Further reading
Canada win hockey bronze: The Canadians wanted gold, but have to settle for bronze as they see off the Czech Republic 6-4. Interestingly, injured Canada net-minder Ben Scrivens, who played no part in this match, has pulled a full John Terry and has dressed in full kit, and that’s a lot of kit, including his helmet, to join in the celebrations.
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Czech’s bouncing back! That bronze medal hockey match isn’t over yet! It’s Canada 6-4 Czech Republic with 1min 40sec left in what’s turning out to be a thrilling conclusion.
Canada lead Czech Republic in the ice hockey: With just a couple of minutes to go in the men’s ice hockey bronze medal match, Canada are firmly in control. They lead the Czech’s 6-2.
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Today's highlights ...
- Ester Ledecka has made history by winning gold in two sports - the Alpine super-G and the Parallel giant slalom. Arguably the story of the Games.
- Billy Morgan takes bronze in the men’s Big air to lift Britain’s medal tally to five - the highest in a single Winter Games in the country’s history. Sebastien Toutant of Canada takes gold.
- Switzerland’s Nevin Galmarini wins gold in the men’s Parallel giant slalom, pipping South Korea’s Lee Sangho.
- It’s been a good day for the Swiss all round - with gold in the Alpine team event too.
- Finland’s Iivo Niskanen puts in a marathon effort to win the 50km cross-country ski.
- Both of Britain’s four-man bobsleigh teams are out of medal contention after the initial runs.
- The British women’s curling team miss out on bronze after going for the win with the final shot of their match against Japan. Eve Muirhead had the courage to take on a potentially match-winning shot, but lacked the composure to make it.
Team GB speak: “The shot was there and of course we went for it,” says Eve Muirhead, talking to the BBC. “As a skip it’s hard when you miss with the last shot. We’ve battled so hard and it’s sad that we’re going home with nothing. We had control in the last end and unfortunately it just didn’t work out. It’s going to take a long time to sink in. It’s hard when you don’t make that last shot because that’s what you practice for day in and day out.
“The Olympics is a hard gig and unless you’re here you don’t see that. We played our hearts out but Japan played well. I’m absolutely devastated, I’m gutted. I’m gutted for myself, I’m gutted for my team and for everyone who helped us along the way. It’s going to take a long time to sink in.”
JAPAN WIN THE BRONZE!!!
Great Britain 3-5 Japan Great Britain had the hammer and Eve Muirhead at the chance to win the match for Great Britain with her final stone. She went for it, but her gamble didn’t come off as she knocked the Japan stone into the button. Japan take the bronze and their players hug each other , the tears flowing freely. Great Britain go home with nothing after going for the shot to win the bronze, but coming up short.
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Great Britain 3-4 Japan A match that’s cagier than London Zoo edges towards its conclusion. Japan take one in the ninth end to leave Great Britain trailing going into the final end. They need one to take the match to an extra end, or that still elusive two to snatch the bronze from Japan. Crucially, Great Britain have the hammer in the 10th end.
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Great Britain 3-3 Japan: The tit-for-tat continues with Japan taking a point. Great Britain have the hammer going into the ninth end. They’ll probably be happy to blank this one and take the hammer into the 10th end. The match is entering its knockings and we’ve yet to see either team score more than a one.
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Great Britain 3-2 Japan: A wonderful final shot from Eve Muirhead leaves Satsuki Fujisawa with a tough task to knock her stone out of the house. The Japanese skip does exactly that to blank the end. Her team is behind but has the hammer in the eighth end. Fujisawa is beaming - they seem very happy with life, these Japanese curlers. If smiling was a winter Olympic sport, they’d be top of the podium.
Elsewhere in Pyeongchang
Nana Takagi (Japan) takes speed skating gold: It’s gold for Japan in the women’s mass start final, with Nana Takagi finishing ahead of South Korea’s Kim Bo-Reum. Irene Schouten of the Netherlands has finished in third place.
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Great Britain 3-2 Japan: The sixth end finishes a blank, with Japan retaining the hammer for the seventh. Can they take a two?
Great Britain 3-2 Japan: This is attritional, tight, bad, very boring curling. If Jose Mourinho was a team skip, this is the kind of curling he would play. The teams continue to exchange ones, but Eve Muirhead can consider herself unlucky not to have bagged herself that elusive two in the fifth end. The players will now have a short break in this women’s curling bronze medal match.
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Great Britain 2-2 Japan: This game has yet to spark into anything approaching life. Team GB had a stone in the button, but a good throw from Japan’s Satsuki nudged it out. The end finishes with four stones very close together, but Japan taking a point. Sample dialogue from the fourth end: “Line’s good, guys! Line’s good! It needs to curl! Line’s good! GO! GO! GO! GO! GO! GO! GO! GO! GO! GO! GO! It NEEDS TO CURL!!! HARD!!!”
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Great Britain 2-1 Japan: Eve Muirhead attempts to blank the end with the last throw, but leaves her stone in the house while knocking out Japan’s. Muirhead is displeased, as she wanted to go for a two in the next end.
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Great Britain 1-1 Japan: It’s all square after two quiet ends, with Japan taking one in the second. It remains very quiet in the arena, which makes it easy to hear the conversations between the various participants.
Great Britain 1-0 Japan: In an eerily quiet and only half-full Gangneung Hockey Centre, Great Britain get off to a decent start. They’ve taken the lead with one of the 10 ends gone.
What a lovely guy Billy Morgan is. He used to work as a roofer to pay for his snowboard trips - now he's an Olympic medallist. Q. to his coach Hamish McKnight: Does he party at the right times? “Yep. He parties at the right times. And the wrong times.” https://t.co/C6VVRBXCXF
— Sean Ingle (@seaningle) February 24, 2018
Eyes front for the women's curling bronze medal match
Play is underway in the women’s curling bronze medal match between Great Britain and Japan. Both teams are on the sheet and end one is in its infancy.
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Russian bobsledder admits anti-doping violation
Russian bobsledder Nadezhda Sergeeva has admitted an anti-doping violation and has been disqualified from the Winter Olympics, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has said.
As the International Olympic Committee (IOC) were meeting to discuss Russia’s possible Olympic reinstatement, CAS said in a statement that Sergeeva had tested positive in an out-of-competition test for the banned heart condition product trimetazidine two days before her race. Sergeeva finished 12th with Anastasia Kocherzhova in the women’s bobsleigh competition in Pyeongchang on Wednesday.
“The athlete has admitted the anti-doping rule violation; she is disqualified from the women’s bobsleigh event,” it said. “The results obtained by the team at the same event are disqualified with all resulting consequences; the athlete is excluded from Pyeongchang 2018; her accreditation shall be withdrawn. These proceedings shall continue before the CAS between the IBSF (International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation) and the athlete after the end of the Games; the IOC is no longer a party to this procedure. - Reuters.
Women's curling coming up ...
The Great Britain women’s curling team will do battle with Japan in the bronze medal match at 11.05am GMT. Eve Muirhead and her team were beaten in the semi-final by Sweden yesterday, but must rouse themselves for this third place play-off. While Billy Morgan’s bronze medal in the men’s Big Air means Britain have reached their medal target of five, as my colleague Sean Ingle pointed out yesterday, Team Muirhead need to beat Japan “to avoid searching questions about their £5.6m funding from UK Sport”. You can read Slalom Seanie’s report on that semi-final below ...
This is a huge win for the USA curling team: There’ll be a Cool Runnings or Dodgeball style plucky underdog movie made about these guys some day. Four-time Olympian John Shuster and his team of US curling rejects have prevailed in the most unlikely of circumstances. The former bartender came ninth at Sochi and was thrown off his country’s performance training programme (one he thought he’d be running) and so assembled a team of his own: Tyler George, John Landsteiner and Matt Hamilton, who gloried as a sort of self-styled Team Rejects before winning the 2015 national championships and coming fifth in the worlds. It was at this point that USA Curling saw the error of their ways and welcomed them back into the fold. It is the ultimate feel-good underdog story ...
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Team USA win the men's curling!!!
There are handshakes all around as the USA take a thoroughly deserved win the men’s curling. They beat Sweden 10-7 to take gold, with Switzerland taking the bronze. The American team’s No1 an will be pleased.
This is your moment @TeamShuster . Now go out there and do what you do best! Bring home the Gold or else. Grrr! #curlingiscoolfool #TeamUSA #Curling
— Mr. T (@MrT) February 24, 2018
Men’s curling: Sweden pull two points back in the penultimate end to make it USA 10-7 Sweden with just one end to go. It being a gold medal match, the Swedish team opt not to concede the match, but nothing short of a miracle will get them out of jail here.
Incredible scenes at the curling! The USA have just taken five points (five!) from the eighth end. That is a massive score. The USA had the hammer, Nicklas Edin left a double and John Shuster, in his fourth Olympic games, made no mistake. USA lead 10-5 with two ends to go. There’s no chance of them losing from here ...
Lee Sang-ho wins first South Korean snowboard silver
Lee Sang-ho became the first South Korean to win a snowboarding medal when he claimed silver in the parallel giant slalom. Despite never having won a World Cup event, the 22-year-old, who is ranked 10th in the world, was regarded as the host nation’s best medal hope in the freestyle skiing and snowboarding events, albeit a slim one.
With thousands of fans packing the stands at Phoenix Snow Park, many of them waving South Korean flags, Lee admitted he had felt the pressure. “Before I started competition I was quite nervous because this is my first Olympic Games and I also wanted a good result to return the gratitude and thanks that I owe to the people who have supported me,” he told reporters.
If Lee was nervous, he did not show it as he moved through the heats before edging past Slovenia’s Jan Kosir and reaching the final. With Lee guaranteed a medal, the home crowd went wild, spurring him on in the final against Switzerland’s Nevin Galmarini, who won by 0.43 seconds.
“It is great honour to be the first Korean medallist in snowboarding,” said Lee.
“I wish that with this medal then it could create an opportunity for the Korean government and people to support Alpine snowboarding so we can have more competitive snowboarders in the future.” - Reuters
Curling: It’s all square with the score at 5-5 with three ends to go in the gold medal match between USA and Sweden. Swedish skip is not playing well and is looking fairly fed up with life, but he rescues a point for his side with the final throw of the end. There are three left and USA have the hammer in end eight.
Good day, everybody. Loud is the whooping and a hollering from the curling arena, where Sweden and America are contesting the men’s gold medal match. It’s 5-4 to the USA and we’re in End 7. In the sixth, Swedish skip Niklas Edin had a poor penultimate throw, looking gutted as he left an AMerican stone in the house. For the Americans, John Shuster scored two to put his side back in the lead.
Day 15 so far
What’s happened
- Ester Ledecka has made history by winning gold in two sports - the Alpine super-G and the Parallel giant slalom. Arguably the story of the Games.
- Billy Morgan takes bronze in the men’s Big air to lift Britain’s medal tally to five - the highest in a single Winter Games in the country’s history. Sebastien Toutant of Canada takes gold.
- Switzerland’s Nevin Galmarini wins gold in the men’s Parallel giant slalom, pipping South Korea’s Lee Sangho.
- It’s been a good day for the Swiss all round - with gold in the Alpine team event too.
- Finland’s Iivo Niskanen puts in a marathon effort to win the 50km cross-country ski.
- Both of Britain’s four-man bobsleigh teams are out of medal contention after the initial runs.
What’s coming up
All times are local – Pyeongchang is GMT +9, EST +14, AEDT -2, but our fancy schedule will tell you the times wherever you are, should those timezones not apply.
- The men’s Curling clash for gold between Sweden and the US is taking place as we speak. It’s a tight one too.
- There’s more Curling medal action at 20:05 when the British women battle Japan for bronze. Billy Morgan’s bronze in the big air at least means the pressure is off the curlers to set the British medal tally record.
- There’s another battle for bronze at 21:10 when the Czech Republic and Canada duke it out in the men’s Ice hockey.
- At 20:00 the women kick off a couple of hours of Speed skating action for both sexes in the first semi-final of the night. The women’s final starts at 21:30 with the men’s final rounding out the night at 22:00.
That’s me done for the night. My colleague Barry Glendenning will see you through the rest of the action.
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From Reuters.
A Canadian athlete competing at the Winter Olympics has been charged with stealing a car in the early hours of Saturday morning, South Korean police said.
A police official in charge of international crime at Gangwon Provincial Police Agency said the athlete, his wife and manager had gotten into an unlocked car that had been left unoccupied with the engine running in Pyeongchang. The official said the manager then drove off with the car before it was stopped by police. The manager has additionally been charged with drunk-driving.
Once the investigation is complete, the results would be sent to the prosecution, the official said, adding that unless the alleged offence was deemed a serious crime, they would be able to leave the country after paying a fine. At a news conference on Saturday, Canadian Olympic Committee CEO Chris Overholt said they were aware of the situation but declined to confirm the identities of the three.
“We can confirm that an incident occurred involving the police around midnight Friday or early morning Saturday,” Overholt said. “We have confirmation that individuals attached to our team are involved in the investigation and are cooperating. We take this matter very seriously.
“However, until we know the results of the investigation we’re not really in a position to comment further.”
We’re into end six in the men’s curling and it’s still anyone’s game. Sweden are back in the driving seat at 4-3 but the way this is going, it’s going to go right to the wire.
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From the Press Association.
Russian bobsleigh pilot Nadezhda Sergeeva has been disqualified from the Winter Olympics after admitting to an anti-doping rule violation.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport’s anti-doping division announced her expulsion, saying Sergeeva had tested positive for the heart drug trimetazidine.
Her anti-doping rule violation follows that of Alexander Krushelnitsky, who on Thursday was stripped of the mixed doubles curling bronze medal he won with his wife, Anastasia Bryzgalova.
Sergeeva and her brakewoman Anastasia Kocherzhova finished 12th in the women’s two-person bobsleigh, which took place on Tuesday and Wednesday, but their results have now been expunged.
The US sneak into the lead 3-2 in the curling after an incredibly tight call to finish the fourth end. To think they were trailing 2-0 after the first end ... then Ivanka Trump arrives and makes America great (at curling) again.
Great support from the hosts as South Korean Kim Magnus comes home in the cross-country in 47th place. The crowd don’t care about the position, roaring him on as he gives them a wave on the final straight. Great to see.
It’s all square again in the curling too. The US hit back immediately against Sweden to make it 2-2. It’s shaping up as a tight one. Excitement she wrote.
Niskanen wins gold in the 50km cross-country
It’s all over. Niskanen races home. Bolshunov in second with his Russian countryman Larkov taking bronze. Brilliant from Niskanen who looked like his legs had gone at one stage. Well played that man.
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No sooner have I posted that then Niskanen makes a push for it. Out of nowhere he’s put Bolshunov 10m behind him.
We’re into the pointy end in the 50km cross-country ski. It’s Niskanen chasing Bolshunov into the last few kilometres, very little in it as they close in on the final sprint. The photo below tells you all you need to know. The pack are well behind them, four in a race for bronze - Larkov (Russia), Harvey (Canada), Sundby and Holand (both Norway). We’re just over the two-hour mark.
It’s first blood to Sweden in the curling. They’re 2-0 up after the second end. The US trying to get back into it as we speak. A minimum of eight ends means there’s plenty of time for a turnaround though.
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Here’s the British man of the moment, Billy Morgan, in his own words after winning bronze in the big air, courtesy of PA.
On his medal-winning trick: “A front-side 14 triple with mute and tail-grab - so I get a few more points for that double grab, but essentially it’s a triple cork frontside wipe.”
On fear: “Today I was like, even if I completely wreck myself it doesn’t matter. I’m going to go and do it. Normally if I’m worried I just pie it off and go home. But today I was just, I’m going to go out and send it for the boys.”
On friends and family: “My dad had an aneurysm in April. That was a heavy hit. He’s a big part of my life. But he’s come a long way and he’s at the pub watching. He’s called Mad Eddie. He’s nuts.”
On Pyeonchang: “We got some electric scooter things. We had a wow good time. We were blazing through the forests. Anything like that does help. If I just sit in my room I go crazy.”
On his former life: “I come from a very genuine background. I used to work on building sites to pay for my winters and that makes me a relatable dude. I loved working on the sites. I almost miss it, getting my shirt off, working on the roofs.”
On partying: “I come from the last generation of snowboarders who can get away with it. I use it as a distraction. I get scared a lot and I worry about it and it does help to have a couple of drinks, relax and not think about the scary stuff I have to do.”
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The men’s curling final is under way now too with Sweden taking on the US. Who doesn’t love a bit of curling? And of course, you can always recreate the joy of curling in your own home if you’ve been bitten by the bug.
The good news for every other cross-country skier out there is Norwegian golden boy Hoesflot Klaebo has shrugged his shoulders and decided three golds will do this year after skipping today’s mass start 50km race to head home. Can’t really blame him. A 50km trek through the snow or being showered with laurels and champagne at Oslo airport? Sounds like an easy choice to me.
That’s enough plaudits for Ledecka for now (I’m sure there’ll be more over the next couple of days). Let’s get to the action in the men’s 50km cross-country … if you can call a gruelling trudge through the snow ‘action’. The current leader is Finland’s Iivo Niskanen with Russia’s Alexander Bolshunov 12 seconds behind and Alexey Poltoranin (Kazakhstan) slumping back to third a further four seconds back. There’s a sizeable gap between those guys and the rest. Well over a minute in fact. Under 20km to go though so anything can happen.
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AP are first with the Ledecka report.
Ester Ledecka has won the second leg of an unheard-of Olympic double, taking the gold medal in snowboarding’s parallel giant slalom to go with her surprise skiing victory in the Alpine super-G earlier in the games.
The Czech star is the first to win gold medals in both sports. She is top-ranked on the snowboarding circuit but never a threat, until now, in skiing.
She outraced Selina Joerg of Germany to the line in the final and won by .46 seconds, a much more comfortable margin than the .01-second edge in the super-G race that left her staring at the clock in shock.
This time, it was no surprise. Ledecka crossed the line and simply pumped her fist, then offered a long congratulatory hug to Joerg.
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Galmarini wins parallel giant slalom gold
The Swiss proves too good, ruining what would have been a fairytale for South Korea - not that the home crowd mind too much. It’s an excellent silver medal for Lee nonetheless. The emotion gets the better of Galmarini as he collapses to the ground in celebration. He had the tighter line all the way down.
Men’s final now, and home favourite Lee will take on Galmarini in the battle for parallel giant slalom gold. The crowd are loving this.
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Nothing to separate them in the opening section. Kosir slips slightly but then makes it up - and when Dufour slips too, it’s all over. The bronze goes to Kosir.
Phew. Almost forgot there’s a men’s event too. Small final first. It’s Slovenia’s Kosir versus Frenchman Dufour.
Ledecka wins parallel giant slalom gold to create history!
Awesome achievement. Joerg pushes Jedecka all the way, but for the final quarter the Czech was always in control. Such composure with so much pressure on her shoulders. A gold medal in two disciplines.
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That’s bronze for Germany, and they’ll get another medal in the big final as Czech Ledecka takes on the German Joerg. History beckons for Ledecka.
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Hofmeister cruises to the bronze medal as her Russian opponent slips at the halfway mark. She was trailing slightly anyway. Hofmeister catches her breath at the finish then let’s out an almighty ‘woop’.
Yep, he’s done it. It’s official. Lee will face Galmarini in the parallel giant slalom final. That was incredibly tight. Over to the women. Small final first. Zavarzina v Hofmeister.
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Good lord! What a finish. Lee sends the crowd into raptures with a comeback victory right on the line. So, so tight. Kosir looked like he had the edge for most of the run but Lee battled back admirably. It’s still not entirely clear if the result will stand...
It’s neck and neck until about the halfway stage, then a mistake from Dufour gifts it to Galmarini. He’ll go through to the big final but who will he face? Next up it’s Zan Kosir of Slovenia against South Korea’s Lee Sangho. No prizes for guessing who the crowd are shouting for.
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Over to the men’s semis where Dufour (france) is facing Galmarini (Swiss). Big stakes.
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Who’s going to join her in the final? Zavarzina (OAR) versus Jeorg (Germany) go head to head in the other semi - but Zavarzina stumbles early and Joerg cruises down the slope to book her place in the showdown with Ledecka.
Ledecka against Hofmeister in the first semi. It looks like Hofmeister is juuuust edging ahead but then she slips slightly to gift Ledecka a free run through to the next round - and a shot at history.
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First though, let’s head to the parallel giant slalom where the men are currently flying down the slopes. As mentioned (sort of) Ester Ledecka has won through her opening two knockout rounds in the women’s event, so the dream is still alive. There have been a couple of surprises so far, but perhaps the biggest was when a squirrel ran straight into the path of the oncoming Daniela Ulbing. What a time to forget where you’ve put your nuts.
A crazy Squirrel in parallel slalom snowboard #JO2018 #PyeongChang2018 pic.twitter.com/f3rxxQqOTA
— Gilles DeSuisse (@rilblue) February 24, 2018
Day 15: here we go
Afternoon everyone, thanks for joining me for the penultimate day of icy action from Pyeongchang. After two weeks of thrills, spills and chills, the finish line is in sight – although, speaking literally, that’s almost cruelly untrue for the men’s Cross-country skiers, who have just started a 50km jaunt through Alpensia. Let’s hope someone’s got some mulled wine and a log fire waiting for them at the end. I’ll come back to them soon, but first, like a confused Christmas ghost, I’ll run down what’s already happened and what’s coming up before returning to the present.
In the men’s Big air, a final run full of crashes meant Billy Morgan, a ‘veteran’ at 28, sneaked onto the podium in bronze position to take the British tally to a record haul of five medals. It also meant Sebastien Toutant (Canada), who led after the second run, kept his place to win gold - as did silver medalist Kyle Mack (USA).
In the Alpine team event, a dominant Switzerland saw off Austria in the final to take gold. The buzzing Norwegians took bronze with a tight victory over France.
Coming up
Here’s what is up for grabs, in terms of medals, for the rest of the day. All times are local – Pyeongchang is GMT +9, EST +14, AEDT -2, but our schedule will tell you the times wherever you are, should those timezones not apply.
- They’re battling it out in the knockout stages of the Parallel giant slalom as we speak, with the finals due to kick off at 14:28 (ladies first). All eyes are on Ester Ledecka, who is still very much in the mix as she seeks to follow up her gold in skiing with one on her snowboard.
- At 15:35 it’s the men’s Curling clash for gold between Sweden and the US. There’s more curling medal action at 20:05 when the women battle it out for bronze. Japan stand in the way of the British team. But can the Brits pick themselves up after the disappointment of that semi-final shellacking to Sweden?
- There’s another battle for bronze at 21:10 when the Czech Republic and Canada duke it out in the men’s Ice hockey. Canada will be favourites, but after that shock loss to Germany, their state of mind might not exactly be on the job.
- At 20:00 the women kick off a couple of hours of Speed skating action for both sexes in the first semi-final of the night. The women’s final starts at 21:30 with the men’s final rounding out the night at 22:00.
