Vladyslav Heraskevych has accused the International Olympic Committee of doing Russia’s propaganda for them after he was barred from racing in the Winter Games because he wanted to wear a “helmet of memory” in honour of Ukraine’s war dead.Speaking to journalists following the IOC’s decision, the 27-year-old was asked how he felt.“Emptiness,” he replied.“Yesterday was amazing training.I could be among the medalists in this event, but suddenly, because of some interpretation of the rules which I do not agree with, I am not able to compete.

“I was at many funerals when I was in Ukraine and it’s a truly terrible tragedy that young people at such a young age were killed for nothing,” he added.“Because of their sacrifice, we’re able to be here today, and I want to honour them, and I want to honour their families.”Heraskevych also thanked the IOC’s president, Kirsty Coventry, for meeting him at 8.30am, an hour before the skeleton competition began, and for what he said were her kind words to him.But he added: “But, as I told her, this situation plays along with Russian propaganda and it does not look good.

I believe it’s a terrible mistake that was made by the IOC,”That’s it from me as the sun sets on day six in Milano Cortina,Thanks for your company, we’ll be back in the morning for more Winter Olympic thrills, spills, slides and something that rhymes with slides,Goodnight!Winter Olympics Day Six Round UpUkraine’s Vladyslav Heraskevych was kicked out of competing in the skeleton by the IOC after his helmet featured images of athletes killed during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,Speaking to journalists following the IOC’s decision, the 27-year-old was asked how he felt.

“Emptiness,” he replied,“Yesterday was amazing training,I could be among the medalists in this event, but suddenly, because of some interpretation of the rules which I do not agree with, I am not able to compete,”Team USA’s snowboard sensation Chloe Kim missed out on an historic third-straight gold in the halfpipe competition,South Korea’s Choi Ga taking gold and Kim the silverItaly’s Francesca Lollobrigida wins her second Gold medal of the games after triumphing in a dramatic 5000m speed skating gold by a tenth of a secondMore Gold for the host nation with Federica Brignone winning the alpine skiing women’s Super-G, remarkably in the same year that she broke her leg and tore her ACLGreat Britain’s men hold off defending champions Sweden in the curling Round-Robin but the women lose their first match to ChinaAustralia’s Cooper Woods win Men’s Mogul GoldSweden’s Frida won Gold int the 10km cross-country skiingAlessandro Haemmerle of Austria retains his Olympic Gold in the snowboard crossGermany won Gold in the mixed team luge, Ukraine’s team took a knee and raised their helmets in solidarity with team-mate Heraskevych after their runThe Netherlands won two Golds in the speed skating - Xandra Velzeboer posting a World Record time in the 500m before Jens van ‘t Wout scooped 1000m GoldThe American duo of Madison Chock and Evan Bates, the reigning three-time world champions contentiously missed out on Olympic ice dance gold on Wednesday despite a flawless skate.

But the controversy surrounding the event is not merely a debate over artistic and technical merits.Gold went by a narrow margin to the French duo of Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron.It was a stunning achievement for a partnership that is less than a year old.But the union was forged after the fallout from sexual assault allegations levelled at Fournier Beaudry’s boyfriend and former ice dance partner, while Cizeron is the subject of allegations of abusive conduct from his erstwhile skating partner.Nikolaj Sørensen, a 36-year-old Danish-Canadian ice dancer who is dating Fournier Beaudry, was banned by the Canadian skating governing body for at least six years in 2024 for “sexual maltreatment” related to allegations that he sexually assaulted an American coach and former skater in 2012.

He denied the accusations and the suspension was overturned in 2025 on a technicality relating to questions of jurisdiction.Day Six in Pics: Some belters in here.Worth seeking out some of the snaps from the boarders at their zenith in the snowboard halfpipe competition too.Gnarly, as the kids do not say.Medal Count: We’re coming to the close of the action on day six, here’s a look at the latest medal table:Women’s Snowboard Halfpipe: The snowfall coming down on Livigno Snow Park on Thursday night helped produce one of the bigger Olympic upsets in snowboard history, as Chloe Kim’s bid to become the first rider to win three consecutive Olympic halfpipe gold medals fell just short.

Kim finished with a best score of 88.00 from her opening run, settling for silver behind surprise winner Choi Gaon of South Korea, whose heroic third run after an early fall earned 90.25 and rewrote the Olympic record books.Japan’s Mitsuki Ono took bronze with 85.00.

For a sport that has spent nearly a decade orbiting Kim’s technical and competitive standard, the result felt seismic – not because she rode poorly, but because someone else finally assembled the perfect combination of risk, execution and timing on the night it mattered most.What a final lap! Chaos on the ice as there is a mad dash for the finish line! It is a Dutch double this evening as Jens van ‘t Wout snatches it at the last! The Dutchman was in a real dogfight with the Canadian William Dandjinou, the pair overtook each other multiple times during the frenetic race, but van ‘t Wout takes it.China’s Long Sun somehow took Silver despite being at the back of the racing pack for most of it and an emotional Rim Jong-un, the Korean 18 year old snared Bronze.I need a brew and a lie down.*You have no idea how many times I’ve checked that apostrophe by the wayHeart stopping stuff! All of the racers make it through this time after the false start and Xandra Velzeboer takes it by a few lengths! She led the whole way round, a blur of orange, and held off a tight chasing pack.

Arianna Fontana takes silver and with it her 13th Olympic medal,The home crowd cheer Fontana loudly as she does an emotional lap or three of honour,Canada’s Courtney Sarault takes the bronze,Phew,Women’s Curling Round Robin: China close it out, they beat Great Britain by 7-4 after a hard fought match.

Jenn Dodds and her teammates look disheartened but they’ll dust themselves down and be back pushing the granite tomorrow afternoon against South Korea.Short Track Speed Skating: They’re off! Ah.They’re down! A collision on the first corner sees Selma Poutsma slide away like Liam Gallager in 1995.We’ll have a re-start in a few minutes.Short Track Speed Skating: The Women’s 500m gold medal race will be underway shortly.

The ice skate blades they are using in these races are huge, they resemble two extra large Toblerones.I might just be peckish.The home favourite – Italy’s Arianna Fontana - won her first Olympic short-track speed skating medal at the Turin Winter Olympics in 2006 aged just 15 years old.She will go against the Canadian pair of Courtney Sarault and Kim Boutin with the flying Dutchwoman Xandra Velzeboer and her compatriot Selma Poutsma (who qualified as the fastest third place skater) completing the final line up.They are being called out one by one and the crowd in the stadium cheer wildly for each finalist, the roof is nearly blown off as Fontana makes her entrance!Women’s Curling Round Robin: It is not looking good for Great Britain, they are 6-3 down after nine ends and look a bit deflated, they do have the hammer but China have raised their level and after being 2-0 down are looking likely to take the match.

Women’s Snowboard Halfpipe: Chloe Kim was the first competitor over to congratulate Choi Gaon.A class act.Beau Dure has the final standings as a tense and dramatic event comes to a close with a new Olympic champion:90.25 Choi Gaon (South Korea) Gold 88.00 Chloe Kim (USA) Silver 85.

00 Mitsuki Ono (Japan) Bronze --- 84.00 Sara Shimuzu (Japan) 81.75 Rise Kudo (Japan) 80.75 Cai Xuetong (China) 78.00 Wu Shaotong (China) 77.

00 Bea Kim (USA) 68,25 Sena Tomita (Japan) 33,50 Queralt Castellet Ibanez (Spain) 27,50 Elizabeth Hosking (Canada) 5,50 Maddie Mastro (USA)You can’t script this.

Well, maybe in the Star Wars universe, where Darth Vader struck down the people who guided him in the Jedi (Obi-Wan Kenobi) and Sith (Emperor Palpatine) ways,The mere fact that she upset her mentor’s quest for a threepeat would be dramatic enough,But she did it after a terrible fall in her first run,The Olympics results feed said she had withdrawn from the competition,Instead, she raced to the line for a second run on which she also fell.

Then her third run was majestic.She put the pressure on Kim to go even bigger, and Kim couldn’t do it.The Olympics, folks.Where else do you see this?Women’s Snowboard Halfpipe: Chloe Kim is the only boarder left.It’s all on this, she has to deliver.

This is the first time in her Olympic career where she’s been put in this position, her other Gold’s have come with a victory lap.There will be no such thing today, here we go!CURRENT PODIUM 90.25 Choi 88.00 Kim (one more run) 85.00 OnoWomen’s Snowboard Halfpipe: Choi knocks Kim out of first!It’s snowing hard again, and Choi Gaon is in the pipe, which is impressive in its own right after her devastating crash in the first run.

She loads up with three 900s, and everything is clean.Up to the judges … who are taking some times …90.25! She’s ahead of her mentor Chloe Kim!Women’s Snowboard Halfpipe: It is bucketing it down with snow on the half pipe, is it contributing to how many wipeouts and failed landings we’ve seen?Ouch! Canada’s Elizabeth Hosking hits the lip of the wall and crashes down onto her back.I think she’s ok, she unclips from her board but is being seen to by the medics.Short Track Speed Skating: Zhang Chutong of China and Julie Letai of the United States collide for a second time! This is chaos.

I feel like Alan Partridge commentating on the tour de France.Women’s Curling Round Robin: It’s all square at 2-2 between Great Britain and China at the halfway stage.It’s an edgy affair as Mary J Blige did not sing.Mary J can’t curl for Highland toffee I bet.Women’s Snowboard Halfpipe: What else can Chloe Kim do? Maybe launch herself into orbit?The first three tricks are the same as in her first run – 720, switch with big amplitude, double cork 1080 again, and she tries back-to-back double corks!But no, she can’t land that one.

If she finishes that off in the last run, judges will run out of numbers,Standings after second runEveryone gets one more chance to improve …88,00 C,Kim (USA) 85,00 Ono (Japan) 81.

75 Kudo (Japan) – improved from 77.50 80.75 Cai (China) – improved from 73.00 77.00 B.

Kim (USA) – improved from 7.25 70.25 Wu (China) – improved from 67.75 68.25 Tomita (Japan) – improved from 23.

50Hosking (Canada) has come close to completing a strong routine but hasn’t done so.Short Track Speed Skating: This is fast.I’d argue too fast to live blog… but the women’s 500m quarter-final sees a new Olympic record straightaway!Flying Dutchwoman Xandra Velzeboer, the current world record holder, scorches the ice with a time of 41.583.s!Women’s Snowboard Halfpipe:Chloe Kim is just awesome.

There’s no other way to describe that.OK, we’ll try – backside 720, switch backside air, switch double cork 1080 …A mere mortal, upon landing that trick, would take it easy the rest of the way.She didn’t.Good luck beating that.88