. They might fly under the radar, so to speak. Betty,

after she lost her third player, main wing man, she did not quite

complete as well as she had done. But now she is back, she definitely

has strengthened the team again. They are going to have to sweep this

very hard to get past the guard. It has passed.

That was a nice shot. But it caught too much of it there. They work

afraid it was going to catch the guard. It did not pass it by much.

Even would have liked her shooter, the yellow stone, to stay in the

house -- Eve. The girls desperately trying hard to score a two here if

possible. I know we keep talking about a game

of margins, already this morning, the Chinese team making the shots

already, getting the stones anyplace they need to. From the British

perspective, no need to panic, only the second end, for goodness sake

but they will be aware that they are in for a game here. Vicki Adams

trying to come in on the other side. Just over curled a little bit at the

end. It is difficult at this stage in the game whether there is more

curl on the ice today but that is a couple of shots that we have seen

over curled. We saw it in the men's game last night. All of the finished

definitely comes as the weight is coming off the stone at the end.

This is coming down a similar line. They will just want to follow the

stone in, sit right on top. Again, this looks like it is doing a

similar shot to Vicki's. It is swinging a lot more.

Yeah, that is not the best shot in the world. It has left the red open

for us to try and tap back. Eve will not be disappointed if she can tap

its back and roll across to the right hand side of the sheet and

stay in the house. The line is looking good at the

moment. They are playing on sheet C which is the best one for Jackie and

I to look down. Very good. You can just tell that Eve has taken on the

responsibility. There needs to be a little bit more of that. They will

have to work with each other, encourage each other. Very much so.

This is about building up the end. Nice shot. Great Britain still one.

Marcel, we used to call him Marcel The Shot Rock. I think Eve was just

asking Vicki to cup in on those -- to come in on those two. She knows

she may well move around a little. I think she is looking to try and tap

this. Anna not at all confident that she has the cold to come in. This is

tight. That is what I mean. Anna knows it

is not a good shot. Eve was crying saying, it's OK. -- was kind. Might

have been better to play a more controlled weight, even if you just

tap it. That unfortunately, the tighter ice took. Those are to the

centre, it seems to be pulling a lot more. A decision here for China on

how they try and remove that yellow stone. The top red is protecting

it. And the other red at the right-hand side of the yellow stone

there, is not the easiest hit in the world, if you're stone draws at all,

you will hit the face and go out the back and still leave the yellow

there. I think Betty has chosen to come down onto this shot here to try

and tap this shot and take it back. It is obviously a good shot. There

is or is the chance that if you get this a little bit wrong, it could

knock her own back as well or instead of.

This needs to come round. The stone is holding out at the moment. We

have seen it all week. If you play with just a little bit of weight to

the stones, you do not get the result. It stays really straight on

the four foot lines. I think the skip said straightaway that it was

wide. That has given Eve a bit of an opportunity. We keep repeating

ourselves, but this is the sort of thing which did not grow quite their

way against Canada even. They had chancers -- did not go quite their

way. The women's coach there David Haigh. Eve looking to get as much of

this stone on the face and a little role to the left-hand side of the

picture. She does not want to leave a double on here. Catch the first

one, she gets by. It has been a tentative start from

Eve Muirhead. Still not a bad shot at the end of the day. We have three

Great Britain stones in there. There is only one lonely Chinese stone at

the top of the house. Betty having to make a decision.

I am not actually sure what she is going to do here. I would have been

attempting a hate on the shot. -- a hit. Looking down, I may have been

attempting hitting this stone to roll across here. And sit in. I

think at this stage you have two certainly remove one of the GB

stones if you were China. She has obviously just checked before this.

She is going to play the freeze on the other side. Great call at the

start of this game. She does not get this right, it may really open the

door for Eve Muirhead. It certainly will. She has to be right on this.

That is a nice shot. Certainly gives a chance for a too. -- two. A fairly

straightforward one for Eve. I guess anywhere in the house for

Betty to out count the yellows was good. It should be a simple draw for

a two here. A positive throw. Even trying to come down and take

the second shot here. You can hear the girls calling. Hopefully when

the weight comes off it. There we go. Very good. So Eve Muirhead

responding well and taking a two. That will make her feel a lot

better. So it is all tied after two. You probably just heard Eve say that

that was a good end. I think she is trying to take this on this morning,

trying to encourage the rest of the team. Being a bit more verbal. They

have not played all of their shots as well as they would have liked.

They are tied with China. So, a crucial match. I keep saying this.

The next three games, China, Korea, Japan, you win three on the run, and

all of a sudden everything looks a little better, a lot rosier. You

lose this one and that will be three losses from the first four matches.

That would not be a terminal situation for the British women yet

but it would make life very difficult indeed. So, Claire

Hamilton setting yourself in the third. China with the hammer. --

setting us off. Julianne playing lead for China. --

Zhou. This is the quietest it has been this morning. A couple of big

Chinese flags hanging down the far end, the opposite end to which

Jackie and I are sitting. -- to wear Jackie and I are sitting. There has

been a great atmosphere in here generally. Neither of the Russian

team is doing particularly well. The Russian women have played four games

now. Most have played three. All ten teams cannot play at once. They have

had two wins and two losses. It is funny, obviously, the impact

curling is having, hopefully at home, but here as well. Wherever we

went yesterday, people are asking about that shot by Eve Muirhead. It

doesn't matter if they were curling fans or not, British or not. It was

certainly a talking point. Yes, I think they will be speaking about

that shot for a few weeks to come. It was not the right decision. I

thought the shot was on and I guess Eve did. I spoke to some of the

support staff this morning and they were not quite so sure. Maybe even

rushed it slightly and laid it a tiny bit high. It never came. Nice

shot. Vicki Adams doing well. Imagine if it had come off. It would

have gone down as one of the great shots. Yes. And that would have been

the boost the girls were needing to continue in this competition. But I

am sure they will have put it behind them now.

I definitely see a lot of swing in this center line. The stones are

moving more than I have seen them moving.

The girls choosing to come in behind these two. -- the two guards at the

front of the house. Of course, we don't have the last stone here, so

we have to try to utilise whatever is up front to give us some

protection. Hopefully we will get a steel here.

Betty happy to indicate to her team to play the double rape. -- double

rape. Yue playing second. Takes the two

away at the front. Eve just asking Anna Sloan to put the guard open in

front again. -- to put the guard in front again.

She is asking for an inch over the centre. They really need this one to

sit. That is not bad. Pretty good. Yes, well left by the girls. They

knew it had the weight. Liu Yan playing third. This is

pretty straight. It stays in there. Anna Sloan looking to shift this

stone and role in behind her own. That is a pity. Yes, the girls tried

hard there to hold it, keep it on that side of the house. It will give

China the opportunity to try and lift the two of them forget that hit

low in behind their centre. Even if she hits on the nose here and

slightly sits in front of the back yellow, that is also a good shot.

That is what might happen here. Trying to get the two of them away.

It did not quite work. So Eve Muirhead with the chance to

make life a little difficult for Betty Wang here.

Betty Wang just having a look. Just looking to come right in with this

one. She has got that British stone to, operate -- she has got that

British stone to come up against. China deciding to play the interim

draw here. -- the in turn draw. Quite happy to forget about the two

British stones in the house and tried to utilise that front garden.

-- try. Yes, she has played this well. Very

well. Just runs on a little. Yes, I think she would have liked that to

have finished maybe just a stone's with higher. Eve Muirhead will

follow this down. This is a chance for Eve to do what she had been

doing pretty well. Eve just wants to come down here and sit at the top

there. Anna Sloan having the line. She has

just gone a little further out than the stone Betty Wang just played. If

the weight is good, it will come in. This has certainly got a higher line

than Betty's. But when the weight comes off, the poll comes. A little

smile for the first time this morning from Eve Muirhead. It is

interesting, the track of those two stones. They came out much wider.

Eve's stone looked a lot wider. Ban Betty's. Eve's stones of finishing

begat the end and that certainly did -- Eve's stones are finishing date

at the end. The Chinese skip needs to be careful here. Great Britain

lying shot. They have got two in there.

The last stone of this third end. Again, much tighter line here from

Betty Wang. These stones are taking the finish

at the end. She catches the inside of this, she could get a two out of

it. Almost. They are all having a look. Maybe. Is that a steal? I

think China have got the one. They might have to measure this. That was

almost a good shot there from the girls. They are having a close look.

Moving that went away, it is definitely between the two. It is

not two shots for China. It is obvious that one is not counted.

That is what Anna is saying. She is just going to leave them all in. I

can understand measuring between, as we look at it, the one above the

rings and the yellow. The back one is not counting. Might as well move

that out of the way. This could be critical. Either way, a decent

result just to give one away. Do they have a steal here? Finally the

measuring device is on its way. He is being very polite and taking

his time. It is very difficult. It looks like one for China to me. It

is very, very close. That swings round without touching

the witty stone, it is a shot for China -- the British stone. Might

have to measure it a couple of times.

His head is in the way. We cannot see what he is doing. There is a

dial at the top which will move and he will then spin the measure around

to see if any of the stones are in. He is going to take the Chinese

stone away, I think. He will come round now to see whether the Chinese

stone... He has moved that one which we thought... I think this is going

to be a shot for China. Yes, China have one. As we thought. It was very

close. That is still not bad, giving just the one away. That will mean

China lead 3-2 as we move into the next end. Britain will have the

hammer. A good end from Eve Muirhead and her team, starting to warm to

this match. Just waiting for official confirmation to go on the

scoreboard. I can confirm it for you though.

Definitely a shot to China. There it is. The hammer goes to

Great Britain as we move into the fourth end.

Some nice shots played there. That will make Eve play a lot better. You

could tell she was happy with a couple of shots she played as well.

It was almost a moral victory in that end. She cut Betty down to one.

China almost took two. But Eve put the pressure on.

Two other matches out there at the moment. Sweden have taken a 4-1 lead

against Switzerland. Don't forget that Switzerland are undefeated so

far. Canada are tied up with Denmark. Canada also are undefeated

so far. They are 3-3 in their match. We have to keep an eye on all of the

other matches. It has a bearing of course on Great Britain. They will

want to take care of business and make sure they are not relying on

other teams losing to get into at least a tie-break scenario or

hopefully into the top four without having to worry about tie-breaks.

Both leads playing good shots here. Corner guard initially put up by

Claire Hamilton. She has now got to try and utilise the corner guard to

put her stack and -- her second stone around behind it.

This looks good. Just turning a bit more. Yes, I think the ice is

definitely moving more today. That was almost coming out the other

side. They do get the chance to practice. They were in here for 30,

40 minutes before the match started. Both teams got ten minutes to try

and get used to the ice today. It is not the same as playing though. They

like to keep themselves in the match. That was almost left too late

there, I thought. Eve is going to have to try and

clear the front here. We have the hammer in this end and we want to

try and keep the front open. Vicki Adams coming down, plenty of weight

here. She wanted to push that back onto

the other Chinese stone and take both of them out. But she has taken

one. She has to put that back in place. A

little short, this. Working it well to bring it across.

That stone did not quite finished as much as they were hoping it would.

It has left half of the red that our GB girls can see. Vicki is being

asked to come down here to try and hit it and roll across to the other

side of the house. Just a little unlucky. But it is

good, sitting there. Vicki Adams has again started well this morning.

The Chinese third has been the one who has not been firing on all

cylinders so far this morning and has not helped out the skip to much.

-- too much. Just going to try and come around the front guard.

I would have to say, the Chinese girls here are sticking to their

game plan. Other teams, you may well have seen them trying to hit or chip

one of the GB yellow stone is out there. But no. These girls must have

been happy with the draw weight and happy to guard the one shot they

have in the house. They have to be careful they do not leave us small

chips and roles and it would just take one mistake from China and GB

would then capitalise. We do have last stone here.

Anna Sloan having to hold this, try and hold the line, try and get

past. That cleans it out of the front and Eve will be trying to get

a two here. Still every opportunity. HAZEL IRVINE: We will have to turn

ourselves away from the curling with the promise it continues on the red

button. If you want to follow this, the our guests. But we have got such

a lot to get through today. One of the most exciting mornings from a

British perspective of these Olympic Games. If ever there was a morning

to take a slightly later train, even a lot later, it could be today. We

have three British medal prospects in action.

Women's skeleton is raised over four runs. To this morning, to tomorrow.

We will be seeing Lizzie Yarnold and Shelley Rudman going for medals in

that. This is also the morning ski slopes of Foreman makes its Olympic

debut -- skis slopestyle for men. James Woods has been moves and the

podium pedigree, but does he have the fitness right now? Lizzy Yarnold

is a red-hot favourite for gold in the women's skeleton. She loves the

Sankey track. Shelley Rudman is firmly in the reckoning as well. The

pace may be slower but the tension levels are pretty high in the ice

cube curling Centre. Great Britain men meet the US today. And Elise

Christie joins Charlotte Gilmartin in the quarterfinals of the women's

500 metres in the short schedule. So much going on this morning. Plenty

of options for you as well. Our plan is to keep an eye on

everything and bring you the best bits. If you want to do your own

thing, you can. We are heading straight up the

mountain to the Sanki Sliding Centre. It is they we will find two

Olympic champions with five gold medals between them. One, a summer

Olympian, and won a winter Olympian. We have got Matthew Pinsent and Amy

Williams. Matt, I get the feeling that Amy would rather be competing

today. Do not let her anywhere near a sled!

It has been a difficult morning for Amy. You have been a bag of nerves

all morning? I literally feel physically sick with nerves, with

excitement, with this kind of feeling that this was me four years

ago about to try to win gold. I sympathise. I know exactly what

every athlete is feeling, as you do. They will be gathering in the next

ten or 20 minutes. Are we going to see them visualising the course and

stuff like that? Yes. They do their final preparations on the sled

before they are not allowed to touch them any more. They will do their

warm up and preparations. Going through the track in their head.

Visualising it all. Going through every single corner. Then relaxing

and getting ready. Lizzy Yarnold has been blistering in training. You

have been watching a few of the training runs. What kind of shape is

she in? She is in all some shape. She is one of the best in the world

at the start. She has been doing so well with her line. She is doing

well with her coach, Andi Schmid. I spoke to her last night. I tried to

stay together, keep calm, keep cool, keep confident. She is in a good

place. Do not look at any of the other athletes. We just have to hope

that is enough. She gets the choice of what start slot to go for. She

has chosen two. Why two in particular? Ella macro you want to

go the first off. It is fast. Most people do not opt for number one.

They like to see the time of another person, the condition of the track.

She was quite tempted by five because that was my number. I told

she had to go two. Shelley Rudman is number three. They have got the

perfect ice. Shelley Rudman, not quite as good in training, it is

fair to say. What do we think about her chances? Yes, Shelley has taken

out little bit longer to get used the track. A little bit tricky for

her. But she is a very experienced slider. Really good technical. With

her equipment, I think she could come shining through. She always

does well in the big events. She has got a silver medal already. This is

her third Olympics. Keep an eye on her. She could get a medal. Thank

you for your views. The first run is less than 90 minutes away.

Looking forward to it very much. It is great to get the impression is of

Amy. You can feel the nerves. I'm sure that our girls are feeling the

same kind of experiences and emotions as they get ready for that

run. It is such a big morning. We are looking forward to use ski

slopestyle. Ed Leigh joins me. There was talk about the possibility of

perhaps bringing this event forward by a few minutes because of the

temperatures. I guess there is a slight concern about the integrity

of the course. Very warm again. How will the landing areas hold up?

Well, as you say, it is fantastic weather for sunbathing but not quite

so good for slopestyle. They would be perfect training conditions. But

in three or four hours, these landings will probably be six inches

deep in slush. The riders leave armholes if they leave -- have a

heavy landing. If somebody lands in that whole afterwords, they could

get caught up. They are staying with the scheduled at the moment and we

will kick off in ten minutes with the first of the qualifying runs.

Many looking forward to the appearance of James Woods this

morning. What do you understand is the level of fitness he has at the

moment? Well, I have been watching training this morning, and he is in

there. He is laying down his runs. He does not look quite as fluid as

he usually does. He has bruised the socket of his hip joint by pushing

the femur into it. There is a little lack of mobility. Once he gets into

it, once he settles down, I think we will see him riding to his full

potential. There is a nagging doubt for him. A few of the riders have

been playing the top echelon of the tricks we are going to see. That was

how he injured himself. Whether we will see him attempting that, I am

not sure. It is going to be tense. There has been talk about the

possibility of a US clean sweep. What about their chances? Nicola

Scope is so confident. -- Nicholas Goepper. He was laying it on thick

on Twitter yesterday. Gus Kenworthy is in there as well. There are a few

other hopefuls. You have got the Australian Russell Henshaw. He is a

good all-rounder. At 23 already considered a veteran. And then the

three Wells brothers. Two of them could do very well. You talk to

anyone here and there are probably 12 skiers who could all podium. It

is wide open. Looking forward to hearing you with Tim in the

commentary box. We will leave you to get ready. Those of you at home have

no doubt heard of James Woods. He has been one of the most talked

about British athletes in the run-up to the games. He has the podium

pedigree. He has won world championship medals and X Games. He

is a real character. He is a real free spirit. Helen Skelton took him

back to Sheffield where it all began.

I have always been a bit of a dreaming sort of person. I suppose

other people watching me and being inspired by what I do, if one person

looks at it and says, you know what, I am going to good -- I am going to

go out there and get what I want, that is what fires me up. Just being

here is nice. It is kind of cool to just enjoy being back on the streets

that I know. How are you doing, dude? Do you miss Sheffield? Of

course. It is your city. People clearly love seeing you. It is just

friends. All my friends from school and the skiing community. What was

James Lagat school? He was great. Always very active. Crewe he was

always doing tricks and things. Was it hard to your parents, I want to

be a skier? Think very initially. Once they realised what it was all

about and kindred competitions, it was obviously what I wanted to do

and what I was dying to do. So yes, they were fully on board. It was all

organised. I stayed in my fair share of sofas. How did James get into it?

He was doing all sports to start with. We took him for his ninth

birthday to a toboggan party at Sheffield Ski Village. We always

said that when he went over the top of the hill, that was the last time

we ever seen him. It was skiing from then on. This is where I started. It

is not exactly the same. This was my second home, really. This is the

first time I have ever seen these gates shut. I have been through here

summoning times, that it is pretty sad. It chokes you up a bit. And I

am not just putting it on! This was a huge deal. Thousands of people

must have learned to ski your? British skiing emanated from here

three years. This was where it happened. It is fairly

heart-wrenching, if I am completely honest. We have got some good

footage and stuff, probably stuff I would rather not show you, being

such a chump, skiing around here when I was younger. Some familiar

faces down here. You guys are used to hang out in different continents.

A lot of people probably don't appreciate what it is you do. Can

you explain it? It is a mixture of rails and kickers. It is like

skateboarding. You get marked on tricks. It is like a course... It is

fun to watch. You have done great things for slopestyle in the UK.

What have they achieved? They have achieved the impossible. They have

taken it to a whole new level. They have also shown what is possible in

the UK. They have shown you can come from places like this and become one

of the world's best. The most important thing is making myself, my

family, my friends, the country, if they will have me for it, making

them proud. That would be the greatest thing.

We watched Katie Summerhayes the other day in the women's slopestyle.

She took seventh place. James just getting ready as we look down this

pretty fearsome slopestyle course. It is his moment of truth. And

indeed it is for all 32 starters in the very first Olympic men's ski

slopestyle event. History beckons. It is over to Tim Warwood and Ed

Leigh. Thank you, Hazel. Joining us as well

is Murray Buchan, halfpipe skier. Just running through the start list

at the moment. Nicholas Goepper is the name on most

people's lips. Russell Henshaw carrying a bit of a knee injury. He

is quite happy. It is not ideal to ride with pain but it does not seem

to be slowing him down. 32 riders. The slopestyle course, if

you have never come across it, is made up of six elements. You can see

the rail elements at the top. Re-creations of urban legends. Then

you have got three jobs getting progressively bigger as you move

down the course. The first rider getting ready to drop is the

Norwegian Aleksander Aurdal. I am excited about this. I am sure a

Norwegian Aleksander Aurdal. I am excited about this. I am sure lot of

viewers will be just as excited Azmi to know what is going to be thrown

down on this course. The thing about freestyle skiing is that there is a

form guide but still there are 12 riders in the final who all can

podium. The standard is so close. Just a little bit of a catch their

there. You would think by now that they would have gone in a little

bit. Spending two and a half times there. Lovely. Looking very, very

smooth so far. Landing really deep. That was a good run. Really good. He

caught up on one of the rails, but the jumps were pretty solid. It

looks like he missed a grab. But he should come in with a good store

score. The judges do not have the luxury of reviewing the run as we

do. What a great angle off that. A lot of people asking about the rail,

when the snowboarders were coming through the course. It is so bigger

than it looks. There are very few riders attacking the rail. He just

missed it slightly. The landing is still in really good shape. Their

temperature is six degrees at the moment and it will only warm up.

Even in training this morning, the landing, you could see how much snow

kicked up. The judges will have been watching training very, very closely

to get their Ryan and make sure they have somewhere left to go. There is

nothing more embarrassing. You fancy this guy, don't you? You fancy his

chances, I should say. I think he has an outside shot. What are we

looking for? I am not sure. I only caught him on the last jump. The

curse of Murray begins. Lovely! Just sat back but got a good

tap. We have seen big spins already, straightout the blocks. He couldn't

hold on. It was like he had Geoff capes on his shoulders. He could not

stand up. The left ski was giving him so much trouble. He could not

get it under control. Seemed to just fall out of the sky onto the rail.

His ski just catching up. He did not get both skis off at the same time

and that can be fatal. How much does it play into their minds, you make a

mistake on the top rail, are you constantly thinking about that for

the rest of the run? Yeah. It puts the pressure on. Everything has to

be on point to come close to getting a decent score. That is a throwaway

run for him. It is quite impressive how long he managed to survive

compressed on one ski at full speed. He has a lot of work to do on his

second run. This man is very technical on the rails. That is

true. He did not mess around. We did not see that from the snowboarders

too much, using the hitching post. Yes! But was enormous.

Beautiful. Spinning three times and the opposite way. Into the final

bottom jump, big double 12. That has got to be a good score. That is a

really nice run from Jesper. So important to have all of the

elements. You need to be the whole package in slopestyle. We are also

seeing from the judges and what we have seen in previous slopestyle

events, they penalise mistakes from the entire run, as opposed to the X

Games work perhaps a trick would be judged down. It seems here that the

whole run is being penalised. They are really looking at landings as

well. On his first jump, it was a little scrappy. He will be looking

to improve on that on the next run. He will not be very happy with that.

This is really interesting. The judges, I think, really hedging

their bets. They are expecting big things and they do not want to over

score too early. The 16-year-old Luca Schuler. From the home of Roger

Moore. Whether we will see any James Bond skiing remains to be seen.

Basic on the rail. Getting caught up on the hitching post. Hit it with

too much gusto. The pressure is on for second run. We talk about how

important it is to put a rundown and maybe you can back us up here. You

just want to get a score on the board. But a fairly good run down, a

score on the board, then you can relax in your second run. Relax and

really go for it. That is what you want. You want a safer run that you

know you can land to make sure you have got some points. Then with your

second run, you want a tougher run so you can push for higher up

sports. Luca Schuler only started Olympic qualifying, training and

trying to qualify for this Olympics, in the summer. He left it quite late

but he has made it into the Swiss team. He has got his older brother.

I think he damaged his knee in the qualifying campaign for this. So

Luca Schuler at the last minute decided the family needed an Olympic

representative and stepped up to the plate. How kind of him! Invaluable

experience, getting to come to a Games at this age. It would have

been the same for you, Murray, if they had opened up free skiing in

2010. You obviously want to send people to meddle and do well but

experiences equally as valuable -- send people to medal. The man who

everyone is talking about, Nick Goepper, the India under -- the

Indiana kit. He laid down a perfect triple at the X Games. I doubt we

will see that in qualifying. But I have been proved wrong many times

before. A big topic for debate. No polls. I think he has an injured

hand or rest so it is difficult for him to hold the polls. Equally as

good on the jumps. My goodness! Did not have enough speed there. That

was a surprise. Well, it seems that ski slopestyle is going exactly the

same way as women's ski slopestyle, women's snowboard slopestyle and

men's snowboard slopestyle. Does not matter who you think the favourite

is, it is just all about treasure. So many mistakes. I think you have

got to be sure and land the run because you never know what the

other guys will do. There might be double fall is all the way down the

course. There has been a feeling for me that Nick Goepper has been

playing mind games and he is as worried about everyone else as his

own run. Did he lacks speed or ditty think he had more time -- did he

lacks speed or think he had more time? Proof then that potentially

the day before does not matter one single bit. It is how you feel on

the day of the event. The build up may be important but there is far

more to it than just that. The 18-year-old from Sweden. Lives in

stock, now. -- Stockholm. Sweden had a good show in the snowboard

slopestyle. Very technical. He stopped the inertia and spins out

the opposite way. Tail tap on the barrel. The hitching post, as we

call it. Seems like that is quite a common line. Everyone seems to be

going for that. In these conditions, it is really slushy and there.

Things are slowing down and that is probably one of the lines that

allows you to maintain the most speed. Super Tech. Land is so deep

on that third one. Really nice. 1260 double at the bottom. That has got

to take top spot, surely. Plans and spinning the opposite way -- comes

out. Lovely bit of style coming off. Did not have purchase on the

right leg. But he still managed to get the spring he wanted. Double

flat spin nine was that and a switch 1260. They are quite rare. You will

not see many of them. Beautiful style on the grabs. Contorting

himself. People have been asking what tweaking means and as soon as

you get a grab on something and you have three points of contact, you

can start to really stretch the shapes with your body and that is

tweaking something. Only 72.8 for him. The judges leaving themselves

somewhere to go. They are expecting big things. The second Swiss rider

we have seen. He missed the tap there.

First rider of the canon that we have seen. You are not going to get

away with anything on these landings. When they are this slushy,

if you are not really nicely centred on the landing, it is curtains. Wave

goodbye to the run. Men's ski slopestyle, the best of two runs

here. Interesting seeing him go for the box. There are rails which are

just like a scaffold Pike and then you have got the box which is six to

eight inches wide, piece of marble or granite. The boxes are classed as

much easier. That one is quite low and easy to get onto. The level of

risk means that the judges mark them down slightly. The 16-year-old from

Switzerland. Just 11.8, he will mark that one down to experience. Bobby

Brown, the American. The first man to land a triple in the big air

contest will stop people have said he is not as good under pressure.

You could not have time that any better, Ed! He has had a couple of

big chances, certainly around 2010, he was looking like one of the

strongest skiers in the world. In recent years, he has had the

opportunity to cement that reputation and he has not really

taken advantage of it. What on earth has he done there? He has just put

all of the pressure in the world on himself for the second run. He is a

medal contender and he has had a good season and he has put it all on

him. Look how good he is on the jumps. Absolutely amazing. There was

the triple. My goodness! That easy. He made it look so easy. Bemused

faces down in the crowd. Cannot believe it. Cannot believe it. It

looked like there was a little bit of. Dot. A couple of little bomb

holes from people before. Landed a bit short and he got stuck on his

edges. There you go. There is the catch. Winds up into this. Goes

under and looks over his shoulder to really whip it around. So square. He

has fallen victim to the snow stakes. They are catching everyone

-- snow snakes. I would not have thought he would have got a 3.4. He

continued on the jumps. You lay a triple and you do not get a 3.4.

Yeah. Let us hope this is not a precursor to some contentious

judging calls. Definitely not what we want to see at this age. 21 years

old from Switzerland. A man who can also boast the triple in his bag of

tricks. He manages to get it around. Beautiful control. Double 12. Yes,

right side. Switched left side. I think Israel section will lead him

down slightly. That was a fairly solid run. He has landed. He has put

a run down. I am going to put you on the spot, Murray. The judges have

made some interesting decisions already. Where are you going to

place this? I think if you're going to take the same lead as in the

snowboarding, they are looking for immaculate execution. To I would

maybe say third or fourth. -- I would maybe say third or fourth.

They are very tight at the moment. Oscar Wester is leading. Equal

fourth. Kai Mahler. No shortage of Swiss in the first ten. That rail

looks a little bit sticky today. Nobody looks that smooth on it. He

kept it very simple up top. Lovely! Nice alternative line from Kai

Mahler. Big stuff. Ankles locked tightly

together. I think it is the first person I have seen hit the wall

right like that. I cannot remember anybody else hitting that. Left side

nine. Double misty. Going forward off the job. I think is top section

will let him down. Sorry, double misty nine, not 12.

That is very interesting. I would've thought it would slightly lower due

to his top section. I think again we are looking really clean execution.

They do not want to see sketching on the landings. Antti Ollila host

Finland. -- of Finland. He has only done five World Cup events. Lovely.

He knew he was putting that down solid. Into an absolutely lazy 99.

We will see our theory on the priority of the judges proved right

now. To me, that was clean as a whistle. They will struggle to pull

this one apart, I think. Really nice. He used the rail feature well

without risking everything. Technically that was a 540. Oh, the

style. Do you see any faults with this? All of his landings are

perfect. And solid grabs as well. What makes a good landing? You do

not put your hands down. Skis straight. No scrubbing around. We

saw that with Katie the other day. Exactly that. The judges are looking

for execution. That is what they are prioritising at the moment. It paid

off Jenny on Sunday. She went Baeck and clean rather than going super

technical. Russell Henshaw, at 23, he is considered a veteran at slope

skiing. He has been around for so long. He says it is not ideal skiing

in pain but that is how it has got to be. Very nice top two elements.

He got a hand dragged on the doll. Perfect.

The first nose but we have seen. -- knows butter.

I think he is just happy to get a run down. He has seen how many

people have struggled and fallen over. To get a good score on the

board will be relieving. Barrel rolled tag over the barrel. The same

with the Russian doll. He has got the grab. This is where

he just spins around on take-off. The judges all over that. He has

done so many contests now. He seems really relaxed. He is now that he

has got a good score. Andreas Hatveit. Always happy to be skiing.

One of the oldest competitors as well.

Some big spins off the rails. He got a tale tap on the Russian doll.

Oh, my goodness. That was amazing. Just the last landing, it looked

like he sat back a touch. Just a touch. The standard the judges are

expecting to see today, there has been ten days of practice for these

guys. The judges have had so long to gather all the information they need

about the standard of writing they are expecting to see. They are being

as harsh as they possibly can. -- the standard of riding.

He looked so relaxed through the middle. Look how much that means to

him. Yes, the Norwegian enjoying that one. 3.4 points clear at the

top of the table. This man as the pressure of the

whole of the USA on his sore shoulders -- on his shoulders, I

would say. You described this man, Murray, as a robot. He was born in

Essex. He lives in Telluride. We should claim him for us!

Oh, my goodness! Switch double court nine on the last jump. This will be

interesting to see. I think this is a rangefinder. He sent this one out

there. It is not the operation on his repertoire. I think he will uses

second run as a practice run. You may see a triple on the last run.

His switch double nine will probably turn into a switch double if he

qualifies, which I suspect he will. Looking so clean on the landings as

well. Beautiful bit of kung fu being channelled through that area. --

through that area. Kenworthy had to play bridesmaid to Nicolas Cooper at

X Games. He has got the upper hand here. Do you know much about the

politics between the two? No. Friendly rivalry or arch nemesis?

Friendly rivalry. The first of the three brothers from New Zealand.

Sorry, two brothers. Beau-James Wells and just sire here. -- Josiah

Wells. Going all the way through the double kink. I saw him in training

warming up without poles. He suffers from patellar tendon gnosis. But he

has got it under control in recent years. I like your description of

his knees. He has got knees of cottage cheese! A really solid run.

Another one who could be considered a veteran of the sport, I suppose.

He broke in when he was so young. He broke on when it was 14. Amazingly,

he had a couple of X Games medals and did not really get recognised in

New Zealand until three skiing made it into the Olympics, and suddenly

it dawned on people that they had a potential Olympic medallist on the

doorstep. Should be a good score. Spinning three and a half times. If

you take off forwards, you land backwards. Double means you go

upside down twice during the trip. It is a corkscrew spin. You mix the

horizontal and vertical access and spin like a corkscrew. -- axis. For

a 23-year-old, he is rocking a man's beard. Come on, Woodsy. You

are allowed to be biased, we can't. Pat has done a good job with this

guy. He has been instrumental. You have been in the camp, how affected

has Woodsy been by the hip brews? He has been having a tough time of it.

Coming out through the bottom kink, that would really jolt the system.

Super technical. The only rider opting to go down through the kink

rail. Sitting back a tiny bit there. Winding up for the first kicker.

Left side ten. Spinning the opposite way and into right side. Look at

that grabs. Beautiful. He has spanned both ways already. Good

man! A beautiful run. One slight mistake of the third rail element,

potentially sitting back a bit. But that is all the judges have to pick

on. His grabs were solid, he was technical through the top section.

Look at that, so hard to go through a pic like that. It gave him the

kick he needed to get the 450 off. A lot of different grabs as well,

Woodsy. He missed the grab on the tip. Look at the tweak on this grab.

His leg is pointing the opposite way! And then the October grab. That

is almost his signature grab the macro octo he is basically twisting

his legs the opposite way. So square on landing. It has been accused X

Games judges did not recognise he was spinning his unnatural way

because he is so good at it. We should perhaps explain that everyone

has a natural way to spend. Good score. -- natural way to spin. Can

he improve on that, Spears? I think so. Woodsy is in second place.

Exactly half the field. Looking very comfortable there. Henrik Harlaut is

the skier's skier. Coming off a win at the X Games. Former skier, you

would say probably. How has he got on in training? He looked like he

was chilling a bit. He did not do anything to technical. He has got a

really technical top section already! Spinning different ways

onto and off the rails. He looks like he has got an octopus in his

helmet! Nose butter. Oh, my goodness. I think his trousers are

coming down, actually. Oh, my goodness. Double ejector. Is he all

right? Straight up. Got tangled up in that. Looks like he just

overstretched that grab. The Swedes will not be happy about that. There

is a lot of expectation. Really technical top section. On the rail.

Span one way and then the other. But is called pretzel, tying yourself

up. Love the slow Mo -- slow motion when you get to see that. You are

right. His trousers were incredibly... I think his trousers

actually tangled him up! That is quite phenomenal. It looks like he

almost got stuck in the rotation there and couldn't figure out if he

was going forwards back woods. -- forwards or backwards. Just getting

down the landing lights like a rag doll. Good ice burn. Never far from

a smile. One of the nicest dudes around. Everybody loves him. Back at

the top. Luca Tribondeau. Lives in Austria. Two on, two off. Some

people have been questioning his style a little bit. Quite stand-up

kind of style. Telegraph pole, some people call it. But he does have a

triple 14 on Loch. Is he going to use it now? Is he going to lay down

something safe? Common sense would suggest you get a score on the

board. Sat back a touch on that landing. There is the triple. And he

has got it on Loch. But we have got a couple of mistakes in there. We

have seen this throughout all of the slopestyle contests. The judges will

not reward a big bash brash trick over execution. If you are going to

stick your neck out and say, I have a triple, you have got to be able to

do it cleanly. They will not reward sketchier temps. I am not saying

that was sketchy -- sketchy attempts. The landing was not quite

there. Double misty nine. It is the third time and, dipping your head

when you are so close to the landing. Got to get that right. He

looks stoked with it and rightly so. I think we will see a pregnant pause

from the judges now. The longer they wait, the better the score, but they

want to get this right. They are setting a precedent when they give

this score out. We have got a full house here as well for ski

slopestyle. It has really filled up. Apart from those seats! I think a

lot of people are opting to go for the standing room at the front. A

bit more atmosphere. Like a concert. Even though you have your tickets in

the seat, you want to get in the mix. Who wants to sit down when you

can get up and dance? They are taking a good while here. In my

opinion at the moment, this is one of the most open events. If you had

to pick a podium, is it possible? Would you even put your reputation

on the line for that? After watching those runs, I have no idea who could

take it. You still have the Americans, so... A triple and he is

still just under eight points off the pace. I think he has been

punished for his landings. The message is coming through loud and

clear. Do it big, do it clean. French rider coming out of Annecy.

Jeremy Pancras. A bit of an unknown quantity in the commentary booth,

we're not going to lie to you. Solid first three elements. " early

to slow that down. -- opened up. Really clean on the landing. A

little bit of a pop off his tales even. Was that a double grab? I

think it was. We'll have to wait for the replay. Putting it down switch,

landing it backwards. That was nice. He will be happy with that. He is.

Look. Nasty knee injury in April, 2013. He was out for five months.

Managed to come back at the New Zealand end of the season. The seven

off the canon rail. Let us take a look at these. See if you are right.

This was his first. The first 900. He has gone left side. There is one

grab. Two. Almost two. Safety. Bit of a boot grab there. Quite clean.

The landings are clean. Again we get another indication of whether they

are picking up most on landings or form in the air. How much does style

play in this? Interesting celebration! Definitely got a few

laughs down in the gallery as well. Interesting. We have a woman stood

in front of the booth at the moment in rabbit ears. 68. Maybe not quite

the technicality the judges were looking for. The aerial shot of this

course is stunning. It looks like a computer game. Another big-name in

the world of free skiing. Norwegian. Has not had the most

decorated season in the last year, but his reputation should be enough

to strike fear into the hearts of the other competitors.

Overcooked that a bit. He threw so hard, didn't he? Interesting. He was

obviously pre-empting slowing the rotation down by adding a bit more

style or tweak into the middle. I think he just missed the grab

slightly. Then he was not able to tweak it and slow the rotation. He

was accelerating through it. Yeah. That was lovely. My mistake. He got

it on there. Skis and poles everywhere on the landing. The walk

of shame back up to get his skiing pole. He is one of the riders who

has a reputation for going big or going home, you might say. He has

spent a lot of time out for injury. On this kind of stage, the Olympics,

he will not be doing half measures. No, he is not doing anything to

dispel that nickname, either. Antoine Adelisse of France. Comes

from one of the resorts that hosted the Olympics in 92 or 94. 94 it

would have been. The year after they took the and picks out of sync with

the Summer Games. Lili Hammer, 92. Certainly looking tidy at the

moment. Got a fifth at the World Championships last year.

Big 1260. Little hand down on the landing. Switch 99. He was going to

over rotate that slightly. When we talk about switch, just as in

snowboarding, the skier is travelling backwards. In comparison

to snowboarding, it is more obvious with the freestyle skiing when you

are going back woods. Antoine Adelisse getting a lot more purchase

of the canon rail. It is interesting watching the freestyle skiing. You

have got so many elements. Instead of one snowboard, you have to skis

and two poles. When it looks good, it looks like an Apache helicopter.

When it is bad, it looks like someone throwing a model aeroplane

into a ceiling fan. It's just flying everywhere. Difficult landing there.

The judges being so fussy this morning. There is no room for error.

Punished. Essentially he landed on the skis and rode away from every

jump. My goodness. First runs, about three quarters of the way through.

Great Britain's James Woods is in second. The Australian is just

outside top three, Russell Henshaw. Very close schools up there. Three

points separating the top four -- very close schools. The younger

brother of the snowboarder we saw in the men's slopestyle. Just catching

his ski. Can you imagine the sibling rivalry after this? If he gets a

medal... Into the compression and onto the wall ride. Nice little flip

out of the wall ride. Big ten. Right side... Going for the left side.

Unnatural. 12. A switch 12 to finish. It says he

does soften nerves occasionally on the big stage. He seems to have

built with it fairly well there. -- dealt with it. You are not wrong,

look has dealt with it there. A big tail grab. He puts the landing gear

down. It is nice. Then there is the switch 12. Clean as you like. The

grab is grabbing the opposite ski with your hand... Your arm crosses

your body to grab the opposite ski. That is what I meant to say! That

has got to be top three. It is brave, doing that, with these

judges. They have made me and Ed look foolish more often than not.

They haven't needed a lot of help, mind you! Oh, we are waiting a long

time. His heart will be racing, waiting for that score. I think the

one constant we have seen across-the-board in slopestyle is

that it is wise heads, people who have stayed calm and mature. He is

eighth! Take that from the judges. I am baffled by that. I think they

listen to our commentary. Marcus Eder from Italy, following in the

long tradition of Italian skiers with very Austrian names.

450 on the gap rail, 270 out. He has come off early. He couldn't hold it.

He has only made six World Cup starts. He won the 2010 big air

contest. He has gone down. Marcus has won a free ride world tour. To

be a big Mountain skier and also to try and get amongst it with the

slopestyle, they are kind of ying and yang in the ski world as far as

discipline goes. The free ride world tour stuff usually comes after a

slopestyle career. You have to do so -- spent so long perfecting the

tricks. It is usually when you are after some softer landings. He was

just looking to cross the skis up in the grab. Is it fair to say as a

freestyle skier, pretty much the moment you leave the lift, you know

if you are going to land or not. Yes, if the speed is difficult, you

don't know if it will stick up on you. 20th for Eder of Italy.

Interesting seeing Goepper down in 19th. The top 12 riders will advance

to the final. The highest score from their two runs will count. Bryson

and from Finland, the second finish here we have seen --

he got caught up again out of the first rail. I wrote on the chairlift

with this guy, all of his family were coming to watch him, they were

saying how the media are starting to pick up on it in Finland. We had a

long chat about the fact that Finland is now delivering summary

strong freestyle skiers. It's snowboarding reputation has perhaps

fallen off a bit. The first two jump tricks looking really nice. Switch

12 to finish. Left side as well. I think he did a switch flat ten on

the second jump, I have not seen any of those so far. Riding backwards,

doing three spins and landing backwards. Not going upside down. We

have seen a lot of double Cork tens and switch double Cork tens but not

so many flat ones. We really were expecting the doubles and the

Troubles to come to the top and that would be the trick of the day. --

doubles and triples to come to the top. They are going to be looking

for flat spins and a demonstration of corks. If your whole run is

corked all the way down... Technical difficulty is one of the main thing

is the judges are looking for. When you slow you are going -- when you

show your going upside down and you can do flat spins and rails, that is

when you will plant the points. I think this could be up there. I am

putting my neck out. I am not quite convinced. Really? No. I will eat my

words again. Thanks, judges! I think that is the end of your speculation

career... Good enough for 14th for Raisanen, a

lot of work to do for him. Pat Joe has not got any goals on. -- Patja

has not got any goggles on. You are going to be hitting the kickers at

35 miles an hour, surely his eyes will be watering. He actually face

planted them, with no goggles on. There is a good chance he has got

snow burn on his nose. Goggles protect your face a bit. I had a

friend, the only time I have seen it... His goggle lens was

cracked... We shouldn't start talking about horrible injuries. A

big move. It looked like he was heavy on the nose of his ski and

they shot out behind him. Getting an amazing follow cam shot there.

Let's see this landing. They just shoot out. He looked on point until

then. 10.84 Patja, the judges are impatient, waiting for him to come

to the bottom. -- 10.8 for Patja. You can hear the amount of calls

going out for Kristiansen, Christensen, a very popular guy.

Lovely, so delicate and precise with his contact. Just to initiate the

rotation. Really big, and combined with the rail section up top, a big

double ten. A bit over the nose, didn't seem to upset his rhythm.

Back-to-back tens. Very tight from Christensen. In the second jumping

at the double Cork 1080. Both switch double tens. It is like left and

right. Just showing variation for the judges. He will be happy with

the run. It will be like writing Ulysses with your left and right

hand at the same time... How long is it? 3000 pages. There is the double

grab, the truck driver. You just saw a little flecks. It is one of the

few mistakes. One of the few mistakes you could latch onto. A

slightly early let go of the grab. I can't believe the detail we are

having to go into. It is huge from Christensen. They really, really are

looking for execution. He went really big, he sent it so deep into

the landings. He left it really, really late coming into this event.

The other thing to remember, he had a really strong rail section. The

youngest of the Wells brothers. His dad is standing next to him, he has

three sons here at the Olympics. It is pretty clear, he said, I don't

put any punches with the boys, I don't give them false hope. I am

pretty sure he would have told him...

Very nice! He will have to try to get some speed from somewhere. The

speed was sucked out of the trip but he has found speed for the kick and

he has got the landing down. The right side double 1080, he learned

that in training a couple of days ago. He got caught up in the snow.

That is such a shame. It was going really well. There was a feeling in

the Wells camp that they were happy to talk about, that Beau-James was

gaining experience for PyeongChang, a final place would be seen as a

victory for him. We have been calling that the butter box and he

was the first person to butter on and get amongst it on the Canon

rail. If you are wondering what we are talking about, a butter comes

from the feeling you get from buttering a piece of toast so you

are using the skis in the same way, you're getting onto the tips of the

tail and trying to wash through them. 36 for Beau-James Wells. One

of four brothers, Jackson is the youngest, he is the only one not at

these Games. The hope is he will be there in 2018. Now Mayr of Germany.

He got in last minute, I think there was a problem with qualification but

he is here and he is a good rider. He lives in in Brook, one of the

best cities that has direct at first two mountains. -- that has direct

access to Mountain 's. Right side double ten, solid. In two

double Mr E ten. -- into double misty ten. He went dead straight up

the face. We have not seen many of them, I think he was the first to do

the double. Switch 270 on, 270. I think he will be punished for that.

They were to be simple trick without a grab. He is left hanging

there.... A big switch 99. He switched off the grab. Here is the

double misty, the safety grab. He puts it down solid. The judges are

being so fussy, they are not getting the benefit of these slow-mo replays

so they have got to make the right call. Well, he is happy. He is

stoked. He has got an extra layer of padding, it looks packed tight. The

fourth of the Finland skiers, he lives in Helsinki. We are waiting a

long time for the score. It will be interesting to see what comes in.

They are having a good thing. I am going out on a limb,

They are having a good thing. I am sport. We should be able to have an

educated guess, but it has been so difficult, and the judges do not

have the luxury of the replays, they have got to make a call.

Straightaway, the message they have sent is, is it clean? Every landing

has got to be clean, every grad has got to be intact. And, is it big? I

am not going to go with a big score, I think you will struggle to

make the top ten. It is only the first run of the qualifiers, 32

skiers each get a run, and the top 12 advance to the final. Milk it,

you have got plenty of time. Good call! Finally, we get something

right! Another four skiers to drop. The next, the youngest of the

Finland skiers. He sat back there. He has given up straightaway, did

not bother with the second element. A nice backflip 180. That was

awesome! If he can lay this rundown, that

will look really nice. Impressive. Imagine how nice that fails, you

took up into the second. That is completely blind, you get a glimpse

of landing twice. But the moment you take off, you see the landing, then

it disappears for a long time. You will not know you have landed it

until you have landed it. Victory, the leap of faith. He talks it a bit

to give himself a look. It takes a lot of bottle, you have to stop

looking, and your head goes straight back. If you look over the shoulder,

it affects how the trick reacts in the air. Your rotation will change.

Next up, the 22-year-old from France. Oh, no! That is so

humiliating. You know that all of your friends and family are

watching. It is crushing in terms of confidence.

Just going to practice his run now. Work is way through. That was

massive. It was huge. He got the really laid-back tail grab on it as

well. There is a lot of room for U2 go a lot bigger, there is no chance

of overshooting. They are so steep, as well.

Undoubtedly going to put this one down to experience. Very ragged.

Using it as a training run for his second run. The slush eating riders

up. When these landings were icy earlier in the week, it was bouncy,

but now, the slush is grabbing hold of you. It is catching skis, poles,

arms and legs, it makes for difficult conditions. When it starts

to pull at body parts as well. 24 years old, from the Czech Republic.

Off early. His results do not suggest that he will be threatening

the finals, but you never know. If he can get a big, clean run out? He

chose the jump option. He stood up on it quite a lot, very upright. He

has not got enough speed. He just made it over. Nice and clean on the

last jump. But it is almost the judges' mantra, it has got to be big

and clean. The second jump was anything but big. He will be happy

with that, though. He should have a score on the board which is

reasonable. We only have one wider left to go, so we can start having a

good look through the scores. If you are landing a run, top to bottom,

you are 50 and above. But there is a threshold around the low 70s, which

is 11th place currently, and that'll be the finals, when we look at the

second runs. You will have to be site -- high 70s, many men, for a

final place. The judges caving -- giving him a standard score for

making it to the bottom and not falling over. The Russian. On home

soil. You listen to the crowd for now. 20 weight -- 28 years old, the

oldest rider in the men's slopestyle.

The first time we have seen that. Fairly basic at the moment, though.

He over rotates, but he does well to save it.

It looked like he got caught up on the take-off. A big seven to finish.

The Russians cheering him into the finish area. He will not be too

happy with that. He managed to overshoot the landing on the

hitching post. Currently sat in 50 Sixth Place on

the World Cup. I love that angle, it gives you an idea of how long the

take-off is. A big 360 on the last jump. Jumps can be built in so many

different ways. It is called a kicker or a wedge, the start of the

jump. The once they have built here are really long and smooth, they do

not give you much pop. He has got to move up around 30

points on his second run if he wants to have a sniff of the finals. James

Woods in third place. The Frenchman on the bubble of

qualification for the finals. James Woods in a good position with

the second run to come. I understand that you have had a

rotten night in the UK, hurricane force nights's wins, so we hope we

can cheer up your day today on this Thursday morning. I have decent news

from the curling, Great Britain's women are seven - five up in the

ninth end against China. We are keeping our fingers crossed. And, it

is a big morning for Rick -ish middle hopes, because we have got

the start of the women's skeleton, Great Britain has always done well,

achieving medals every time it has been held. Lizzy Yarnold and Shelley

Rudman will be flying the flag for Great Britain today, they have to

runs today, followed by two more tomorrow, to decide the gold medal

places. Amy Williams 14 years ago in Vancouver. Let's get her to show us

the Sanki Sliding Centre. Here we are at the Sanki Sliding

Centre for the bobsleigh, skeleton and luge. 17 corners, it has been

made beautifully, the best track I have ever seen. This start is

beautiful, long, flat, the athletes will have to decide when to go on to

the sled. It is designed for the Russians, they are very good

starters. Especially the men. The push is really important, and

continue that through the first few corners. They do not want to hit or

skid, you just want to keep the power from the start. This is where

the technical part of the track starts. Three uphill sections in

this track, really unique, no track has had that before. One of them

comes out of this corner. You do not notice it when the athletes go down,

has steep it is, but if they are lying on the ice, they will see the

uphill. It is important they do not move around, because they will be

skidding. If they hit a wall here, they will be wasting a lot of time.

It is pretty steep on the way down, a 19% drop.

A big corner, 4.5 G pressure. Three oscillations, three ways that they

are going to steer out. It is really hard to see what the corner looks

like. This is corner 12 and 13, into 14, vital, the athletes will

probably take a clip on the left to find themselves up. But for corners

left, and corners, keep the speed. Position is vital, aerodynamics

really important now. Exit 17, finish line just there, hopefully,

if everything has gone to plan, you get over in a really good time. The

track is wonderful, the ice is wonderful, and I have high hopes for

Team GB, the men and women. Here we go, 1500 metres of ice, four

runs for gold, and it starts now. This is the scene in the Sanki

Sliding Centre. Amy Williams is in the commentary box with Colin Bryce

and Paul Dickenson. The British are going early. Describe the scene for

us as we get ready for the crucial first run.

COMMENTATORS: It is absolutely superb.

Just watching one or two of the athletes at the moment. Generally

speaking, the crowd at the finish are being very vocal. It certainly

is a feast for sore eyes. There are some Russian hopefuls today. They

could all get medals. We are hoping that the British girls will do

particularly well. Lizzy Yarnold will go second down the hill,

Shelley Rudman is third, they chose those positions. Lizzie had the

chance to choose what ever position she wanted. Pikus-Pace chose first.

We don't know what sort of form she is in, her training has been

spasmodic. She is a former world champion, she was fourth in the last

Olympic Games, she can slide. Amy, we know that Pikus-Pace is not the

best of starters but she tends to make it up down the track. Yes, that

was a great start from her. She has only been on this track a few times.

So far a good, solid looking run. A tiny skid in the tricky section. The

exit of nine through 210 is a tricky changeover. They don't have quite as

much control of the skeletons as they do the

you have to get your sled set up perfectly. She has had a few skids

and think she will be more nervous from the lack of training runs. That

is her husband, cheering her on at the bottom. I think she is pretty

please, it is a track record to start off with. The old track record

is 58 .98. The ice must be in tremendous condition. We knew that

coming into this contest. That is half the battle, having perfect ice.

The ice is amazing, this is the best track I have ever seen. It is really

perfect conditions. The Russians have done proud. If any British

spectators are wondering who this lady is, Elizabeth Yarnold, she has

been around for a few years now. She has already won a world

championship. She has already won four World Cups and now she's going

for Olympic gold. She won the World Cup season this year. That is able

power start, that is tremendous. It is even quicker than the old start

record. Yarnold has powered it off, nothing conservative about that. No,

she has given it all, she has gone for it. Her form is perfect, head

down, shoulders down, feet together, so much more aerodynamic

and clean lines so far. Over a quarter of a second up on her number

one rival, this is phenomenal. Unbelievable, so exciting to watch,

she has nailed her training, she has so much confidence and you can see

that. She lost a little bit of time from 11 to 14. She is still over two

tenths up. She has beaten it by a quarter of a second. Another track

record. This competition has got off to a blistering start. First of all,

a track record by Pikus-Pace. And secondly by Lizzy Yarnold. She is

going to be happy, she took the clip out of 11. 12 and 13 is a wobbly

straight. It is an uphill section so that is one area that could have

lost her time. That little kink in there, the tap

is probably better than trying to make any kind of steer. Sometimes it

is easy to take the tap bunfight the steer. -- to take the tap than fight

the steer. Shelley Rudman has been around for quite some time, she was

six at the last Olympic Games. She was second in 2006. -- she

she starts her Olympic campaign here, she gets away well. She is

already giving away the best part of two tenths of a second to Yarnold.

She is a lighter athlete, not as powerful in the start but this is a

long track. It gives somebody of the experience of Shelley Rudman the

chance to reel it back. She doesn't have the momentum, she will have to

really work it down the bottom. Between corners five and 15 is

written technical, you have got to nail those lines, that is where you

will get your speed. Her run is looking solid. She has struggled in

those major uphill sections in training but she is looking good so

far. Around 14, back up the hill, she took a clip, she will have lost

like a bit of speed, she will not trouble Yarnold now. Shelley Rudman

is coming through and just finishing in third place. She is behind

Pikus-Pace. And that really was a disappointing run for Shelley

Rudman. Yes, she took the same clip as Lizzie but it affected her more,

she hit it harder which pinged her across onto the other side of the

wall and would have slowed her down. Unfortunate for Shelley, a bit of

the wrong angle. She took that hit out of 14. Another big hit. Shelley

Rudman, currently in third place. STUDIO: A blistering start from

Lizzy Yarnold and Shelley Rudman also completing her first run. We

are going straight, this is Goepper of the United States as we go to be

second run of collar for the nation in the men's slopestyle. -- second

run of qualification. COMMENTATORS: Goepper is on his

second run. So important that he lands this. One of the few riders

without poles, stylistically it is a brave new world. But he is claiming

that one. Do you agree? I think it was an excellent run, his scraps

were solid, his landings were perfect. I am going to put my neck

on the line and say it could be first. We have all been humiliated

by difficult judging decisions. It becomes really clear they want it

clean and big. Goepper just inched ahead of Kenworthy at the X games to

earn half weeks ago. He went big on every jump and he will get rewarded

for that. A crossover in the skis, so much style. Ride side ten with a

handful of grabs in there by the look of it. It was like pick and

mix. Just pure elation. After a difficult first run, he gets an 87

for his second run. It slots him in just behind James Woods. Woods is

still in third. In second place, Haatveit and in third, Christensen.

Everyone else in the top five still has their second run to go. -- in

first, Christensen. Wester is one of the skiers we thought would score

quite highly in his first run. But the judges did not agree. Let's see

if he can find what they are looking for on this run. He has that double

cork 1440. Going upside down twice, spinning around four times. Double

flat spin nine. And a beautiful landing, really deep. Lost a bit of

speed as he took off. Switch double 12, have not seen many of them.

There is that double 12, he couldn't hold it! Did you see how wide his

skis were as he took off? He took so much power into that. Just leaving

the tip of the right ski down for the tap on the post. Two on,

pretzel, two. The pretzel is when you use the rail and then you have

to generate the opposite direction. Very technical. -- generate spin in

the opposite direction. Was that a 1620? He got it down to his feet. It

was four and a half spins. Unlucky for Wester. A good indication of how

hot it has been here. Usually you don't get a tan until spring.

A late 180 over the hitching post. He comes off early on the down box.

That was nice, though. Took a lot of speed out of it, as well. Right

side, double ten. Left side, double ten... No, double 12, nice! Into

Switch double Misty. It was a blur of skis and polls. -- and ski poles.

We always talk about style in the air and you have so much going on,

if you get it right it looks beautiful. The moment it starts to

look uncomfortable, all of the tell-tale signs are there. The ski

poles start waving and it can look ugly. Nice and compose, the skis

cost, a good landing. And then this, the high mute switch double Misty

nine. Talk us through that, the high mute is the grab. Yes, he is taking

off backwards. If you watched his pop off the jump, he pops up 180s

into the double Misty and he does two flips and comes back out

forward. The Misty is where you let the rotation drift off and get your

weight into the jump. Bobby Brown, he is one of the best skiers in the

world, but he suffers under pressure. He dropped his first trick

there, he got a 3.4 despite carrying on his run and doing a triple. We

have already seen his triple. If the top section of the course is clean,

we should get to see it again on the third jump. 899. -- they --

he is playing it safe. And that was very clean, very safe, very big. We

can give you an idea of how big they are. What we are starting to see now

is probably the nerves settling for a lot of riders, thinking, this is

it, but also, we are just starting to see not crazy runs. They are

thinking, actually, I don't have to go mad now. Just put a run down and

get a score on the board. I don't think Bobby Brown had settled down,

think it was relief on his face. He looked drawn, like he was under a

lot of pressure. He was down on the panel to. And then this one... The

left side. You are talking about double cork tens and they are

slowing them down. It looks like a 720 of ten years ago, the amount of

time they have in the air and the way they are styling these big

rotations. We have just seen a 1620 and that is where they are working

hard. Ninth place for Bobby Brown. That

will be close for him. As it stands, we have got

Christensen in first, James Woods of Great Britain in third. Dropping in

now with Amnuehl of Switzerland. Looking really relaxed through these

top elements. The weakness to this man's armour is said to be the

rails. He helped that well. It looks like he is struggling for speed a

bit. A switch 12. He has thrown hard into that. Look at that, claiming

without looking where he is going. He set out really hard then slowed

down on the last jump. You think that the rails could be

his weakness. I do not think he has played it safe by any stretch, he is

making it the full length of the rail, he has not come off early, OK,

that was a slap rather than a grab, but he really starts to turn it on

on the kickers. It will be the landing of his right side double

ten, double 12, sorry, that will let him down. Once been, free spins, a

half. He really put that down. On the trailing arm, beautiful, he had

it under control. He will not be happy with that. I am

really surprised. Is he getting punished that badly for a slight

sketch on the landing? The Swiss just outside the finals positions, a

lot of work to do. Really nice and stylish. He comes off a bit early on

the top rail. He has been working at switching up his repertoire, he has

always been known as a big Bear specialist. Putting three together

has been the challenge. More technical on the top rails.

He's used the left-hand side of the kicker and then switched it up.

Drifting... They could not quite hold it! A bit of flip-flopping. The

only consolation, even if he had saved that, the way the judges are

marking people, like on the last run, even if he had saved the last

landing, it would not have been a great score. Another big name with a

decent reputation will not make the finals. He is not going to better

his first score, which means he is sitting it out in 14th place. I

thought we were going to get some ski ballet then. The end of his day,

unfortunately. The Swiss not getting the role of

the dice at the moment. Antti Ollila is right on the bubble. He only has

one spot between him getting knocked out, so he is going to want to

improve on his first run score. There are TVs at the top that they

can watch, they must see what the judges are doing and think, what can

I do? What can I change? It is pretty straightforward, really. He

took the same strategy that we saw Jamie and Jenny adopt, he has gone

big with a run that he can land very cleanly. A huge 900. Have you

stopped that becoming 1080, I will never know. So unlucky to fall over

there. He just got caught in the soft snow. When it is soft like

that, do you want to land forwards or backwards? It does not matter, as

long as you keep the skis straight. As soon as they veer off, you get

caught. You going to get awarded more from the judges? They will know

it is more difficult to land. Will you get more for a backwards

landing? It is not so important, it is dependent on the trick you have

done. The cleanliness of the trick and landing. He got caught, his

right ski dropped him, in the soft snow, and that is what through him.

The key is surface area. If you are landing on just the tip, the tip

will sink. If you can get both skis down at the same time, you will not

sink. James Woods still in third. Nick

Garber has stepped it up again. Gus Kenworthy in fifth place. Russ

Henshaw currently in seventh place, but we should see a good marker of

what he has planned for the final say. He may want to improve that

score a bit. The top 12 will be seeded in the final, so it is worth

trying to get as high up as you can, going into the finals. Very

nice. A double ten to finish. A 180 right

at the start, the last ski length of the jump. How different is that from

his first run? Since he missed the tap on the dole, I would say his

first run was slightly better. What they should add is a blockbusters

style hooter when you hit the barrel or the goal. It should light up!

Fireworks go off! Or a decent haunt! Just a bit loose with the

left ski. The landing was perfect. 23 years old, but still considered

an elder statesman. The lack of the grab on the kitchen posed as he went

over. Maybe a little drop of style seeped away on the last jump.

Andreas Hatveit, second place at the moment. Getting a shout from

somebody, getting some props before he started his run.

540! Switch 540, with a little tap and a grab. Very nice. He has really

settle down, he is really enjoying a second run, knowing that they have

got a nice high score. What about a flat spin nine on his second jump? A

really good, solid run again. A bit over the tips on the landing of the

third jump, but he almost looked like he did that on purpose, the way

he recovered. I think he is fairly safe. We will see him in the finals.

Absolutely. The big question is whether it improves the existing

score. It is a bit cleaner, perhaps. That set him up for the last jump.

Really nice. One, two, three. Switch double ten. Nice! He really did not

reply Keith through that hard into that, ever so gentle on take-off.

Maybe he will go around again. Still an amazing score. I do not know

where the judges will have pulled that away. Gus Kenworthy, just