Day 7, Part 3 Winter Olympics

# Me and Mrs Jones. # We've got a thing going on.

# We both know that this is wrong. # But it's much too strong.

# To let it go now. JONATHAN EDWARDS: And no, I hadn't

forgotten, happy Valentine's Day, from Russia with Love. Lots to love

about these Olympics as well, stunning action, great drama and,

I'll tell you what, stunning views here at the Olympic Park on the

mountains look wonderful and we have got our fingers crossed for Lizzy

Yarnold later on. Gold very possible in the skeleton, we will be live

from the Sanki Sliding Center from 3:30pm here on BBC Two but in the

meantime, all this to keep you occupied.

The men's ice hockey should be one of the highlights and we should

shoot the reigning world champions Sweden in action. -- we should see

the reigning world champions. The women's aerials has

qualifications and finals, old school slopestyle but no less

captivated. -- captivating. And the men's skeleton gets under way with

Kristan Bromley and Don Parsons going for Team GB.

And you can't help but listen to that music can think of Torvill and

Dean with the Bolero. 13 years ago today they won gold in Sarajevo. I

wonder if that is a good omen. You step onto the track... Take a

deep breath. Thinking about the Lions, adrenaline is pumping. There

is no room for fear. -- thinking about the lines. Read the ice,

focus, concentrate... Then, an explosion of power and strength.

Corner one, you feel your way, shoulders, feet and body position.

Attack with the toe -- a tap of the toe and a move of the head,

lightning fast reflexes, you feel the track. It is a quest for the

fastest line, finding the perfect angle will stop you have to stay

calm. The tiniest of errors will cost you. Making the smallest

adjustment in split-second reactions. It is about accuracy,

precision... One false move and you are off. On cold ice.

This is what this afternoon looks like here on BBC Two.

It will be good to see Sweden's born in the ice hockey, we saw the

Russians and Americans yesterday. Don't miss the women's aerials, very

dramatic. And then Clare Balding's programme, the third run of the

skeleton with Lizzy Yarnold going first, that will be at around

3:40pm. And then changing to BBC One at 4:30pm for the final run and

hopefully a gold medal for Britain. It is up to this lanky Billy Chris

Hegarty Sliding Center with the men's skeleton started today with

Kristan Bromley and also Don Parsons going -- and it is up to this lanky

siding centre. -- the slang Sanki Sliding

COMMENTATOR: Fifth in the World Championships he finished, this

athlete. Ready to go. CHEERING.

Lots of cheering down at the finish where he will enjoy being greeted by

the crowd. The start time is around 4.68. That is quick, close to world

class starts. This is a man who said he didn't -- who was told he wasn't

good enough for this level. He has been getting better and better,

shining through as one of the strongest sliders. He finished

training in first place on the last run so I am expecting good things. I

expect him to be in the top five. When you have a power start, it can

be about three times as more powerful at the bottom of the

course. He seems to be flying here and just inside 50 seconds, he is

getting a bit slower. He was taking the pressure well but that big start

has given him the lead, a track record of 56.89. A very good

performance indeed. Anything inside 57 seconds is absolutely superb. He

is six foot three, 185 pounds. His head is so low straightaway into the

aerodynamic form, perfect. Everybody takes a tap out of corner 11, very

rarely do you see people miss that. And here is the man. A big moment

for the two. And there are the brothers who have already got their

medal from the luge. What about the start time? My goodness, that is

lightning. We were questioning earlier whether he was in shape or

if he had an injury and starting slowly in training, he was saving it

for the big one. Almost three tenths of a second up on Matthew Antoine.

He is one of the most beautiful people to watch slide, the cleanest

Lions, look how still he is on that. Tiny little toe-tapping manoeuvres.

No massive highs or waves. This is looking fast. He steers clear of the

left-hand side that so many athletes have crashed into. That was the

first mistake we have seen him make without losing much speed, 56.18 and

double macro has been blown away despite being a potential medal

contest. That could be one of the quickest runs we see today. Absolute

perfection. They were really closely working together. When you show your

thought of each other, every single day, sliders can be doing three or

four steering manoeuvres in each corner. That was brilliant.

Tremendous. We will see what his brother can do. Has not been quite

as successful but he is a big man. Taller, he weighs a bit more as

well. He has been sliding very well recently. Coast by the father,

Tomass Dukurs now of Latvia gets under way. And certainly his brother

set the standard and he has done it again. Here's one tenth of a second

down on his younger brother. There is a good chance at the end of this

men's race tomorrow at the end of four runs, we could have the two

second and his brother first. Remember his brother has just laid

down a phenomenal run. The brotherly rivalry could be pushing them both.

They both make their own sled. They can both drive bobsleigh so they are

both talented brothers. He also stays off the left-hand side. He is

going well. He missed the knockout of corner 11 we have seen so many

people do. I think he will slot into third behind Matthew Antoine. The

leader, remember, his lead to a new track record. And Tomass Dukurs in

third place, just outside 57 seconds. We are going through the

chosen start order so we are seeing the very best of the world go first.

That must be remembered, there are 27 sliders going and the top ten are

picked up where they want to go. The next guy, who was down in fourth in

the world rankings and has picked fifth. The Russian rocket, wait for

his start. He might match the Latvian brother here. If we are to

understand, the two is a track sprinter and can run in the sort of

shape he is in, 10.15 seconds. He is a phenomenal sprinter.

A start record, goodness me! That is phenomenal. An amazing start there.

I don't believe anybody will get close to that. That was a remarkable

start. That is massive, his lead. His momentum through the first

clock, he was quicker than Dukurs. You can see how much height he has

got there. He knows this track better than anyone, he has done

hundreds of runs, not many people would have got that hype there but

he knew exactly the angle to get out of it. Think of the amount of speed

he will have created. He tapped the ball there. And he is going quite

high. Oh, my goodness, that was absolutely phenomenal. Quite

different lines, some of the height he got in the corners, literally

almost touching the roof, he created one big wave in the corner, perfect

angle is coming out of it, does not hit the walls and look at the time.

55.95, that is ridiculous! That is quite something. Let's not forget,

he has won a World Cup race this season, been second twice and then

he pulled away from the final race early this season to come here and

train so he just knows it so well. Martins Alexander Tretiakov is the

blue line, a similar one but as through corner ten, and he went

right up to the woodwork on corner seven but that is a slightly wild

but good line. That is the nominal. They are cheering for the guy at the

top who is ten -- Sergei Chudinov. Many great sprinters who are great

at the start, Sergei Chudinov is another one. Tapping his toe to stop

himself clipping into the right-hand wall. Will he have some crazy high

lines like Alexander Tretiakov? He is working a bit harder. I thought

he would come off, and a bit hide but no such problem. Sergei Chudinov

is going well. Some of the corners, you cannot spot the hill until after

the apex. A bit wavy on the finish. 1.3 seconds away from victory and

fourth place, the Russians in both first and fourth, that is good. We

are starting to go down the World Cup rankings now. Alexander

Tretiakov did well to come open to fourth position -- Sergei Chudinov

did well to get into fourth position. He concedes his legs

widening. Alexander Tretiakov started slower,

and that margin can be a lot by the bottom of the track. John Daly being

cheered on by the American crowd there. He is normally a great

starter, a short, compact sprinter. He was one of the fastest starters

in training. Here's a really chunky athlete. He is actually a Dick

athlete. That does not surprise me, training

for the cat one. Up the hill to Corner nine. You can see the

athletes on corner ten. Big mistake coming out of 11 into 14. And around

towards the finish. He is in fourth place. A good result. He managed to

get up some good top end speed. He is pleased with that. Yeah, he had a

great start. But he then made that big mistake coming out of 11. But

because he had so much speed from the top, luckily for him, it has not

cost him too much time and he managed to stay in fourth place. I

was surprised by that. Me, too. Especially on that last corner, he

just let the sled go and got over the finish line. Hiroatsu Takahashi

now of Japan. If you can read anything on the flag their! My

goodness. They just have their foot so that

they can push off the board. That is the rule of skeleton. Not a bad

start. But not brilliant. It is a tricky position to push in,

skeleton. The really tall athletes find it hard to bend double. You

have got to be flexible. That is why a lot of people went from that

two-handed start to the one hand. It gives a bit more room, gives you

more space. Normally, those tall athletes stick to the two hands. It

is not a bad run. Oh, big crash, but he is OK. He did not exactly park

it. He just took it in his stride. He slots into 10th and last place.

He will be disappointed with that, I suspect. He has a German coach with

him, so he is supported by the German team. A lot of nations help

the smaller nations who do not have so much help staff. That is the

lovely thing about skeleton. It is a small community, helping each other

out. If you are down on manpower, someone can help. Everyone has to go

and get weighed. There are weight limits in skeleton armour so it is

all to do with how heavy your sled is. You have a minimum and maximum

weight sled, and that affects how heavy your body weight can be. This

is Kristan Bromley. Fifth in 2005. This is his fourth games. He came

fifth in 2006, sorry. He is the most experienced person out there. It is

his fourth Olympics, as you said. He has a lot of experience. He designed

his own sled with his brother, Richard. Very technical, very good

on equipment choice. Back in 2003, he was skeleton World Cup champion.

He has done it all, except stood on top of that Olympic podium. That is

what he was desperate for. That is why he has hung on. A tap, but not a

bad one. He is a second down at the moment. When he is not sliding, he

is taking part in motocross. He likes the danger. That is foreign

away the fastest he has been down this mountain. That looked like a

good, solid run. No major mistakes. He will probably be looking at those

different corners and seeing how he can perfect it. A solid run. Powers

away as best he can. That would have been a brilliant start a couple of

seasons ago. But Dukurs has upped his game so much.

I got one person and his brother confused the other day, so my

apologies for that. This is Kyle Tress of the USA. 6-foot tall, a big

man, jumping sideways onto the sled. That is not a good idea. It is a bit

bad. 11th fastest. You can hear him tapping his toes on the ice. There

are good microphones on these corners. He had a little trip

there, which we have not seen any other athlete do. He is probably

nervous. You make mistakes. But the best skeleton sliders are the ones

who make the mistakes and get back on that perfect line . He is having

a scruffy run here. It is not good at all. Big-time notes here. He was

good in training. 1.4 seconds behind already. He will be in last. Quite

slow. He is in 12th place at the moment. That is bottom of the pile.

Kristan Bromley is still night. Thinking about Kristan again, there

are less than three tenths of a second between him and the bronze

medal. There are seven or eight men battling for that bronze medal, and

Kristan is very much in there. It just shows you that there is a big

gap between first place, but anything is up for grabs after that.

If you perfect those little steers, anyone could shift around in this

next run. Here is a guy we would love to see in the top six. Dominic

Parsons goes for Great Britain. Dominic is a sprinter on the track.

This should be interesting. I thought he got down early, the

sensible thing to do. Nice start. Some people are the cooking it at

the start. No point in doing that. Get down early. Well done, Dom

Parsons. He and the other British athlete both have Ph.D. S, so very

bright! They have worked very closely together. Been doing really

well. This is the first year he has been in the World Cup and his first

Olympics, so no doubt he has a certain amount of nerves. But so

far, it is looking good. Took a little tap there, which is crucial.

He made another mistake straightaway. Not bad. He is in

ninth place. And Kristan Bromley finishes in 10th. Dominik is going

to be really happy with that. He would probably have barely dreams of

getting into the top ten, let's so let's see if he can keep there. The

difference between the two of them is 100th of a second. The battle of

the Brits begins! But they are both very much in the running. At the

moment, Tretiakov and Dukurs are battling for silver and gold. But it

is a tight fight for bronze. You can see the different states.

A good performance from the Brits. We will see them in action in 12.

Paul Dickenson, Amy Williams and Colin Bryce will be calling the

all-important runs began four of the women's skeleton at 3.40 on BBC Two.

White, Bolshoi ice dome behind me. The men's ice hockey tournament

armour perhaps the medal the Russians want the most. It is

certainly the medal that Putin once the most. The USA and Canada are

also strong shots at a gold medal. Canada are the defending champions.

Sweden are also defending world champions, and they have been

playing Switzerland. We join it at the beginning of the second period,

0-0. This player was involved in a big

collision out there. He is flexing his knee. Could be a bit painful for

him. He retired in 2008. Have a clash of viewpoints with the coach.

It was only when the new coach came in that Vauclair reconsidered. And

he returned. As the Swedes start with those yellow shirts, they go

from right to left on the screen. Really interesting skating style

from the captain of the Swiss side. We were watching another player

before as he was chasing down a loose puck, and he looked a bit like

the Roadrunner. Very busy legs, rotor tooling his way.

The Swedes have been a bit sloppy in this game so far.

Sounds like there is a whistle in the crowd here. It is confusing. I

have heard that a couple of times. I have as well. I wonder if we would

have heard that a head of the controversial goal in the USA versus

Canada game. It is difficult for the officials. This is an opportunity.

Good save. Nyquist has been good for the

Swedes. Jimmy Ericsson's effort may be

rewarded here. Landesskog buckles his man into the

boards. He will be feeling the effects of that, no doubt. They will

try and break away here again. Now the Swiss come back into the

zone again. This game is just opening up a little bit. More

defensive in the first. I think that is off the mask of

Lundqvist. He is eccentric. I figured almost came out so quickly,

he was unsure whether to use his hands and instead used his head.

Who holds the advantage right now for you? Who is in charge? Literally

using his head, Lundqvist. And it was central, right coming toward

your head, no reason to duck out of the way, you might as well bounce a

back forward. It was not a heavy shots but I like the Swiss

goalkeeper, they have made more plays and they showed that with the

shots on goal at the moment but they have picked up five shots already in

the second period. A bit of a forceful play early on to try to

connect which will go for an icing. I think it is in the balance, this

game for real. They will look back and feel a bit disappointed, the

Czech players. They were sloppy and the Swedes were dominant. Some

criticism of the coaching staff for playing the wrong ends, not mixing

the right lines, putting certain players in until the third period

when the Czechs came back on the Swedes.

What I stop! That was daylight robbery and some save. Denied by the

goalkeeper. Berglund, not two-day, because he has the lobster pot out

there, and Berra as the big glove and says a sure goal.

Best chance of the game, you feel. And maybe the Swiss got away with

one there but now they go with a bit of speed into the offensive zone.

Really good skating but the shots goes high and over the top. One of

the assistants... And there you can see you can see Kronwall, a

first-round drafting for the Detroit Red Wings, played for Stockholm. We

have not seen him delivering open ice hits, which he is very capable

of. He can hurt you. Good defensive play by the Swedes to

win back possession. Deadly macro and have a big part to

play if the Swiss are to have further success. -- Niederreiter

could have a big part to play. A bit of pressure on at the moment.

Just offside as that one re-entered the zone. Is there much talking that

goes on out there, Brent? I think so, probably in this tournament less

so because I think everybody realises that they are coming here

to compete, everybody is getting themselves climate eyes as best they

can -- acclimatised. The Norwegians were with the Canadians but they

have all played each other in the World Championships level and I

think they all have and have a significant amount of respect for

each other. To be having the opportunity to lead their club sides

in the other big games but also when they play against each other in the

National Hockey League or around Europe. I think it is the fact that

you don't get to this level without having a healthy respect for not

only what you do but also the opposition. Saying that, you are

competing for the gold medal at the Olympic Games and for many of these

players, I think all of them and increasingly so, including NHL

players, they have the opportunity. You'd never know when it will be the

last. They might not have known whether they could come here to

compete for the gold this time round and it is not certain they will have

the opportunity in South Korea so you have to play for keeps and you

don't get a second crack at it. They are often letting their actions do

the talking. Straight in the pocket of the

timekeeper in the timekeeper's box. An Olympic memory for him. Those

pucks are at a premium, if one leaves the eyes, they are at a

premium. No souvenir pucks, they are like gold dust so if you get one in

the game, you hold onto it. This one goes off the board and it drops in

there. Into the timekeeper's bench but I think that might off the glass

but they are suggesting it was scooped directly and over the glass

and that is a tough angle of a penalty. That is a relatively new

thing. The quick shot on the power play. A new rule relatively in ice

hockey. Firing the puck over the glass and getting a penalty to speed

the game up. The Swiss will try to change as the

puck goes down the ice. That is a big one, huge, but just wide.

Such a heavy shots from the defender.

Moving the puck well on the power play, trying to find the open

shots. Karlsson is the best offensive

defenceman that I have seen without doubt.

Pelosi over but still the Swedes are in a good position -- penalty over.

The Swiss netminder is so calm. Ten three macro under pressure but he

had no issue with it. -- Berra under pressure.

A penalty on the Swiss. A second Swedish power play, they looked very

dangerous last time round. Touched up now and we will see a tripping

call. It looks like Wick who will skate over. And you get a sense now

that this is a key point in the hockey game. The power play, the

stick out there for Wick, and it is one of the plays where you see his

frustration but it is a penalty. But how impressive, Berra. He was

looking like a maestro with a masterclass as he is under pressure

and manipulated the puck away to safety but he will have to be the

best Swiss player for the next two minutes for certain because I get

the sense that Sweden are on the cusp of scoring a goal. 13 shots on

goal for them, shots on target, that is, 330 minutes of this game. --

through 30 minutes. The Swedes have been much better in the second

session than they were in the first. It has been a good period for them.

Unable to hit the target with the shooting chance.

Good save on the block, great positioning again by Berra, not for

the first time. Eventually Berra jumps onto it at

the second attempt. He is very good, Berra. Have not seen much of him. He

has another player in Calgary that he plays alongside but that said,

another key save. He has made two glove saves that are so important.

Karlsson right at the heart of the Swedish offence shooting from the

blue line. We will do this place off all over again. -- this face-off.

Two goals in the first night for Carson.

He was awesome, a superpower on the ice. Not quite been able to

replicate that form as yet. It is a little bit predictable, but

there is little you can do about it. Well, it is that effective, isn't

it? Everybody was anticipating. It was like a library. Everybody who

saw the first game with Sweden, they are expecting Karlsson to score

again, but -- Berra is holding strong. We have

almost had 13 minutes of this session.

Erik Karlsson could be the star of this Olympic games if it continues

like this. He was out there for pretty much all of that power play.

Berra goes back to play for the Swiss, who have not had much time

outside their own zone for the first five minutes of this game.

Possession remains with the Swedes. You feel there may be of benefit to

Switzerland here. We get another whistle and another face-off in the

offensive zone for the Swedes, who are pushing through here. They are

searching for a goal. I made that last comment really just in the

balance of a game being officiated by humans. It is not black and white

always when you are making a penalty call. It is open to interpretation,

and sometimes it is best to allow the continuity to continue. That was

a great shot. That was right on the post, except just the right-hand

side of the bevelled edge. But what I am saying is that momentum swings

and flows. There was twice when the Swedes intentionally should have

been called for too many players on the ice armour which is a popular

call in this tournament already, for both the men and women. Both

officials have realised probably after they have allowed it to play

out for a few seconds, maybe we should have called that. And it does

register in the mind. As we look at the next call that is likely to

happen, we have a bit of time left in this period. It will be

interesting to see who does receive the next penalty. Plenty of ice

hockey going on in the UK. There was a game last night. Do make sure you

check out the BBC Sport website and BBC get inspired as well. There is

more information on all of the games and how you can take part. You can

take up the sport of ice hockey if you are interested. If you have

never seen it before, it would be great to see you in a wink or an

arena in the UK. -- in a wink or an arena.

Landeskog finishes a hit after the whistle there. Any other day of the

week, he may have found himself in trouble. Landeskog plays that sort

of brand of hockey, doesn't he? I think the broken stick came from

contact around the head area. You can see the big media bank inside

the Bolshoi ice to. One Russian has suggested there are almost too many

media here at the games. He wanted more fans to bring the atmosphere

inside this desolate it. But boy, when the Russians play, these fans a

good night. But there certainly are a lot of media covering the best in

the world of ice hockey. Further down the road we have got ABC, the

American broadcasters, who have a team of 2500 here to cover the

games. That is an astonishing number. Well, considering it in Rio

to to the BBC, it certainly is. How many do we have? We are under 100.

Amazing. Can the Swiss respond after a period

of pressure? They now have a good opportunity.

Karlsson was quite inventive with his play. Great outlet pass. But the

next was less good. The game is not flowing right now, from a Swiss

perspective. In the first, they were all wheeling, all be linked. They

were strong defensively, too. They have been put under the pump a

little. That was another fine save by Berra. It was the control of the

rebound rather than the save that was impressive. It really is,

because he is such a big man. It is about how much you want that

puck to be sat down when it hits your appointment.

Some of the goal-tenders have a preference as to how they want their

puck to respond. But Berra has been the best player in the second period

for team Switzerland. These boards are very lively. The

puck comes off at all angles. It is still a new ring. It has not been

played in, and that can sometimes cause a few issues. Good defensive

play again. It is a long change in the second

period. This is where they are missing Henrik Zetterberg. I have

not seen enough from Sweden to really carry the play, enough

rushing forward to try and generate some fence. There have been some

attempts, but not enough emotion coming from the Swedish line-up, top

to bottom. The Swedes have to go back into their own end. Have the

Swiss ridden the storm for you? I think they should be able to get

through this period. They have done well. What gives me confidence is

the way Berra is looking in the goal. His body language suggests

everything. Now I second opportunity, and Berra is equal to

it. Goodness gracious, that very nearly cost them. He is their best

layer, and he has to be because of these loose plays that are going to

come out of nowhere. You can't anticipate them, they just happen,

as this one does. Berra one more time keeping the score level. The

Swiss are bending, but they don't buckle as yet. The strain is pretty

big, though. And the Swiss comeback with speed.

Could there be a twist in this period? We are into the final

minute. Patrik Berglund cordite remembers

goal in the opening game against the Czech Republic. -- he had a

tremendous goal. He had sheer power and determination. Landeskog, we

have not seen any -- a lot from him offensively. Very dependable, but

whether he is a gamebreaker remains to be seen.

Maybe one last flash from the Swedes before the end of the period. Five

seconds to go. Maybe that has been a feature of the

Swedes throughout this game. Maybe they could be more selfish. Maybe

they have overcompensated a little at times. But nobody has found a way

to the net so far. The Swedes are outshooting the Swiss, but it

remains 0-0 at the Bolshoi. remains 0-0 at the Bolshoi.

JONATHAN EDWARDS: a tense match, and if you want to continue watching it,

it will be alive on the red button and also on one of our six HD

streams. Lots of ways to watch the Winter

Olympics on the BBC. I have made my way is up the banks of the Bolshoi,

as I am calling it. This is the best view of the Olympic Park, without

question. You can see the park, the Iceberg Skating Palace and the

mountains . No surprise that the American broadcaster NBC have got

there today studio over there. It is one of their big set piece

broadcasts of the games, with audience participation. Now we head

to the mountains for women's aerial verifications. I can't help thinking

that the aerials get a bit of a rum do now that the younger generation

have come in with slopestyle and halfpipe. But these aerials really

fabulous. Here is your guide. Aerials is one of the most

spectacular of all the Olympic events. The competition takes place

on a 25 degrees, 64 metres run. The game is for athletes to acrobatic

manoeuvres to be performed from specially constructed ramp called

kickers. Athletes can choose between kickers, depending on what is

appropriate for their planned trip. Competitors are then thrown up to

six metres in the air, a staggering 20 metres above the landing stop.

20% of the total score depends on the take off. 50% in the air and 30%

on the landing. Aerials are acrobatic, dramatic and breathtaking

to watch. They waved from the American, Emily

Cook. Probably her last Olympics. 35 years old. You have to wonder how

their knees stand up to these landings over and over again. The

landing is steep. It takes them of the sting out of third place, 80.01.

The next in, the Belarussian competitor. It degree of difficulty,

3.5. So coming in now. Oh, she has not managed to hold it.

A bit messy in the air. We can hear the shouts from her coach trying to

help her through that. A couple of weeks away from her 31st

birthday. That see the replay. And there is the tucked flip. Opens up,

start early into that next twist. The legs, not as straight, judges

are looking for nice, clean lines. Good form. And she will have to use

her qualification number two. Belarus with two athletes here, this

is her fifth Olympics, that is good going. No medal, though.

Getting steadily better, 10th in Torino, eighth in Vancouver,

fifth... Actually the first one was in 19 oh in 1998. She is to improve

on and eight. -- the first one was in Nagano. Seventh position in

qualification, in the first run at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park.

20 years old, Zhang Xin. Back double fall so putting the first double

twist in the first flip. Oh, she has just stood up on the

landing. You can hear the coaches shouting on the lip, they will be

shouting either stretch or Paul. The louder or quieter they shout it,

well, the louder they shouted, the more important it is quite a

ferocious shout they made. She didn't really get it round.

Already into the second flip by one point, so not as defined as the

judges would have liked. The Chinese are a powerhouse of

aerial skiing and what would normally be a battle of the nations

in and aerials event, it is now China versus the rest of the world.

Not uncommon to see all Chinese athletes, all four Chinese ladies in

the top four. In what order, that remains to be seen. The last World

Cup at the Valley in January was a Chinese lock-out. -- Deer Valley.

The straight double flip, 2.6 degrees of difficulty the attempt

here from Zhibek Arapbayeva. A different format here. So the final

four will need to do three different jumps. So tactics come into play,

when to do your biggest tricks. This is only the opening round. I, nearly

in the back seat but she punches the air, she is happy with that.

Laid out backflip into tucked flip. So the five judges all looking for

good execution. Incidentally, the take-offs, they are all hand shaped.

By different nation's coaches. A 30 degrees in run, pretty steep.

Hitting those kickers anywhere between 15 and 65 kilometres per

hour. -- 50 and 65. The take off to the knuckle, the Knole in aerial

skiing, is eight metres. And actually talking about it being

handbuilt, the angles are checked with a protractor just to make sure

everything is spot on! It is quite a science. Skiers going through

massive G-force is in the kicker. Zhanbota Aldabergenova, and that

would cause a spellchecker some problems. They laid out backflip and

then into a backflip with a full twist. 18 years old.

Judges looking for the ankles to be nice and tight together which they

are, the skis parallel, nice straight legs and straight lines,

finishing each of the flips and the twists, making it nice and defined.

Goes a little early into the twist, she can see the landing for the

whole last flip. And she put the landing down, arms nice and forward

to stop getting thrown back. Let's see what the judges made of it.

The judgement is taking its time to come in. Five judges. There it is,

74.82. That puts her in fourth place. Next

to drop, from the Ukraine, Anastasiya Novosad. Laid out flip

full. Oh, no. And other, to let everybody

know she is OK. You can see how she tucks her legs and has to tuck her

legs into speed up the last flip, coming up a little short.

She goes a little early into that. Actually, it's not too bad. But yes,

attacking the knees in. The judges will be looking to see the skiers

landing, about two metres down if possible. They don't want them

landing right at the top of the jump, a nice, big amplitude is what

they want with nice, big lines. Bending at the waist. She couldn't

hold it. Nice little wave. Ukraine have four

athletes but whether they can scrape a medal here or not, I'm not sure.

56.84, that is 12th place. She will look to improve on that in the

second qualification. Mengtao from China, back laid out, full, full.

3.8, the degree of difficulty. One of the biggest we have seen.

Oh, just a little slow on the final flip. She had to bring her legs into

a crutch to bring her in. It is not going to plan at the moment for the

Chinese team. But there is a smile on her face. Sixth in Vancouver, so

there's the first. There's the second. And the third, her legs,

part. And the judges are looking for the ankles to be locked together,

nice parallel skis and she bends the legs to speed up the rotation. And

the arms by the side. If they go above the head, they are slowing

themselves down and figure by their side and bring their lex up, they

are speeding themselves up. -- bring their legs up. The landing does look

a bit dirty but it is actually pine needles, this brink will pine

needles onto it to help with the definition. So when the skiers are

flipping through the air like that, they can spot the landing in between

each flip. Sixth place for the two. The silver

medallist from Vancouver, one of the heavyweights Tata from China. She is

going for a back full, double full. -- Li Nina from China.

Very, very solid. She is punching the air and she is happy with that.

Will of the best landings we have seen. But like one of the best. Her

legs looked to be... The skis try not to cross in the air, the

centrifugal force is probably like being a fighter pilot. The skis were

a bit squirrelly on the take-off but that was actually very solid.

She doesn't really bend too much in the knees on the landing so it will

be a good score for the landing there.

The coaches are helping her through and they are happy with that.

They don't really want their knees to bend past 90 degrees and they

don't want the chest to go to low into the legs. Second place for Li

Nina, 86.71. Currently in the lead, Ashley Caldwell from the USA. 101

points, she is well in the lead. A good cheer from the crowd, from

the Australians because it is Danielle Scott. We are just waiting

for official confirmation here. I have got a different person down,

but I believe that person on the screen was Danielle Scott. No, the

camera men have got it wrong. It is Assoli Slivets. It is a Russian.

That was the cheer. She came fourth in Vancouver. How good it would it

be to win a medal here on home soil? Ooh, legs open a bit, but not too

bad. A flip with a pike in the middle. A pike is what you will see

on a diving board into a fall. It is the final flip and spin and the

final flip. A good cheer from the crowd. They like what they have

seen. She is 31 years old. She lives in Minsk.

Legs a bit wide open at the end. They are looking to keep those

ankles locked together. Let's see what the judges make of

it. Qualification run two will follow this immediately.

She got fifth in Torino. Fourth in Vancouver. A medal here would be the

icing on the cake. Two backflips, two twists. Lovely.

Really nice, really clean. The landing was beautiful. Not the

highest degree of difficulty on this, 3.1. But higher than a lot.

Really nice. The chest doesn't go too low, doesn't compress into the

knees, which is good on landing. You can see those ankles, perfectly

parallel. Really good landing. This will be interesting. She is happy

with that. You have air and form judges, and then you have landing

judges. She got 2.9s across the board for the landing. In she comes,

just 18 years of age. Going for a back full tuck.

That is a backflip with a full twist in it. And then a tuck to flip to

finish. The skis got really loose on the take-off. She was already

tucking going into that second flip. She has overcooked that a bit.

Her best was a 20th place in 2013. Next, another of the Australians.

Samantha Wells is 24. And she holds onto it. Well, Australia have a big

women's aerial programme that produced gold in 2002 and bronze in

2006. And gold in 2010. They have got four women competing in 2014.

Three of those are performing doubles. Lydia Lassila, who has not

had the best start here, fell over, I believe.

Down in 13th place, the current Olympic champion. She has

potentially four triple somersaults. And she goes into qualification

number two. Right, get ready for the cheer, because the final skier of

the run is number one here at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park this

evening for the ladies' aerial qualifications. It is Alexandra

Orlova. 16 years of age, incredible. Straight backflip. Then the next

backflip should have a full twist. The judges are looking for this to

be nice and defined between each one, straight lines. That was pretty

good. She lives in Moscow. Nice and

perpendicular to the take-off. Starts a bit early on the twist. The

judges will try and pick these skiers apart as best they can. But

nice landing. Arms kept forward. She has definitely got time on her

side at 16. Qualification number one is done and dusted. We are going to

go straight into number two. At the moment, Ashley Caldwell from the

USA, Nina Li, Danielle Scott, Emily Cook and Assoli Slivets are all

going through as it stands. JONATHAN EDWARDS: to continue

watching the women's aerials qualifications, that is on one of

our six live HD streams now online. Lots of ways to watch the Winter

Olympics on the BBC. If by Arthur is your thing, the women's 50 15km

event is online. If you miss a shot, the penalty is a very harsh one

minute. The men's ice hockey is also continuing. Sweden versus

Switzerland is very close. That is also available online and on the red

button. Now we head to the Sanki Sliding Center for run two of the

men's skeleton. Both written and Bromley and Dom Parsons had very

good first runs, so let's head up there now and join our commentators.

Now, we have got Kristan Bromley to go next. John Fairbairn is in the

lead. The Briton is there with his brother. So close to breaking that

figure. There is Shelley Rudman, his partner. This has got to be a good

run to take him into the lead. He looks sharp. Doctor eyes, as he is

known, over 40 years old now. Looking like a really good, clean

run here. Really clean lines. We have not seen a single hit so far.

Kristan has really come back fighting. A bit of a clip on that

wobbly straight. The gap was getting bigger, but it has come down a bit.

He is still in the lead. Oh! That was close, to have lost it in that

one corner. That was in a vital uphill section. That speed would

have just disappeared for him not to have carried it through those last

few corners. Mike goodness, if it had not been for that one clip, he

would have been under 47 seconds. He was still a bit high there. He has

not come off early enough. He knows it is coming, get his body ready.

You can see his shoulders lifting. That hit was very early on, and you

can see the sled skidding as he gets it under control. That would have

cost him. Go away overnight, study that, look at the video, and he will

hopefully not do the same tomorrow. We have another British competitor,

Dominic Parsons, and boy, can he run. Only 100 of a second's

difference between him and Kristan Bromley. What a power start!

Magnificent. Oh, a bit of a hit, but not as ugly

as Romilly's was. Oh, no! That was a bad hit. He went in a bit too late.

That really was a dramatic change of fortune. He could have been so much

better. He made the exact same mistake on his first run as well,

but that time was harder. I know he will be really frustrated with

himself. I hope he can now go away and look again. He just got a couple

of things wrong. His start was magnificent. If he just corrects

those mistakes, everything should be good. It is just that bottom bit

that has to get better. Alexander Krockel of Germany now,

ready to go. Maybe a couple of strides too far

but nevertheless, he is away. Not as fast as Dominic Parsons. With each

and every person who goes out, they have a slight advantage on the first

run. We only have seven more men to go after this and Kristan Bromley

could be putting himself in the top six here. His run was really good.

The next athletes, they perfect and continue with their run or whether

they will make some mistakes. the German is slightly behind here and a

bit sideways here. He hit out from 14 to 15. Alexander Krockel coming

along quickly and that is our cross the line, .31 of a second down. That

is a long way down. The Canadian jacket, and Kristan Bromley on the

right, and still in the leader 's box, still first equal, the German

Alexander Krockel did not do particularly well there. No, he made

more little mistakes all the way down and in the bottom, very high

there and he has got to drop down and not so bad because it controls

it well but then it is a knock-on effect, very late into the next

corner which means he is high and falls out and hits.

Frank Rommel now, the German, 57.19 in the first run. So close to going

under 56 seconds. Here we go. Will there be an

improvement this time? For those men inside the top eight, he has got the

slowest start. 11th fastest we have seen so far, so he has got the lead

on John Fairbairn but that is no surprise.

He is bleeding away time and he has not got the best start but the

Germans have got really good research and development projects,

with all of their sleds. It is whether he can hold onto his

position now. He has got a good top speed at that point on the course.

He crashed into the side a bit but no real mishap. This will go right

down to the wire, pulling away again.

Just under 57 seconds for the first time, that is a good result. Frank

Koppite lines at the bottom of the track, he just needs to sort out the

top section where you have got the speed going into it but you know

where Dominic was high up, not quite as high here, he takes a tap but it

doesn't affect him quite so much. You can see the sled parallel moving

forward. He is not hanging over the sled, the Irishman who went earlier

on, the chunky guy with big shoulders, hanging over the edge,

they dig in and they can cause massive friction when you hit

against the ice. We have just seen a temp three macro go under 57 seconds

-- seen a sled. This is Tomass Dukurs, already in the lead.

A lightning start and he carries an overall advantage. He has extended

it with a power start. Very smooth so far. When the athletes go down,

they are listening to what they sound like, what the ice sounds like

and that can give you a lot of protection as to how well you have

done. Whether you skid and you can hear it through your helmet and that

is what they are listening out for. He has not got his helmet down, you

cannot hear any toe taps. Still in the lead but dropping all

the time. Frank Rommel was going faster there, losing time badly

through the final corners. That is a lot closer than it should have been.

I am very surprised by that, that was a lovely run. It looked really

clean but that shows how Frank Rommel still have the speed coming

through some of the corners. The track is not degrading, is it? When

you see the lower athletes in the bottom 20 suddenly putting down a

lot better times, it is hard to tell. And as I physically go and see

the track, it doesn't look like it is frosting up. And the four man

bobsleigh really carves up the track and that does not happen so much

with the skeleton. Here is the first man and 57 seconds, a great

favourite of the crowd, Sergei Chudinov, as he is in fifth place at

the moment. He really is being given a great

sendoff here, his score, he got a fantastic score last time, and a

4.66 start, not bad. He did not start quite as quickly as Tomass

Dukurs, but it will be close. We must see what time he gets. You can

see him tapping his feet but a really clean line coming through.

That was a very high corner but he still gets the angle coming out. And

it is clean. I think he may well have just nicked the woodwork.

It is all about how extreme you can be. He is gaining in time all the

time. .07 of a second ahead of Dukurs and that is magnificent from

Sergei Chudinov. Just what the crowd required. Still got four sliders to

come, so Chudinov has put himself in a good position.

I thought that would have been a quick run, it was slower than his

first run which made me feel like he made the same mistakes but I think

he clipped the wall when he tried to take it really high.

He might have to check his suit to see if his scuffed his arm. There is

the leader, or the guide in second place, Martins Dukurs, and this is

John Daly of the United States. Surprise fourth place at the moment.

He is a power starter. It is in the mix at 4.64 seconds. John Daly

doesn't just want to go in the lead, he wants to put pressure on

the next three men. His compatriot is in the bronze medal position at

the moment. A bit of height but a good slide so far, he is using the

pressure, working well and steering it and seems very confident on the

sled and at the moment, this is a lovely run.

He took a slight hit but it does not seem to have done his speed and

harm. -- any harm. .44 seconds ahead and I would not be

surprised if he stayed in the lead for a fraction more, that is

brilliant. Excellent. That was awesome. Look at the joy there, his

coach has seen that and you can see the joy on his face. To be 0.44

seconds ahead, that is an incredible time to have got down. He looks

great when he does a power start. He does not look as cumbersome and he

is bent double in that position. Outside of the medals before but

this time, I think you may have done it. Matthew Antoine is next. Also of

the USA. I wonder if he realises just how much she has got on John

Daly. -- how much time he has got. Dukurs next, he is chasing. To --

Alexander Tretiakov is after that. Exactly the same start is the first

run. He is a slower starter than John Daly, already evens with him

and I thought it could have been worse or behind straightaway at the

start,. He has already stopped the rot. This is good so far. Hopefully

he will not have watched the times before, you often think, do you look

at the start times at the end times? You have just got the fight in

YouTube wants to do better. -- fight in you and you want to do better.

He 0.2 seconds behind, John Daly is the new leader still. Two men to go,

John Daly has probably put himself in the bronze medal position

overnight. It looks like it, still a good lead to have. You to see how

many mistakes the next sliders make but they put down a smashing run and

the are there for him. A bit of a skid and you say that will have cost

him. That is all uphill and I walked the track and it is more of an

uphill gradient than you would ever think from watching on TV and that

will have taken away his time. Just couldn't sing there, Alexandr

Trifonov, -- Alexander Tretiakov. Dukurs is going for only one colour,

gold. He will want to put pressure on the Russian. Look at how low his

head is a scraping the eyes, keeping as possible. One centimetre lower

than anyone else and that is big in terms of aero dynamics -- scraping

the ice. He has not taken a hit like anyone else. He is almost one second

ahead. 56.37, absolutely superb. Dukurs, a

bronze medal and now a gold and silver battle. A great run thereby

Dukurs. Not as quick as his first one so he probably could have been

better... But John Daly watching on there, if somebody overtakes you but

you look at their lines and think that it was beautiful, then you are

still happy. Compared with everyone else, he had the perfect run. You

don't mind handing over that position if you know the person has

had a really clean run. Alexander Tretiakov, he got off to a brilliant

start last time. He sped to 55 .95 which is a new track record. That

was absolutely superb. If you can do the same again, it will be

remarkable. He has equalled his start record and

a third of a second up on Martins Dukurs. I don't think anyone in

skeleton extended this to happen after just one run and they start.

This is tremendous by the Russian Rocket.

He went on to the corner early and he clipped onto it but he is back on

track and he is taking the high line with a great angle and the speed is

there. Nobody has been anywhere near that

figure. He will have over half a second lead going into the second

day and Dukurs has a second on bronze. This is unbelievable. You

can have three or four men within a 10th of a second. Goodness me,

56.04. That is fantastic. His first run, 55.95, his second, 56.04. What

a combine start. That was brilliant. Yes, that is a perfection of

skeleton sliding right there. You could not have as more of him. He

knows the track like the back of his hand. He has got the home advantage

of having many more runs but you must still go out there and perform

on the day and the pressure of a nation on you,

hit, luckily. But I can keep learning. We are getting faster in

the week, and the problems are coming in different places, so we

have to adjust everyone. What will your target before run three and

four tomorrow? Correcting the mistakes from today. If I get into

the top six, I will be pleased. Are you going to watch Shelley Rudman

now? Probably not. We have got to get back and eat. Shelley will

understand that. But I will be with her in spirit and thought. Dom, what

was your first Olympic experience like? To be honest, I am not sure

yet. I think I have been in a bubble for the last week or so, just trying

to make sure I do everything right. I don't think it has dawned on me

yet how big an occasion it is. Do you enjoy it, at least? Yet,

massively. I always enjoy racing. The more pressure there is, the more

I enjoy it. How do you assess your performance from those first two

runs? I am happy with how I went down to corner 11. Everyone seems to

have a big thump coming out of there. Yeah, in training it was a

choice between fighting and skidding, or taking a hit. So I was

trying to take a lighter hit, but it was not so light today. 14 and 15

have not gone so well. Stuff to improve on for tomorrow. You are

loitering around 10th place. I realise there are still guys coming

down behind you. What do you expect tomorrow? I am hoping I can pick up

a few spots. If I can do a good run, I will shine in the times. I will

keep an eye on the times and see what happens. Good luck tomorrow.

Well, excitement building at the Sanki Sliding Center. There is Lizzy

Yarnold and Shelley Rudman. You can see Shelley Rudman putting an arm

around her and tried to calm her down a bit. Surely won a silver

medal in Turin, so she knows about it. But it is different when you are

leading and you are the favourite for the gold medal, perhaps our only

gold medal at these games. Lizzie will be going at about

4:40pm, and then return to BBC One for the final run and hopefully a

gold medal for Lizzy Yarnold and Team GB. Now we head to the Laura

cross-country and biathlon centre for the women's 15km biathlon. This

is the one for the purists. If you miss a shot, you have a minute

penalty. There is frustration here for the Russian sofa. The two gold

medals that have been one have both been taken for athletes who could

have provide for Russia, but chose to compete for other countries. Rob

Walker describes the action. Kaiser Macarena Reyes in third place

at the end of her third visit to the range. Here she comes for the final

time. The Finn is definitely fancied to get in the mix here. But they are

all chasing Dahmer achiever at the moment. Even if Kaisa Makarainen

shoes clear here, she has some work to do on the last three kilometres.

The Finn needs to block out the noise of the crowd and the context

and the fact that it could be a medal, but she is unable to do so.

Oh, dear me. The tension just creeping in to the Finn's campaign.

Two minutes, and it is all over in terms of the medals for Makarainen

after a fabulous effort. You can't take your eyes off this for one

second. Olga Zaitseva comes into the finish. Two wonderful gold medals in

the sprint in Vancouver and a great title defence here in Sochi. She

goes into the lead. But how costly will those two misses proved to be?

Domracheva, wearing number 13. She is miles clear. Of course that would

be the case, because she was 13 on the course. Even the smooth skier

Domracheva is breathing really heavily. Remember, on the exit of

the third shoot, this athlete was in third-place, having shot clean. Can

the athlete from the Czech Republic had herself an opportunity?

I bet the coach can hardly watch. No! Oh, so often it unravels towards

the end. It is so difficult for these I athletes not to think about

the context and the possible rewards. Those who watch

cross-country will be familiar with this athlete. Two medals between

Salt Lake City and Vancouver. Transferred to biathlon because she

felt she needed fresh challenges and motivation. She will have to go 19

out of 20 now. In the space of just two seconds, oh, my word, in the

space of ten seconds, it has gone from potential to damage limitation.

But here comes Darius Dahmer achiever. Gold in the pursuit. Is it

going to be a second title here, under the spotlights of Sochi? Born

in Russia, now competing for Belarus. She has been sheer class

here today. Nobody can match her speed, and she is laying down the

benchmark for the rest to follow. She acknowledges the crowd. She

knows that was really good. She does not yet know whether it will be

enough for a second gold medal. It was bronze four years ago for the

woman they called dasher. Is that going to be good enough? To upgrade

to the best position of all? Her skiing was absolutely superb. One

miss, and that may well be good enough for the gold medal. Shoot

clean, and Soukalova has a chance at the podium. Oh, no! What a costly

error. Soukalova is also wonderful on the skis when she gets going. Two

misses, though. She could well still exist the range quicker than her

opponents, but there are lot of women left out that course. She is

in fourth place now, but she will have an anxious wait. That extra

minute could be very costly. This is the veteran from Romania. She has

been around a long time. Flag bearer here in Sochi. The weighting will go

on for Darya Domracheva. And the more that crossed the line, the more

she will start to believe and start to dream of that second consecutive

gold. Gregorin, coming in for her final effort at the range. The

Slovenian already has one bronze medal. From the pursuit. And you

could see the pause. It is so difficult to maintain your composure

as Tora Berger, the reigning world champion and the defending Winter

Olympics champion knows, to her cost. Her brilliance on her day --

she is brilliant on her day, but she has not been able to match

Domracheva this evening in Sochi. Oh, no, not one, but two misses! One

gold already for Kuzmina here. And was she starting to think about a

second medal? Oh, dear. A look of exasperation. Lifts her head away

from the rival. Oh, my goodness me. I can't believe that. One miss

across three efforts in the range, and all of a sudden, what looked as

though it could be a possible bronze or silver has completely unravelled.

Three misses for the Finnish woman, Makarainen. She has had eight top

tens and four podium appearances on the World Cup circuit this year. But

you cannot necessarily expect to take a gold medal with three misses.

She moves into second place at the moment. Skardino, driving for the

line. 17th in the sprint. This is going to be better, much better.

Belarus first and second. Can Skardino hold onto the silver medal?

Darya Domracheva is absolutely delighted. She had a bigger smile

when she saw her team-mate coming across the line in second than there

was when her own race came to an end. Semerenko's last time on the

range. She's 15 out of 15, and dare I whisper it, if she shoots claimed,

she has a chance. I can't believe it! Again, Semerenko was brilliant,

and she has missed with the first two shots in the range. Bronze in

the sprint. She did not miss a single target. It looked as though

her I was in, and she suddenly got three misses. No wonder there is a

look of exasperation on her face. It is often the most difficult of

sports to predict the outcome because the psychological pressure

when they come into the shooting range for the last time is almost

unimaginable. Gasparin, second-fastest time coming out of

the shooting range on the fourth occasion. She was 1.08 down on

Domracheva. Skardino occupies the silver medal position at the moment.

Bronzes Makarainen. -- bronze is. And she is pairing into the finish.

-- powering. A good effort for the woman from the Czech Republic. She

moves into the bronze medal position relegating Makarainen it down to

fourth. Exhausted, physically and mentally, she has left it all out on

the course. Elise Ringen, 29th in the World Cup standings. She was a

late replacement. The start sheet reading her name was only released

at 3:30pm this afternoon, maybe not enough time to get nervous for the

young Norwegian. That is good, 15 out of 15. Could it be a masterful

piece of late selection by the Norwegian coaches? Pidhrushna. The

Ukrainian, she will not get a medal. Only the one mess, a great effort

from the Ukrainian. -- mess. Disappointed with her sprint

performance. No medal, but it bodes well for the relay. Gasparin, coming

home, and she has produced a simply stunning performance here. Lining up

on what was already an historic day. She and her two sisters competing

here. She is going to be way in time Skardino's time. Selina Gasparin

moves into the silver medal position. Soukalova, a really good

effort, just missing out on the podium.

Domracheva, she has one hand on a second Winter Olympic gold-medal.

Vitkova just waving to the camera. There are exhausted bodies and minds

here. The talented German youngster, three gold medals at the world

junior title. Very good recovery from an early

miss. Gregorin, she will not be adding to

her bronze medal from the pursuit. But it is turning out to be a good

Winter Games for the Slovenians. Gasping for air, driving for the

line. Just the one miss for Gregorin. 33 years of age.

Good effort. At the moment she is inside the top ten. It is still

Domracheva, Gasparin, and Skardino. That makes it gold and bronze for

Belarus. Domracheva has got her hands on a second gold medal here,

just as Martin Fourcade did in the men's individual yesterday.

Oberhofer. Bitterly disappointed. She knows where the problems came.

Reflective smile for the camera. Kuzmina, she was right in the mix

until that last disastrous set of five in the range. But she will go

home with a gold-medal, just as she did in Cuba, and we do still have

other evidence to come -- Vancouver. Three missed shots in the last

range. Brought her opportunity for more medals in this particular race

to an end. 15th place. An exhausting day, not just for the competitors,

but for the coaches, the waxing technicians, the psychologists, huge

teams required to help these women produce their very best under the

most testing physical and mental conditions. There is no big prize

and a Winter Olympic gold medal, and coming into the range, knowing you

have got to deliver, tests mental reserves of even the likes of

Kuzmina, which is why it can be so falling to watch. -- enthralling.

They are clearly happy with their charges so far. Semerenko, another

one who came unstuck in that last range. Picking up a bronze in the

sprint. A bronze medallist in the world championship in this event,

with this distance, three years ago. She was a definite potential

medallist. But it is Domracheva, Gasparin, Skardino, gold, silver and

bronze at the moment. Looking back down at the leaderboards. We have a

huge number of women out on the course. There is nobody at the

moment looking further back down the field than those going through the

shooting range for the second and third times, there isn't anybody who

is pushing close at the moment. It is agonising to see Olympic

dreams go in the second. That is the early action today. It has turned

out to be a good day for Switzerland. We saw in the super

combined a little bit earlier on they took the gold. The defending

champion, his second gold medal of these games, finished ahead of the

Swedish pair. In terms of the Brits, Andrew Young finished 37th, with

Andrew Musgrave in 44th and Callum Smith in 60 Seventh Place. Bringing

up the rear he became the first Winter Olympian and he crossed the

finish line ten minutes behind anybody else. Time for some curling,

there is curling every day here at the Winter Olympics. Only one we saw

Eve Muirhead and her team beat Japan. That is really good after a

sticky start. So far, as far as the manner are concerned, it has been

textbook. -- men. Dave Murdoch has won everything this

sport has two offer except an Olympic medal. There has been one

loss so far to Sweden but that table makes pretty good reading. The top

40 play each other in seeded semifinals. -- four. Denmark today.

0-0 in end one. COMMENTATOR: A match has just got

underway. The first few stones coming down. It will be a fairly

quiet start. You can see from that table, were Briton to win this match

they would equal Sweden. Five wins from six games. If you had offered

out to them before they started they would be absolutely delighted. Apart

from the match against Sweden it has been very good from their

perspective and they have been playing well, particularly the last

couple of matches. Tight games against Switzerland, much more in

control against the USA. They will want something similar here. Make

sure they don't give away, or make any early mistakes to put them on

the back foot. Good atmosphere tonight. The USA are playing

Russia, the crowd are really up for that. This is Johnny Frederiksen.

Blanking this first end. They will carry the hammer through to the

second end. We were chatting before about the fact Great Britain in the

last couple of days, things have gone well. The men in particular

have looked so solid. A difficult couple of matches coming up,

particularly against Canada. A victory in this one would put them

in a nice position. This is a real key game for them.

They have Canada and Norway, two very strong teams, to play. If we

can get this win under our belt that will give us added security that is

needed to keep ourselves up in the top four spots for qualification.

They have been playing very well. At this moment in time they just have

to you remember why they are here, all the work and practice they have

put in, and believe in their performance and it should follow

three. -- through. The first end did start very simply. The Danish team

were not prepared to take the first end on. We don't actually have the

hammer in this end. Our boys will draw one, right down into the

centre. If Denmark are ready to take this on you will probably see them

ignore the centre stone. They are going to chair everything. The guys

will just have to concentrate. There will be a raucous atmosphere in here

tonight. So as we expected, Denmark seem to be comfortable.

Dave Murdoch, the skipper, is asking Michael Goodfellow to get the centre

guard up. Denmark have had an odd competition so far. They have only

12 matches, but they gave Canada a really low 's game. They were just

beaten 7-6 in that match. Then they lost to the USA, who have not been

playing well at all. They had a narrow victory against Russia, who

obviously were considered to be the weakest team in these Olympic

dames. The Russian men only qualified because they are the host

nation. That one went to an extra end. So it has been a bit of an

up-and-down competition. But I think many people see them as a bit of a

danger. Yeah, if I think these boys are on their game, they are a team

to be reckoned with. Playing second for Great Britain. If

it is your first look at the British men, that is Scott Andrew 's. Dave

Murdoch has been well backed up why these three. They have been really

solid. There has always been the odd shot here and there. Not one of the

best shots from Scott. These four have been put together over the last

few years. Tom Brewster was skipping with these three. Dave Murdoch has

been to the last two Olympic Games, in Turin and Vancouver. There was a

lot of talk about him and his team is one of the medal favourites.

Didn't quite work out. So there has not been so much talk about the

men's team coming into this. It has all been about the women, but I

think you would agree that they would not have seen it that way.

This team are certainly capable of beating anyone on that day. Yet,

they certainly have been a bit more under the radar than Eve coming into

this competition, maybe just because she is the current world champion.

But the boys have kept a quiet confidence, I guess. They probably

were not getting as much media attention because in the last couple

of months in the run-up to these Olympic games, they were not getting

to qualifying stages. But it would appear that that has not affected

them one iota, and they are playing very good curling here in Sochi at

the Winter Olympics of 2014. They definitely have their sights set on

grabbing one of these medals. It will just be a matter of which

colour it is. Nice shot from Scott. Just sitting out a tiny bit. This

player was at the Vancouver games as an alternate. The biographies of

everyone at the Olympics go up on the website. Maybe they have had a

chat with the researcher. This is the Danish management team. Yes, he

is a young gentleman from Scotland, but he now lives in Sweden and has

done for some time. He is married to a Swedish girl and has two kids over

there. He has brothers scattered all over the world. James has actually

coached the Danish team for quite some time now. He did once enjoyed

being a competitive player, but I think he likes being a coach now.

That was unfortunately just a little bit short. The minute the weight

starts coming off some of these stones, you get a bigger curl on

them. The boys are desperately trying to take that as far as it

can. Johnny Fredrickson, playing third. This is the man with the most

experience on this team. He was skipping the Danish team back in the

90s, when he was a young man. And he was in Vancouver. He was not the

skip their either. There are just two surviving players from the five

layers that went out there. These guys will have to make sure

they are communicating well. Given the noise that we will obviously

have tonight, Greg is just making sure he has talked this through with

Dave Murdoch. I think they should have asked that to each other when

they were closer together! The good thing is, Greg has asked all the

questions. They will have to work hard to get past the front guard. We

have been saying how well Greg Drummond has been playing. He has

been so solid. Scott Anders did well not to fall over. That is a bit

unfortunate. It gives Denmark the opportunity to hit that Redstone.

A good effort. Nice shot from Johnny Fredrickson.

A bit of pressure on Dave Murdoch in this second end. It is going to be

like this all night tonight. They really are going to have to make

sure they concentrate and try and shut some of this out. We have had

really enthusiastic crowds at the curling, but this is the loudest I

have ever heard them so far. have ever heard them so far.

JONATHAN EDWARDS: that curling will continue on the red button.

We are going to start our build-up to the biggest moment of these games

so far as far as Team GB is concerned, the women's skeleton.

Lizzy Yarnold league in first place overnight. We are not far from the

third run, and Claire is up at the Sanki Sliding Center. What is the

atmosphere like up there? Well, there is music blaring out of the

speakers. There has been a band playing. We have seen loads of

British fans here already. Colin Bryce is alongside me, who competed

in bobsleigh in Salt Lake City. You know about this build-up. I guess

for easy Arnold and Shelley Rudman and the others, they just want to

get started. Yes, last night, reading the tweets of Lizzy Yarnold,

they can barely sleep. They are so excited. It is quite a tough thing

to do. You have got to keep going and do not just one run, but go back

to the top, polish yourself up, rehydrate. Doing the overnight thing

is hard. I just went up to the start, and I could see various

athletes. I saw Shelley Rudman stretching and warming up. A lot of

them were running along the top and practising their sprint start. It is

like a cathedral up there. It is a beautiful bit of architecture. It is

a 60m sprint track, elevated above all of the action going on so that

they can warm up in private and do their stretching up there. And it is

a beautiful it of kit. This is a sprinter's game. Lizzie is a

heptathlete. Shelley has come from athletics. Amy was a good sprinter.

Everyone has the core running skills going on and has come from different

sports. But I guess what skeleton does that pure running does not is

that you start with that burst and the adrenaline rush, and then you

have to relax your body completely. Yes, you have this mad explosion for

five seconds and then you have to get into a kind of Zen-like mode.

With bobsleigh, when you take a hit, you lock yourself so that you

don't slosh around inside the sled. But with skeleton, you have got to

relax against a hit, which is hard to do at 80 miles an hour. The best

way is to soak up the pressure and relax. Lizzy Yarnold leads by .44

seconds. How far is that when travelling at 80 miles an hour? That

is a difficult question! I would guess around four or five metres in

real terms. It is a big margin. She will need to park it out of a corner

to really lose that. But it is not a big enough margin to say she has won

the gold, not by any stretch of the imagination. She is a big girl, her

opponent. Colin will be in the commentary box with Paul Dickenson

as we continue our build-up to the third of four runs for Lizzy

well. well.

JONATHAN EDWARDS: putting it into context, only ten British athletes

have ever won gold medals in Winter Olympics sports, nine since the

Winter Olympics began in 1924. Will Lizzy Yarnold be the 10th? Good

life. -- goodbye.