February 17th, remember the date. The day where Team GB enjoyed its most successful Winter Olympic Day in history.
February 17th, remember the date. The day where Team GB enjoyed its most successful Winter Olympic Day in history. Izzy Atkin kicked things off by claiming Team GB's first-ever skiing medal with bronze in the freestyle skiing slopestyle final. And then there was not just one, but two, podium finishes secured over at the Olympic Sliding Centre as Lizzy Yarnold took gold and Laura Deas bronze in the women's skeleton. In successfully defending her title, Yarnold cemented herself as Britain's most successful Winter Olympian, becoming the first athlete to win back-to-back golds at successive Winter Games. She and Deas also ensured it was the first time Team GB had seen two separate medallists on the podium in the same event while their results ensured Team GB won three medals on the same day at a Olympic Winter Games ever. Add in Dom Parsons skeleton bronze from Friday and Team GB have already matched Chamonix 1924 and Sochi 2014 in terms of most medals won at a single Games, with a whole week still to go... Let's relive that magical day.
09:05 (00:05 UK time) Curling The first Brits in action for the day are the women's curlers as they take on Denmark in session five of the round robin stages. And it's a victorious start as Team Muirhead triumph 7-6. 10:00 (01:00am UK time) Freestyle skiing Izzy Atkin and Katie Summerhayes prepare to drop in for the qualification rounds of the women's freestyle skiing slopestyle final at the Phoenix Snow Park. Atkin would suffer a fall on her opening run but two-time Olympian Summerhayes lays down a score of 75.80 to sit sixth.
10:52 (01:52am UK time) Freestyle skiing Time for the second and final qualification round. Atkin shows no further signs of nerves after her earlier fall to post 86.60 and fly up into fourth place. Summerhayes consolidates her top 12 position with 77.60 to ensure both Brits move into the final. First job done
13:00 (04:00am UK time) Freestyle skiing Starting in reverse order, it is Summerhayes who drops first for Team GB, laying down a run worth 61.40 before Atkin follows that up with 68.40 to see them in fourth and fifth respectively. 13:28 (04:28am UK time) Freestyle skiing It's another solid run from Summerhayes, who remarkably almost didn't begin the competition due to aggravating an ankle injury in training in the morning. She moves onto 71.40 for seventh. Atkin meanwhile moves into the medal positions after an impressive 79.40 run. Could a medal be on the cards?
13:56 (04:56am UK time) Freestyle skiing Summerhayes looks for one final effort, aiming to improve on her seventh place from Sochi four years ago. It's not to be as she takes a tumble but her second run score is still enough for her to equal her Olympic best. Attention then turns to Atkin who is now lying in fourth ahead of her final run. She delivers with a score of 84.60 but with three skiers still to drop, it's all set to be a nervous wait to see if she can hold of bronze. Tension is high but Norwegian duo Johanne Killi and Tiril Sjaastad Christiansen cannot better her score. That then leaves all eyes on pre-competition favourite Emma Dahlstrom but another fall rules her out. It's bronze for Team GB's Atkin!
14:05 (05:05am UK time) Curling Second curling action of the day for Team GB and it's the men who take on the hosts. Unfortunately for Kyle Smith and his rink, they cannot get the better of the South Koreans who triumph 11-5. 19:00 (10:00am UK time) Short track speed skating It's all set to be a busy night with multiple medal chances for Team GB across skeleton and short track speed skating. The latter is the first to get underway with the women's 1500m heats.
19:04 (10:04am UK time) Short track speed skating Kathryn Thomson is the first Brit up on the ice in heat two but she misses out on progressing, finishing fourth.
19:08 (10:08am UK time) Short track speed skating There is better luck for Charlotte Gilmartin who skates into the semi-finals by finishing third in heat three.
19:16 (10:16am UK time) Short track speed skating A little wait until the final British female in heat five but Elise Christie wins to comfortably progress
19:50 (10:50am UK time) Short track speed skating Time to switch attention to the men and Farrell Treacy in the 1000m. Unfortunately the Brit can only finish fourth, but still an encouraging result from the Team GB debutant.
20:00 (11:00am UK time) Freestyle skiing Back to the Phoenix Snow Park where Lloyd Wallace is taking part under the lights in qualification for the men's aerials. A fall of his landing leaves him taking a tumble but he recovers with his second effort to finish 14th overall. Not enough to progress but still promising from the Team GB debutant who was in a coma last summer.
20:05 (11:05am UK time) Curling Third and final curling clash for Team GB of the day. Can the women exact revenge for the men over South Korea? Sadly not. Eve Muirhead's rink fall to a 7-4 defeat. 20:17 (11:17am UK time) Short track speed skating Charlotte Gilmartin is the first Brit to skate in the semi-finals but she cannot find a way through, eventually finishing in fifth.
20:20 (11:20am UK time) Skeleton The waiting is over for Laura Deas and Lizzy Yarnold as the final two runs of the women's skeleton gets underway. The former goes first, consolidating her fourth place to sit nine hundredths of a second off bronze. Yarnold is even better, moving up from third to second, just two hundredths off Janine Flock in first. Just 0.19 separates first to fourth. This is tight. 20:21 (11:21am UK time) Short track speed skating Women's 1500m semi-finals time and Christie is in semi-final two. But it is heartbreak for the three-time world champion as she takes a fall and crashes out of the race, before being taken to hospital for checks.
21:45 (12:45pm UK time) Skeleton After a small break, all eyes are on the track as the competitors go in reverse order, leaving Deas and Yarnold among the final four. It's the turn of Deas. And she posts her quickest time across all four runs to move into the medal spots! Germany's Jacqueline Loelling follows and bumps Deas down into silver. Now it's Yarnold, what can the reigning Olympic champion do? A track record 51.46 seconds that's what! She moves into first with a 0.45 second margin. It's just Janine Flock to go. But the Austrian makes a mistake on the lower section of the run. Gold goes to Yarnold! And Flock has lost enough time that Deas holds onto bronze by 0.02 seconds. Cue the celebrations and tears from the Brits.
Sportsbeat 2018