Live: ‘Some of them were my friends’: Ukrainian wears images of dead athletes on helmet

We are getting to the business end of the women’s 1,000m at the speed skating, and we have a new leader.

American Erin Jackson – who as we said earlier was the 500m champion in Beijing – has stunned the crowd by holding her sprint speed in the final lap to stop the clock at 1 minute 15 seconds flat.

That is 0.46 seconds faster than Dutch skater Suzanne Schulting.

But now heat 13 has been an absolute belter, with Dutch skater Femke Kok breaking the Olympic record with a time of 1:12.59, smashing the old mark by 2.4 seconds.

The woman she beat, Brittany Bowe of the US, set the second fastest time with 1:14.55.

A quick update from the ice hockey.

We said earlier that Germany and Japan are fighting it out for the last spot in the next round from Group B.

Right now Germany are taking on France, with the French’s poor goal difference all but ruling them out of advancing.

Germany really needs the win here, but after two periods of play, they only have a 1-0 lead, thanks to a goal from forward Laura Kluge.

That’s not a comfortable lead here – although the shots on goal so far tell a story. It’s Germany 30, France 7.

So far at the speed skating we have been focused on longer distances, with the men’s 5,000m and the women’s 3,000m.

In contrast, today’s event the women’s 1,000m only takes two and a half laps of the track in Milano, so there’s less room for slight errors.

It’s a big competition with 30 skaters taking part.

We’re still in the early stages, but so far it’s Dutch skater Suzanne Schulting holding the fastest time. She stopped the clock in the opening heat in one minute 15.46 seconds.

In second place is Poland’s Natalia Czerwonka, who won heat six in a time of 1:16.09. In third is Swiss skater Kaitlyn McGregor, in 1:16:16.

And midway through the opening run, Germany is dominating.

One of the sport’s traditional powerhouses, Germany has already notched a luge gold in Italy, with Max Langenhan sliding to a dominant victory in the men’s singles yesterday.

He was near perfect at the Cortina Sliding Centre, breaking the track record in all four of his runs.

Not to be outdone, compatriot Merle Malou Fraebel has opened her women’s single campaign with a track record of her own.

Her time of 52.590 leads fellow German Julia Taubitz by just 0.048 seconds.

Italy’s Verena Hofer rounds out the top three.

It’s nearly time for the speed skating in Milano, as the women’s 1,000m final is next up.

All three medallists from Beijing four years ago are back – Japan’s Miho Takagi took gold, Jutta Leerdam of Netherlands took silver silver and American Brittany Bowe the bronze.

Takagi and Leerdam are drawn in the final heat and whoever wins should go close to the gold medal.

However there is another chance, with Erin Jackson – who carried the United States flag the other night at the opening ceremony – in the mix.

Jackson won the women’s 500m final in Beijing. This year she is going in both the 500m and 1,000m. We’ll see how she goes over the longer distance.

Every athlete who competes at the Winter Olympics brings different experiences and different motivations.

For one athlete at Milano Cortina, making a point at training is just as important as the performances in competition.

Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych trained on Monday in a helmet with images of compatriots killed during the war in ‌Ukraine, delivering on a promise to use the Olympics to keep attention on the conflict.

“Some of them were my friends,” Heraskevych, who is his country’s flag bearer, said of the portraits after his training session at the Cortina sliding centre.

Visible on the ⁠helmet are teenage weightlifter Alina Perehudova, boxer Pavlo Ischenko, ice hockey player Oleksiy Loginov, actor and athlete Ivan Kononenko, diving athlete and coach Mykyta Kozubenko, shooter Oleksiy Habarov and dancer Daria Kurdel, he told Reuters.

The 26-year-old said the International Olympic Committee had contacted Ukraine’s Olympic ​Committee over his helmet.

“It’s still being processed,” he said.

Heraskevych, who held up a “No War in Ukraine” sign at the Beijing Olympics days before Russia’s 2022 invasion, had said he ‌intended to respect Olympic rules prohibiting political ‌demonstrations at venues while still ensuring ‌Ukraine’s plight remained visible during the Games.

Rule 50.2 of the Olympic Charter states: “No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas.”

Reporting from Reuters

Well, following on from that VAR-esque drama in Italy’s 3-2 defeat of Japan, it feels like the perfect time to check in on how things stand in the women’s ice hockey.

10 teams are competing in the tournament, divided into two groups of five.

In a tournament structure I quite frankly don’t understand, all teams in the higher ranked Group A are guaranteed to progress to the knockouts, with three sides from Group B joining them there.

With most Group B teams having played three of their four games, both Sweden and Italy have already secured progression to the final eight. That leaves Germany and Japan to fight it out for third spot, with France’s inferior goal difference all but condemning them to a group stage exit.

In Group A, the US is two wins from two and in pole position to top the standings and claim a more favourable quarterfinal draw.

Got it? Good.

Curling is one of the sports that were already going before the opening ceremony. Why? Because there are a LOT of matches to get through, too many to fit into 16 days.

However after a lot of round robin games, we now have the final four decided in mixed doubles in Cortina.

The final round of matches saw Switzerland beaten 8-4 by Canada, Norway won 8-5 over South Korea, Czechia beat Estonia 8-4, and hosts Italy defeated the United States in a close one, 7-6.

That last result was a crucial one, as Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner defeated Americans Cory Thiesse and Corey Dropkin.

The win put Italy second ahead of the US with Sweden in fourth spot.

Great Britain had already sewn up top spot with an 8-1 record, and Italy’s win meant the hosts avoided the British team in the final four.

The semifinals will be held later this morning at 4:05am AEDT.

We told you earlier about Italy’s 3-2 win over Japan in their Women’s Ice Hockey group game at Milano Rho Ice Hockey Arena.

There was a particular moment however, with nine minutes left in the game, where the process began to resemble something more like a Champions League game in football.

Japan was trailing 3-1 and in desperate need of a goal. A shot came in towards Italian goaltender Gabriella Durante. It bounced up and over her helmet, lying poised for a second before dropping onto the ice as players surged around the net.

An Italian defender got her stick to the puck in the air near the line. It was chaos, as Italy claimed a save and Japan claimed a goal.

The squillion or so camera angles then came into play, none of them appearing totally conclusive – so it was just like VAR in European football.

After what seemed like an age, but was probably just a couple of minutes, the goal was signalled, Japan’s players celebrated like crazy and the Italian crowd were … not totally enthusiastic.

Luckily for them, the home side went on to win.

So we’re in the middle of day three of 16 days of competition, it’s time to have a quick look at how the medal table sits at this early stage.

Ther are going to be plenty of chances for Australia to hit gold, silver or bronze this week and next, but so far the team has not registered a medal.

Later tonight there might be a Trans-Tasman showdown – New Zealand has not won a medal yet either, but they are a big show in the big air at 5:30am AEDT with Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, who will be going up against Aussies Tess Coady and Meila Stalker.

So far it’s a couple of traditional Winter Olympic nations who are leading the way – Norway and Switzerland have three gold medals each.

Medal Table (after 15 of 116 events):

                                      Gold        Silver    Bronze     Total

1. Norway                 3             1                2                     6
2. Switzerland        3             1                0                     4
3. USA                         2             0                0                     2
4. Austria                  1             3                0                     4
5. Italy                        1             2                6                     9
6. Japan                     1             2                1                     4
7. Germany             1             1                1                     3
8. Czechia                1             1                0                     2
9. Sweden                1             1                0                     2
10. China                     0             1               1                     2
11. S.Korea                0             1                0                     1
12. Slovenia               0             1                0                     1
13. Canada                 0             0                2                     2
14. Bulgaria               0             0                1                     1                        

It was looking like a potential all Swiss podium – which would have been a first at either a Summer or Winter Games – for the alpine skiing men’s team combined but Austria just made its way into second place.

Franjo von Allmen claimed the gold after an almost perfect run, ahead of countryman Marco Odermatt who tied for silver with Austria’s Manuel Feller.

No bronze with the equal second standings.

History repeated itself when Mathilde Gremaud claimed the gold and Eileen Gu the silver in the freeski slopestyle today, the same top two on the podium as four years ago in Beijing.

“I think it’s kind of funny that both Olympics we were within half a point of one in another,” Gu said at Livigno Snow Park after the event.

“If anything, I think it’s just a testament to the growth of women’s skiing.

“So special to be a part of that – continuously. I think more than anything, the hardest part has been staying consistent all these years.”

“I’ve had a really tough the last four years, to be completely honest with you, dealing with injury and time off snow and some mental stuff, and sometimes it feels like I’m carrying the weight of two countries on my shoulders,” Gu said, representing China but growing up and living a large part in the United States.

“And just being able to ski through all of that, and still show my best and still be so deeply in love with the sport. That’s really what I care about and I’m so happy to represent that today.”

The Italian women’s ice hockey team looked a vision of ecstasy after holding off an inspiring Japan to claim a 3-2 victory.

Next in women’s ice hockey is Germany and France before Switzerland and the United States face off – all still in the preliminary stage.

They’ll be some hopes later this morning for Australia’s first medal when Tess Coady and Meila Stalker compete in the women’s snowboard big air final.

Britain came close to getting their first medal when Kirsty Mur looked in contention for the bronze in the women’s freeski slopestyle.

She was just pipped by Canada’s Megan Oldham.

Mur told BBC Sport: “I’m struggling to accept how close it was. I know I’ve got more in me. I’m glad I put it all out there today.

“Each event I try to be as present for as possible, so I’m kind of thing still thinking about this one at the moment. I’m going to look forward to the big air, but I need to take this one in.”

Italy is currently leading Japan 3-2 in the women’s ice hockey preliminary stage match.

Up next in the discipline Germany and France will face off.

Meanwhile, the men’s alpine skiing team combined is underway at Stelvio Ski Centre.

Finland’s Eduard Hallberg is in front, narrowly beating Germany’s Simon Jocher.

It’s Switzerland’s Mathilde Gremaud who has claimed the gold in the women’s freeski slopestyle final, edging out China’s Eileen Gu.

A repeat of the gold and silver from the Beijing 2022 Games, with Gremaud going back-to-back in a very difficult event.

At Livigno Snow Park, it all came down to the third and final run. Gremaud was narrowly on top with a score of 86.96, ahead of Gu with a score of 86.58.

Then Gu crashed in her final attempt. Gremaud’s team cheered from the top of the course as all she had to do now was her victory lap.

Canada’s Megan Oldham claimed the bronze with a score of 76.46.

Eileen Gu fumbled at the start of her second run, going too high on the first rail. Instead of trying to fight back a good score, she let the run go knowing she put down a high score in her first run that she now couldn’t chase in her second of 86.58.

However, following her was Mathilde Gremaud, who had a phenomenal second run to earn a score of 86.86 and overtake Gu into first place.

The pair are miles above the rest of the cohort.

The next best is Canada’s Megan Oldham with a score of 69.76.

It all will now come down to the third and final run to see who will take the gold in the women’s freeski slopestyle.

The first runs of the women’s freeski slopestyle final are done and China’s star skier Eileen Gu is on top. Each competitor gets three runs with their best counting towards that podium finish.

Gu finished with a score of 86.58 after the first run, just head of the reigning Olympic champion Switzerland’s Mathilde Gremaud 83.60.

They both looked incredibly happy with the tricks they put down. Now for the second run…

There’s going to be a lot of eyes on this one.

Reigning slopestyle Olympic and world champion Mathilde Gremaud and star freestyle skier Eileen Gu are about to face off in the women’s freeski slopestyle final.

China’s Gu has Olympic gold in halfpipe and big air. She’s just missing the slopestyle.

But Swiss Gremaud provides some pretty tough competition.

Get some snacks. This will be a good one.