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Wednesday Winter Olympics Thread
Lots of good stuff yesterday. I'll go in (roughly) chronological order.
Britain (unsurprisingly) crash out of the women's curling as Canada win 6-5 in a tight match and Switzerland win 4-2 which means there wasn't a place in the semi-final anyway. Canada, Sweden, China and Switzerland contest the medals - should be a Canada/Sweden final. In the men's event, Britain are well beaten by the Norwegians and face a playoff with Sweden for a place in the semi-finals. If we lose that as well, we really don't deserve a medal.
Giant Slalom's first round took place at the same time, with a 17 year old finishing with only one pole, and India's Jamyang Namgial finishing almost 30 seconds off the pace. South Africa's entrant gets hilariously disqualified right at the start by mistaking a warning beep for the start countdown. Switzerland and Norway take the podium spots in the final.
Finland and USA start with a commanding lead in the Nordic Combined, but Austria manage to overhaul both to finish over half a minute ahead. Germany take the bronze spot as Finland have a clearly disappointing run in the second half.
Ice Hockey - Canada thrash Germany 8-2 while Switzerland, with Canada's second going directly THROUGH the net. Czech Republic and Slovakia all win by narrow margins to get into the quarter finals. Canada/Russia's going to be fun tonight.
Speed Skating... Hilarious and yet gutting in equal measures. Korea's Lee Seung-Hoon sets an early Olympic record of under 13 minutes in the 10,000m and looks near unbeatable, barring an excellent skate from Sven Kramer. He duly puts in a brilliant skate to smash the new record by around four seconds and get disqualified on a technicality. And cost me the money I had riding on him. Pity that.
Women's team biathlon - hilariously everyone tries to lose it. France have a nightmare third leg and Germany slip back into the chasing pack while Russia hold their nerve to stay in first place from the second leg onwards.
The usual spills and thrills in the women's ski cross. Canada go gold again being fortunate enough to have someone capable of getting over the first obstacle without stopping/climbing up/going backwards. Britain's entrant failed to get through to the races.
Women's bobsleigh was excellent. Really not sure about Britain 1's boasts of going for gold, but I'm sure that having the aspirations is good. Anyway, Canada 1 and USA 2 have a good lead after two runs and somehow everyone got down both heats safely, although how some of the sleds stayed upright is beyond me. A poor first run saw Ireland in the ignominy of last place, but a much better second one boosted them up and back in touch with the tail enders. 18th looks realistic for them.
Think that's about everything. Tonight is essentially more of the same, except with short-track skating included and no biathlon.