And that, my friends, is that.Another Olympic day done.Tomorrow? The ski aerials, which got postponed from today.The snowboard slopestyle, good fun.The women’s and men’s team sprint medals in cross-country.

Hockey quarter-finals.Women’s biathlon relay medals.The business end of the men’s team curling.And short-track skating medals in the 3000m relay for the women and solo 500m for the men.As the hockey ref said, you’re outta here.

I’m outta here.We’re all outta here.Until tomorrow.Norway continued their dominance at the top of the medal table with 14 golds, adding the Nordic combined and the men’s ski big airFrance won the biathlon relay goldItaly won the men’s team pursuit speed skating, while Canada won the women’sGermany filled the podium for the two-man bobThe tussle is tight in the men’s team curlingSweden are about to advance beyond Latvia in the men’s hockey qualifier, by the by.Chiba Mone is the last skater up, and Japan go one, two, four in the standings, with Alysa Liu of the USA in third.

Chiba looks to be having a lot more fun out there than most, skating to Donna Summer rather than something super serious and operatic and vast like so many skaters, and has a cheerful expression on her face the whole time.She’s tiny, and flings herself around the ice, going for a double axel and a triple lutz, no deductions, and banking a 74.There’s a slight judge query on one of the elements.So it’s an exceptional round for the Japanese team, but the story of it is Nakai Ami, the most junior member, who produced the only flawless performance, and did so with such style.Could she possibly back that up in the free skate? Is that wishful thinking?Schizas, Safonova, Variakojyte, Feigin, and Spours are the five who’ll miss out on progressing to the free skate, which will be on Thursday.

Amber Glenn as the second-last to skate, the USA superstar, and I’m never going to argue with someone’s choice of Madonna, she uses Like a Prayer.Great performative value, artistic ambition, she starts her routine like Nakai Ami with a triple axel that she absolutely plants.But there’s a triple loop in there that she only lands as a double, so despite the quality of the skate otherwise, that’s an invalid element, and it’ll bring down her score sharply.She’s in tears as she comes off.It’s a harsh sport.

She scores a 67,That’s not a bad score, and she’ll comfortably qualify for the free skate, but it makes it hard to challenge for a medal,Subcontinental flair for Anastasiia Gubanova, the Georgian skater using San Sanana from the Bollywood movie Asoka,Scores high, 71+,The Japanese skaters have really been the ones to watch this year though, and Sakamoto Kaori is no exception.

Three-time world champ, she has already said that this will be her last Games, so with that in mind she skates to Time To Say Goodbye, and uses its emotive power,Her triple axel and triple toe jumps cover so much ground, she has such speed coming into them compared to other skaters,And her step sequence is so precise, the blades flashing like a chef’s knife,Magnificent spins…and she still can’t pip her 17-year old teammate! Not quite,A 77.

23, a point and a half behind Nakai Ami, but still a fine score.A slight technical query on one jump, I think.What a performance though.Isabeau Levito, the other USA competitor, does her tribute to Sophia Loren.Best wardrobe of the night, a blood-crimson sparkling number with matching gloves, it’s effortless style, and she uses it well.

Lovely spins, a couple of minor deductions again thought for quarter turns on the jumps.Such small margins.She’s in the top five with a 70.84.Gorgeous from Alysa Liu, the USA skater who won the world champs in Boston late year, a sensitive and gentle music choice via the Icelandic singer Laufey, and her skate matches it, finishing with a graceful and aesthetic series of spins that has the audience sighing with pleasure.

She’s into second place with a 76.59, a couple of technical deductions keeping that score down from where it might have been.We have six skaters to go in the women’s singles, and they are going to be spectacular.Sweden leading 3-1 now in the hockey qualifier against Latvia, second period.Fifth in the standings for Niina Petrokina, from Estonia – excellent wardrobe to start with, a deep claret piece with matching gloves, that stands out, and another really strong routine, scoring just shy of 70.

Remember that all of this round of skating is about setting up the competitors for the second round on a subsequent day,Lay a good base here from which to challenge for the main title on combined points,Lara Naki Gutmann misses one of her jumps, an invalid element, so that tanks her score closer to 60,I said no more clowns! Belgium’s Nina Pinzaronne uses Send in the Clowns as her backing music,Yuck.

Mesmerising skate, that was, despite the artistic choices that are not in this observer’s wheelhouse.The wardrobe, too, super schmaltzy.Get this athlete a better support crew!She scores a 68.97, which is good by the standards of her career, I expected a higher score though given her composure on the ice.Her compatriot, Loena Hendrickx, scored a 70.

93 before that.Let’s get back to the figure skating, and what an Olympic arrival for Nakai Ami, the 17-year-old prodigy from Japan.On debut at this level, she was so focused in the warm-up, practising her spins, then she launches into senior skating with a triple axel, about as difficult as one can attempt, and nails it on the first attempt.She breaks out into a huge smile just on landing that first jump, can’t help herself.Then a triple lutz and triple toe, and gets those just as clean, and again that brief burst of a smile breaks out.

Now she can get on with the rest of the business of her routine, using the Italian theme La Strada from a Fellini film, and working with a kind of Italian clown theme… and even then I don’t hate it.Keep clowns away from everyone.But holy hell, this is a perfect skate.Her spins are divine, her form there immaculate.And she goes top of the list with a 78.

71, I think that’s both a PB for her and one of the highest individual scores of the season overall.Welcome.In the hockey, Sweden lead Latvia 2-0 in the men’s qualifier match for a spot in the knockouts.It’s a full house! Lochner and Fleischhauer finish it off, gold for themselves and a full deck for Germany.They don’t just hold their lead, they extend it with a fast final run of 54.

91 seconds, almost half a second faster than their next few rivals.It’s comprehensive for that team, and comprehensive for the German program.USA fourth, Romania and Switzerland the next couple in line, Italy, Latvia, Austria, France round out the top ten.Friedrich and Schuller do their part with 55.33, the last three runs all clocking within two hundredths of a second of one another, and this pair hold onto a likely second spot.

Ammour and Schaller make no mistake, clocking 55,35, which is only one hundredth slower than the Americans, but their other three runs were faster,So they’re in top spot, the Germans, and can’t finish lower than third,In the bob, a lot of bash ‘em crash ‘em on the USA’s run down the chute, but del Duca and Williamson still hang on to go to top spot,With only the three German pairs to go, the Americans are in position to pounce on a medal if something goes wrong.

Italy beat USA in the curling, and the curling crowd is going feral as they always do,Great Britain have gone down to Canada, and Sweden did indeed beat Norway,So here’s the state of play for the men’s team event,Nine matches in the round robin, top four qualify for semis,Switzerland lead and have qualified with seven wins and two to go.

Canada have qualified with six wins.Italy now jump up to third spot, Norway fourth, Great Britain fifth, and USA sixth, but all of them have four wins.Italy and Norway have two games in hand, USA and GB have one game in hand.But Italy and Norway both have to play the top two sides, while GB and USA play each other.So if Italy and Norway both lose both their remaining games, there are still chances for USA and GB to get through.

Or if Italy or Norway lose one and win one, then the winner of GB-USA would depend on head-to-head results to go through.Not a good final run for GB in the bob, as Hall and Greenwood clip some sides, so they drop three spots in the end, and are on track to finish 12th unless one of the upcoming teams has a real mare.A bit of movement in the early stages of the bob, with Chinese pair Li and Ye jumping a few spots, and the Swiss Follador and Rolli making ground, though all of these will finish well out of the medals as we go through the field.The final heat in the two-man bobsleigh has begun, with four runs completed out of 20.The last three spots, as in those with the fastest times across their first three runs, are all German pairs.

What’s up at the curling? Men’s round robin.The Swiss have qualified in top spot by beating Germany.The Germans might stay alive, though, if Norway lose to Sweden, which they’re currently on track to do by trailing 7-3, and then lose to Canada later, because if Germany and Norway are tied on points, Germany beat Norway earlier in the group stage and would go through on that basis.The USA are trailing Italy, who could jump them into the top four, especially as Canada are leading Great Britain 7-5 at the moment.At the figure skating we’ve had 17 skaters so far in the women’s singles, and still nobody has passed Petrosian’s score from the second skate of the night.

Another dozen to go,It is the biggest score of the night to close things out! Sit tuck, far left of the ramp as he takes off, nose butter, bio, 1620, and immaculate on the switch landing,There is a long wait with the three podium skiers at the bottom of the run,Forehand has one hand on gold, has held it for a couple of minutes, but then it changes possession,The score is 98.

5 for Frostad, to follow 97 on his second jump and 95.25 on his first.Forehand clocked two 95s and a 98.25, scores that would have got him gold almost anywhere, anytime, aside from tonight.Then Svancer had a 91 and two 95s to take bronze, and he is absolutely delighted with it.

Norway, USA, Austria the podium, but seeing the composure and ambition from those final three skiers to do what they did when required, with no more chances… what a performance.Forehand is into gold! Forget silver! It’s a 98.25.Nose butter triple 21 with safety grab, perfect rotations, perfect landing.“Oh my god!” yells Forehand at the bottom of the run, hands on his head, and that’s before the score comes out