Winter Olympics: Day 7 roundup

The day started with Yun Sungbin claiming gold in the men's skeleton. It was host nation South Korea's second gold medal of the Games.

Then came some drama in the women's slalom, where favorite Mikaela Shiffrin was expected to win her second gold in Pyeongchang. However, it emerged Shiffrin vomited before one of her runs and she finished in a disappointing fourth place.

There were suggestions Shiffrin may have been suffering from the norovirus, which hit two Swiss skiers this week, but she attributed her illness to nerves. Swede Frida Hansdotter nipped in to claim the gold prize.

Later in the day, there was disappointment for Germany veteran Claudia Pechstein as she failed to grab a medal in the women's 5000m speed skating. The seven-time Olympian had been chasing her 10th medal, which would have equaled a record for a speed skater. Rookie Esmee Visser from the Netherlands won gold in that event, ahead of the favorites.

And Belarus won its first gold of the Pyeongchang Games, Hanna Huskova snatching gold in the women's aerials. There were also golds for both Austria's Matthias Meyer, in the Super G, and Italy's Michela Moioli, in the women's snowboard cross.

As it happened:

**Day 7 Completed**

15:13 Final events

That's all she wrote for Day 7, be sure to come tomorrow for all the live updates of Day 8's action.

We finish with victories for Sweden and Finland over Germany and Norway, respectively.

Here are the gold medal events for Day 8 (all times CET):

• Men's Singles Figure Skating (2:00)
• Women's Super G (3:00)
• Women's Ski Slopestyle (5:56)
• Women's Cross-Country 4x5km Relay (10:30)
• Women's Biathlon 12.5km Mass Start (12:15) 
• Women's 1000m Short-Track Speed Skating (13:09)
• Men's 1000m Short-Track Speed Skating (13:24)
• Women's Skeleton (13:45)
• Men's Ski Jumping (14:30)

14:50 - Just the ice hockey left to play on Day 7 as the curling comes to a close.

Here are the results:

Japan 5-6 Switzerland

Sweden 8-6 Great Britain

Denmark 5-9 USA

Canada 7-6 South Korea

In the men's ice hockey, Sweden still lead Germany by a solitary goal, which was scored very early in the match. And Finland look comfortable against Norway, with a 4-1 advantage. Both games in the third period.

13:43 Action still to come

Well that's all the medal events for the day in the bag, but we still have men's curling and ice hockey and the women's skeleton heats (with finals coming tomorrow).

Finland are drawing 1-1 with Norway in the ice hockey, while Sweden lead Germany 1-0.

In curling, defending champions Canada are leading South Korea 4-3 in the seventh end.

13:19 GOLD FOR BELARUS

Hanna Huskova of Belarus has taken gold in the women's aerials. She posted a score of 96.14. China's Zhang Xin settles for silver, with compatriot Kong Fanyu taking bronze.

13:14 GOLD FOR NETHERLANDS

A gold medal for Esmee Visser, the 22-year-old rookie from the Netherlands, in the women's 5000m speed skating. She's absolutely stoked.

Czech Republic's Martina Sablikova finishes 1.62 seconds behind to take silver, while Olympic Athlete from Russia Natalya Voronina finishes in third 

Esmee's compatriot Annouk van der Weijden is devastated, however, she's been bumped out of the medal positions.

13:05 No medal for Pechstein

Claudia Pechstein well off the pace in the women's 5000m speed skating. She finishes more than 15 seconds behind the leader, Esmee Visser.

Blondin finishes 9.15 second behind. Enough for the bronze slot, for now. Annouk van der Weijden is in silver.

Martina Sablikova and Natalya Voronina, a Russian athlete, up now.

12:57 Pechstein starts!

Veteran Claudia Pechstein has started her 5000m speed skating run. She's skating alongside Ivanie Blondin of Canada, also a medal favorite.

The time to beat? 6:50:23. That's what Esmee Visser managed, eclipsing the time of Annouk van der Weijden, compatriot and previous leader, by almost four seconds.

Later to come, two-time defending gold medalist Martina Sablikova of the Czech Republic.

12:50 Pechstein rival in action

Young gun Esmee Visser, of the Netherlands, is running simultaneously with Misaki Oshigiri. She's steadily making up the gap on the current leader's time. Six laps to go.

12:42 Women's Aerials

Hanna Huskova of Belarus leads the standings, followed by China's Xu Mengtao. We're now heading into Final 2, where nine riders will be reduced to six for Final 3, which will determine the medal winners.

Defending gold medalist Alla Tsuper, also of Belarus, is among the chasing pack.

13:38 Women's Skeleton

In the women's skeleton heats - the medal event is tomorrow - world champion Jacqueline Lolling is leading the pack, jumping ahead of Tina Hermann. Both hail from Germany, which bodes well for the leaders of the medal tally.

12:32 Speed Skating 5000m

Well, Pechstein is still on the training bike and apparently she is scheduled to run about 12:57.

11:59 MEDAL EVENT

After a small pause we're back in the medal hunt. Claudia Pechstein is about to see if she can win her 10th Olympic medal in the 5000m speed skating.

The women's aerials is also about to kick off, with the final round set for a 12:50 start.

11:02 Pechstein Countdown

The women's 5000m speed skating is just an hour away, with Germany's Claudia Pechstein looking to claim her 10th gold medal in her seventh Olympic Games.

She's 45, turning 46 next week, and she's among the favorites!

One of her biggest competitors may be Dutch rookie Esmee Visser. She's 22, doubling her age doesn't even bring her close to Pechstein.

"It's incredible, I could be their mother," Pechstein said about her rivals.

10.51 Russia too strong

Slovenia grab a second goal but it's mere consolation, that's an 8-2 victory for Russia in the Group B match-up.

There will be two more games today in the men's ice hockey - Group C matches between Finland and Norway and Sweden and Germany at 13:10 (CET).

We'll also have some more men's curling action today! Four games start at 12:05 (CET), including defending gold medalists Canada, who face hosts South Korea.

10:32 Russian goals continue to flow

This result was decided early on, but Russia keep slotting the goals. It's 8-1 now in their group match against Slovenia. Ten minutes to play in the third period.

10:07 Russian Domination

Gee, the Olympic Athletes from Russia are looking slick in this men's ice hockey 'contest'. They've danced around Slovenia and lead 6-1 at the end of the second period. Ilya Kovalchuk has been the star with two goals.

9:36 Russian athletes lead Slovenia

The Olympic Athletes from Russia are leading Slovenia 3-0 in the ice hockey. We're into the second period.

9:30 Norovirus hits athletes

A reminder of the big 'off-snow/ice' news from the day is that two Swiss skiers have been hit by the norovirus. The virus had spread in Pyeongchang but these are the first competitors.

They are freestyle skiers Fabian Boesch and Elias Ambuehl - the former became a bit of a social media star after his escalator stunt (see below).

Hopefully the virus is contained - Boesch and Ambuehl's symptoms have reportedly subsided and that are not staying in the Olympic Village - but earlier today Mikaela Shiffrin vomited before competing in the Women's Slalom.

She initially said her sickness felt like a 'virus kind of puking', but later backtracked.

"I don't feel sick right now, I don't think I have a virus," she told reporters after the race.

"I was thinking that after the first run but it might have been a little bit of me trying to make an excuse."

The 22-year-old finished a disappointing fourth in the slalom, will skip Saturday's Super G, and hope to come back to compete for gold in the Women's Downhill.

9:23 Tonga Shoutout

Just a quick shoutout for Tongan Olympian Pita Taufatofua, who only started training for the cross country 12 weeks before the Games!

He finished the 15km freestyle, Roughly 30 minutes behind the winner, but still a pretty impressive achievement. Props!

9:02 Canada lose again!

A bit of a shock in the women's curling, Canada have lost to Denmark 9-8 after the game went to an 11th end. Skip Rachel Homan threw poorly with her last two attempts, That's the third loss in a row for the defending gold medalists.

Sweden won their extra end 1-0, meaning a 5-4 victory over OAR.

08:49 Curling extra time!

South Korea defeated Switzerland 7-5. But in the other two matches we have an 11th end!

Denmark tied the scores 8-8 in the 10th against Canada, so we're heading for an 11th! And OAR also made it 4-4 against Sweden, so there'll be an extra end there too.

08:40 Back in the rink

Olympic Athletes from Russia are in action against Slovenia in the ice hockey.

Earlier this morning, the USA struggled to overcome Slovakia, missing a plethora of chances before grabbing a slim 2-1 victory.

08:23 Tears in the snow

Love some Olympic tears and it's Switzerland's Dario Cologna's turn after his gold in the cross country 15km. How it must feel to see years of hard work pay off in one defining moment. Incredible.

08:14 Canada on track

Back to some women's curling and Canada are leading Denmark 8-6, we're in the ninth end. The Canadian accents and Danish language are a delightful mix to listen to in the background.

South Korea have had their lead shortened, they are 5-4 up over Switzerland. And Sweden have tied up their match with OAR 2-2.

08:11 GOLD FOR SWITZERLAND!

It's been confirmed, Dario Cologna's time won't be beaten. He's won the gold! His third gold gong in the Men's Cross-Country 15km Freestyle.

Simon Hegstad Krueger (Norway) is in silver, for now, with Denis Spitsov (OAR) currently with bronze.

08:08 Men's Cross Country

The lead in this event changes every minute, sometime every few seconds.

Simon Hegstad Krueger was the fastest to cross the finish line, with a time of 34:02:2 - but there are still a few skiers to come. Dario Cologna beats his time by a good 15 seconds, the Swiss is now in the gold medal spot.

07:56 Curling time!

This sport can get you pretty involved after a dull opening few minutes. Give it a shot. It's still only the round robins but here are a few score updates from the current match-ups!

— Denmark 6-7 Canada

— South Korea 5-3 Switzerland

— Sweden 1-2 Olympic Athletes from Russia

07:30 Men's Cross-Country Skiing

The 15km cross country is underway and there are more than 100 skiers out there. Huge field, the lead will change multiple times, requires a lot of maths to figure out who's leading. So we'll have to wait a little while before figuring out the medal hopes!

07:15 SUMMARY

Colleague Matt Pearson has head off for a well-earned rest, here's a quick summary of the day's action so far, with three gold medal events remaining.

    — Gold for home-nation athlete Yun Sungbin in the Men's Skeleton

    — Frida Hansdotter wins the Women's Slalom, with Mikaela Shiffrin finishing fourth after vomiting

    — A thrilling finish in the Women's Snowboard Cross saw Italy's Michela Moioli claim gold

    — Austria's Matthias Meyer won the Men's Super G

    — And two Swiss skiers have been struck down with the norovirus, the first athletes to be affected

Still more to come throughout Day 7, so stay tuned!

06:55 - Reports are emerging that Mikaela Shiffrin will skip the women's super-G, presumably as a result of the symptoms that hindered her earlier.

06:38- There are no medals being handed out in the figure skating today, but perhaps there should have been! In the men's single skating short program, Japan's Yuzuru Hanyu delivered a performance for the ages, landing a massive score of 111.68. Qualifying for tomorrow's final in second place was Hanyu's rival and training partner, Spain's Javier Fernandez (107.58). Hanyu's countryman Shoma Uno qualified in third (104.17).

Hanyu's performance was met by plenty of Winnie the Pooh bears being thrown on the ice by his fans. The bear is the Japanese skater's favorite. Both his performance and the crowd's reaction was worth watching.

06:30 - Victory for the US! A tough battle out on the ice but the American's have recovered from that opening day defeat to Slovenia by overcoming Slovakia 2-1. Later on this morning, OAR take on Slovenia before this afternoon Finland take on Norway and Sweden play Germany.

06:00 - GOLD FOR SWEDEN! Switzerland's Wendy Holdener takes to the snow last and finishes an agonizing 0,05 seconds behind new Olympic champions Frida Hansdotter. Austraian Katharina Gallhuber takes bronze, meaning Mikaela Shiffrin comes in fourth.

05:55 - Whether it was the virus or not, Shiffrin is in danger of missing out on a medal here. She starts strongly but fades and is in second with three to race.

05:52 - It's worth noting, in the wake of the news of a - now confirmed - norovirus outbreak among the athletes (see 04:45) that Mikaela Shiffrin told American network NBC earlier that she vomited before her race a few hours ago. "It almost felt like a virus kind of puking, less about nerves," she said. We'll see if it effects her in the final shortly.

05:32 - There could be something of a shock brewing in the men's ice hockey. Slovakia are holding the United States to 1-1 in the second period. It sounds like the US have spurned plenty of opportunities.

05:15 - The final of the women's slalom has just begun, with Mikaela Shiffrin slated to be the 27th of 59 remaining competitors. She was only fourth best in the first run earlier on.

05:00 - GOLD FOR ITALY! There's no happy ending for Jacobellis as she loses an early lead to come fourth. It's Italy's Michela Moioli who flies through the pack to win. Julia Pereira Mabileau, who's just 16, took silver for France and Eva Samkova, of the Czech Republic, picked up bronze in a spectacular finish that saw two athletes hit the deck meters out from the line.

04:55 - Just time for a quick curling update before the snowboard cross final. Sweden beat the USA 10-4, Norway triumphed 7-5 against South Korea and Italy fell to a 6-4 loss to Denmark.

04:50 - Back on the snow and Lindsey Jacobellis has made it through to the snowboard cross final. She'll have a chance to make amends for that famous moment in Sochi when she lost a certain gold after showboating to the crowd in the final stages of the race.

04:45 - Stepping away from the sport for a second and Reuters are reporting that two Swiss frestyle skiers have contracted the norovirus. If confirmed, they would be the first athletes at the games to fall ill.

04:35 - After that little golden flurry, we're on to the next event, with the women’s snowboard cross finals about to begin. We're at the semifinal stage there.

04:20 - GOLD FOR AUSTRIA! Matthias Meyer has taken gold in the men's super G to add to his downhill gold from Sochi four years ago. He finished ahead of Swiss athlete Beat Feuz and early leader Kjetil Jansrud of Norway.

03:56 - GOLD FOR SOUTH KOREA! It's a second gold medal of the Olympics for South Korea as Yun Sungbin holds on to his lead in the men's skeleton. He won by half a second but it was much tighter behind him. Nikita Tregubov - an Olympic Athlete from Russia - edged Briatin's Dom Parsons in to bronze by .05 of a second. Parsons, in turn, was .02 seconds quicker than Tomass Dukurs of Latvia. That's a first medal of the games for Britain.

03:53 - Back at the skeleton, things are incredibly tight, hundreths of seconds are separating the minor medals. Confirmation any second.

03:47 - The remaining two Germans, Josef Ferstl and Thomas Dressen, follow each other down and fail to trouble the podium. But we do have a new leader, Austria's Matthias Mayer nipping ahead of Jansrud. Mayer won gold in the downhill at the last Olympics.

03:30 - There'll be no medal for Germany's Andreas Sander. A decent but not spectacular run leaves him in 5th. There will also be no 'speed double' for Aksel Lund Svindal, who trails his Norwegian compatriot Kjetil Jansrud. Svindal became the oldest Olympic alpine skiing champion ever at 35 years old on Thursday in the downhill event.

03:22 - Over in the skeleton, it's down to the final 20. Yun Sungbin, of South Korea, looks to have the gold medal sewn up but there's one more run to go. The remaining competitors will go in reverse order.

03:02 - The first medal of the day will be decided shortly because the men's super G has just begun. Simple one to understand this, the fastest man down the slalom course wins. Germany has three entrants in this open but Italy's Peter Fill is first up. There are 62 competitors in all.

02:48 - History has just been made in the men's short program figure skating. American Vincent Zhou, just 17, landed the first quad Lutz in Olympic history. The Lutz is a toepick-assisted jump and the quad means Zhou was able to get four turns in while in the air! Remarkable stuff! No medals today, but Zhou leads at the moment ahead of Italy's Matteo Rizzo and France's Chafik Besseghier. The leaderboard has thrown up quite the global spread too with athletes from Kazakhstan, the Philippines, Spain and the Ukraine following the top three.

02:30 - The men's skeleton has just Anthony Watson from Jamaica and Akwasi Frimpong from Ghana head down the run. The pair don't post competitive times, but they're dancing their way on and off the track. True Olympic spirit right there! It's not always about winning - just being a part is a special moment for many of the athletes at the Games. And look at Frimpong's helmet!

02:12 - Things don't get better for Shiffrin either as two Swedish skiiers fly down to take second and third spot. Frida Hansdotter and Anna Swenn Larsson push the American down into fourth. A lot of racers left and another run for all, but are we in for a surprise?

02:05 - Not a perfect start for the American, who is a touch ragged and is giving up half a second to leader Wendy Holdener, of Switzerland.

02:00 - The Women's Slalom is now underway, with Mikaela Shiffrin looking for a second gold in two days. But it's Norwegian Nina Haver-Loseth who begins proceedings with a tidy performance, just one small error there. Shiffrin is up fourth in this re-scheduled run following the high winds earlier in the week.

01:53 - On the Skeleton, it's worth noting that there's been plenty of chat about the British teams suits for that event, which feature rough areas designed to pull fast-moving air over the wearer. Parsons is currently in third.

01:40 - Over at the evocatively-named Sliding Center, the Men's Skeleton heats are just beginning. Home favorite Yun Sungbin is the man to beat after Wednesday's heats, while Great Britain are hoping for a first medal of the games from Dom Parsons, he's currently in third. The final of that will be at 03:15.

01:25 - The Koreans take the first end in the curling and, exciting as that is, all eyes will soon turn to Mikaela Shiffrin. The American is one of the undoubted stars of the Winter Olympics and will be looking for gold medals on consecutive days. She has her first slalom run at 02:00, with the gold medal run a few hours later.

01:05 - We start off with a spot of curling. Norway, complete with their rather fetching polkadot trousers have just started against South Korea while Italy are taking on Denmark and Sweden face the USA. These are just round robin matches.

01:00 - Hello again, and welcome to day 7 of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. There are all sorts of events to keep an eye out for today, with all the medal events listed below. But before we get started there's enough time to catch up on yesterday's action and read about the ageless Claudia Pechstein.