Live: Dutch speedster clinches Olympic double, Walker ready for monobob

We’re counting down to the opening ice for the women’s ice hockey semifinal between United States and Sweden at Milano Santagiulia IHO Arena.

The US are the number one ranked team, desperate to avenge their loss in the Beijing gold medal game to Canada.

They beat hosts Italy 6-0 in the quarterfinal, and they will be hot favourites to advance past Sweden, who upset third seeds Czechia in the last eight.

The second semifinal will be between second seeds Canada and Switzerland.

We told you earlier about the women’s curling round robin, but there are also men’s games going on day 10.

While Sweden are the unbeaten team in women’s curling thus far, it’s Switzerland who are yet to lose in the men’s competition.

They are not up in the current block of four games.

One game has finished, while three are still going.

China has beaten Italy 11-4, while Canada is on the way to victory against Czechia, leading 7-1 in the seventh end.

Germany are leading Sweden 4-3 in the eight end, while Norway has just taken the lead against Great Britain after a nightmare final rock from Bruce Mouat missed, allowing a steal of two shots and a 6-4 lead going into the ninth end.

A reminder as we wait for Australia’s Bree Walker in women’s monobob later this morning (from 5:00am AEDT), that there are other events you shouldn’t miss out on on day 10.

One of those is the women’s freeski big air final at 5:30am AEDT, with Chinese star Eileen Gu trying to break through for her first gold medal at Milano Cortina and her third of her career.

Gu took the silver medal in the women’s freeski slopestyle earlier in the Games, and she is up against Switzerland’s Mathilde Gremaud (who won bronze in Beijing and won the slopestyle last week), and Canada’s Megan Oldham (who took bronze behind Gu and Gremaud in slopestyle.

US figure skater Ilia Malinin posted a video on social media on Monday with images of his successes followed by a black-and-white image of him with his head buried in his hands, and a caption hinting at an “inevitable crash” amid the pressure of the Olympics.

Malinin — known as the “Quad God” for his quadruple jumps in competition — who helped the U.S. clinch the team gold medal early in the Winter Games, was the heavy favourite to add another gold in the men’s singles event.

But he fell twice and struggled throughout his free skate on Friday, ending up in eighth.

He acknowledged later that the pressure of the Olympics had worn him down, saying: “I didn’t really know how to handle it.”

Malinin alluded again to the weight he felt while competing in Milan in the caption to his social media video.

“On the world’s biggest stage, those who appear the strongest may still be fighting invisible battles on the inside,” wrote the 21-year-old.

“Even your happiest memories can end up tainted by the noise. Vile online hatred attacks the mind and fear lures it into the darkness, no matter how hard you try to stay sane through the endless insurmountable pressure.

“It all builds up as these moments flash before your eyes, resulting in an inevitable crash.”

He will skate in the traditional closing figure skating gala on Sunday (Australian time).

Reporting from AP

The men’s slalom has been run and won, and after a dramatic finale, the gold medal has gone to Switzerland.

After defending champion Clement Noel of France skiied out of contention, it came down to the final two skiers.

Atle Lie McGrath of Norway was the fastest time of the entire competition in run one.

He had the last crack at the gold, with Switzerland’s Loic Meilliard — the reigning men’s slalom world champion — the man in his way.

Meilliard had set the overall time to beat, 1 minute 53.61 seconds.

McGrath set off down the mountain, but after an early glitch he was still going but then he hit a gate and slewed off course and out of the slalom.

His reaction was instantaneous, screaming into the Bormio sky and flinging his pole away in frustration as Meillard’s Swiss coaches pumped their fists on the slope in celebration.

McGrath had had enough. He side-walked across the course and ducked under the safety net before stalking away, still furious.

He went to the furthest side of the course and lay down in the snow.

Down the mountain, the celebrations were continuing, even as some of the slower first run skiers were still to come.

GOLD:  Loic Meillard (Switzerland): 1:53.61

SILVER:  Fabio Gstrein (Austria): 1:53.96

BRONZE: Henrik Kristofferson (Norway): 1:54.74

Well, it’s official, Beijing men’s slalom champion Clement Noel will not be on the podium in Milano Cortina.

The Frenchman was one of a host of skiers who fell foul of the tough conditions in the opening run. His first run of 58.10 seconds was nearly two full seconds behind Norwegian skier Atle Lie McGrath.

Noel has just made his second run, and although conditions have improved markedly, it was not his day.

Noel left the starting gate going hell for leather, and he stumbled and skiied out up near the top of the run to end his chances.

The tips of his inside ski went outside the gate, and that was it.

It’s a DNF for Noel.

It’s still kind of as you were in the two-man bobsleigh, with three German pairs in the three medal positions.

However things have changed around slightly, and some of those positions have tightened up after run two.

Johannes Lochner and Georg Fleischhauer led by 0.44 seconds after the first run, and they have extended their margin to a very healthy 0.8 seconds, despite putting in a much slower second run of 55.22..

Teammates Adam Ammour and Alexander Schaller were second but have now slipped to third, after losing speed in the later stages of run two to finish in 56.02. They now are 0.44 down on Francesco Friedrich and Alexander Schuller, who moved up after a second run of 55.54.

The closest competitors outside Germany are still the American pair of Frankie del Duca (one of the US flagbearers at the opening ceremony) and Joshua Williamson.

Del Duca and Williamson are now just 0.10 of a second off the medals.

The final two runs will be on Wednesday morning, Australian time, starting at 5am AEDT.

We’re back at Bormio for the second and final run of the men’s slalom.

The weather seems to have cleared and the conditions are improved at the Stelvio Ski Centre.

It’s a good thing too, after confirmation that 51 competitors failed to finish the first run and our out of the competition, compared to just 44 who got through.

Let’s see how the second run goes. Bear in mind that the second run is in reverse order to the finishing positions in run one, so we’ll be waiting for a while for the leaders.

We told you earlier about those three games in the women’s curling round robin.

Those games have finished, and leaders Sweden are still top of the rank after a 6-4 win over Switzerland. They have six wins from six games.

The other results saw Canada beat China 10-5, and Great Britain defeat Denmark 7-2.

Behind Sweden in the standings are the USA with a 4-1 record, then South Korea (3-2), Switzerland (3-2) and Denmark (also 3-2). Next are Canada (2-3), China (2-3), and Great Britain (2-3).

The top four will advance to the semifinals.

Snow has blanketed Livigno overnight, and is still falling now, making this magical Alpine valley even more like a winter wonderland.

The snow is heavy and the visibility is poor, so I’m not surprised everything was cancelled here.

But it sure has made everything feel delightfully wintery.

Well the Zambonis have been going into overdrive at Milano MSK-Competition Rink, trying to improve the surface of the ice for these next races, but who knows?

The DJ has been pumping a 90s megamix, but to be honest, I don’t think this crowd needs any more pumping up.

The final of the women’s 1,000m event is coming up with a stacked field including Dutch women’s 500m Olympic champion Xandra Velzeboer, Italian great Arianna Fontana, Canada’s Courtney Sarault, China’s Gong Li and South Korea’s Kim Gilli.

And it’s a fast, tactical race. Sarault gets to the first corner to take the lead, followed by Fontana and Velzeboer.

They’re holding position, but now with six laps to go Velzeboer passes the local heroine Fontana.

Now the moves are coming in, and Velzeboer hits the front.

Oh! China’s Gong Li bumps Fontana, passes her and leaves the Italian back at the back in fifth.

Here we go, it’s the Dutch speedster again! Velzeboer takes the gold, Canada’s Sarault wins the silver, and Korea’s Kim Gilli comes through for bronze!

Disappointment for the crowd as Fontana misses out on a 14th Olympic medal.

Velzeboer is just too strong. Congratulations to the Dutchwoman!

I wouldn’t say that semifinal 2 was quiet, exactly, but I’m fairly certain no-one hit the deck until the final 10m of that one, and the faller was a Belgian skater making a fruitless effort to try and crack the top two.

It’s Korea and the Netherlands who will go through to meet Canada and Italy as they race for the medals in the men’s 5,000m relay.

If chaos and sharp blades on ice is your thing, then tune in on Saturday morning at 7:18am AEDT for the final.

How do I describe the first semifinal of the men’s 5,000m relay in short-track speed skating?

Even more utter chaos. Sixteen people on the ice, four at a time, with hordes more idling around the inner circle waiting for their moment. Then they jump out onto the track itself and get shoved forward by their teammates.

That first semifinal was tense, with Italy involved and the crowd getting right into it.

There were close calls and inside runs and losing positions. Then with a few laps left, the three leading teams all gave their push to their teammates and ALL fell over. At least the skaters tagged in were still on track.

It had been China, Canada, Italy, then it ended up being Canada, Italy, China, with Hungary fourth.

It was all under review but the judges gave it the all clear, so Canada and Italy are through to the final.

The elephant in the room is, with all the skating action in this session so far, the condition of the ice is getting worse and the chances of falls are getting higher and higher. Strap yourselves in!

The home crowd in Milano is up and about after the second semifinal of the women’s 1,000m.

Italy’s Arianna Fontana has gone through to the A final in second place, along with SF winner Canada’s Courtney Sarault.

This means that Fontana will be skating in the final to try and win her FOURTEENTH Winter Olympic medal of her stellar career.

Good grief. If she wins one, the crowd will go crazy. If she manages to win gold, the roof could well lift off the stadium.

It’s like deja vu all over again at the short-track speed skating!

We’re in the semifinals of the women’s 1,000m, and there’s been a stack already.

Dutch skater Xandra Velzeboer — the women’s 500m champion from earlier in the Games — was leading and Belgium’s Hanne Desmet and Korea’s Kim Gilli were back in the pack when they got tangled and slid out.

Velzeboer breezed through ahead of China’s Gong Li, with Desmet penalised and Kim advanced.

That’s a rough day for the Desmet family — Hanne Desmet is the older sister of Stijn Desmet, who was penalised in the men’s 500m.

Well I’d say everyone is breathing a sigh of relief at the Stelvio that the first run of the men’s slalom is over.

That was utter chaos, caused in no large part by the conditions.

Forty-four men made it down to the bottom of the course legally.

About as many skied out, crashed or were otherwise disqualified as the snow bucketed down in Bormio.

After all that, the first two men to compete are the first two men in the standings — Norway’s Atle Lie McGrath has the fastest time in 56.14 seconds, and Swiss skier Loic Meillard has 56.73.

The bronze medal position at this stage is Austria’s Fabio Gstrein on 57.08.

Brendan Corey’s heat, while physical, was deemed clean. However we have had four penalties in the other heats, and three skaters have been advanced.

Which means the next round later in the week will have larger fields – and hence more chance of chaos.

Here are a few of the crashes below.

Ok, it’s time for Brendan Corey of Australia to take his stance at the starting line.

He’s up against Italy’s Thomas Nadalini, Dutch skater Melie van t’Wout and Poland’s Michal Niewinski.

Here we go …

And it’s a physical start, with Australia’s Corey trying to push forward but getting bumped to the outside as Italy’s Nadalini took the lead.

Corey ends up in fourth spot behind Niewinski, with Nadalini and van t’Wout clear in first and second.

This is not a great position for the Aussie, he’s in trouble well back.

Nadalini and van t’Wout are skating clear to advance. Niewinski can’t close in and Corey finishes fourth.

That’s a tough one.

We’ve had another collision in heat 2, more of that later.

We’re up to heat four, with defending champion Liu Shaoang, Poland’s Felix Pigeon and Austria’s Nicolas Andermann.

Here we go …  a safe race there, with Shaoang making it through on top ahead of Poland’s Pigeon.

Australia’s Brendan Corey will be in Heat 6.