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Snowboarding: Britain’s Charlotte Bankes has made it safely through the first seeding run in the snowboard cross under the most perfect azure skies. It’s a decent time, 1.14.21, and should sneak her into the top 20.
Straight to Cortina and the ice stadium, where it’s not great news for our plucky Brits in the curling. The men’s quartet are 5-3 down after four ends to the Italians, who are also winning the fashion stakes with their natty white tops, while the Brits brush away in sensible navy.
It could have been worse though, Britain won the battle of the ruler to take two points at the last end.
Good morning! It’s another heart-lifting morning in northern Italy as the Games roll into day seven. Fittingly, seven golds await today’s athletes, and one could end up around a British neck.
Not to jinx Matt Weston, but he started the Olympics as this country’s hottest chance of gold, and remains that halfway through the skeleton competition. In supreme form this season, after winning five of seven World Cup golds, he goes into this evening’s medal run comfortably first after two of four races. Britain’s Marcus Wyatt lies seventh.
Fellow racer Vladyslav Heraskevych made an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport last night after being disqualified from the skeleton 21 minutes before racing over his “helmet of memory” which honoured Ukrainian athletes killed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. But he does so with the competition happening without him.
Elsewhere, Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klæbo goes for gold in the men’s cross-country skiing, as does another Nowegian, Johan-Olav Botn, in the shooting and ski-ing double-endurance biathalon. He’ll be chased by French World Cup leader Eric Perrot and Italian favourite Tommaso Giacomel.
British snowboarder Charlotte Bankes is searching for her first Olympic medal, either in French or British colours, when she sets off in the exhilarating snowboard cross. Australian Scotty James hopes to add a gold to his collection this evening in the men’s halfpipe final.
Then there’ s the lactic acid challenge of the men’s 10000m speed skating final, and the artistic beauty of the men’s figure skating, free skate final, where all eyes rest on the USA’s Ilia Malinin and his marvellous quadruple axel.
For good measure, throw in men’s and women’s ice-hockey, and curling– which kicks things off this morning. Britain’s in-form men play Italy, after beating arch-rivals Sweden yesterday, while the women’s quartet, who lost to China last night, take on Korea at lunchtime.
Do join us, we’ll be here all day.
