And that’s it for the medals at Beijing today. Sweden have only won three medals so far, four fewer than the ROC, but all of them are Gold so they sit on top of the table. A lovely quirk. Slovenia, China and Italy all added to their gold columns during tonight’s session.

Related: Beijing Winter Olympics 2022: latest medal table

Curling: Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat are shattered. The latter blames himself for the fade out: “Jen played amazing throughout. That’s the hardest bit for me: I let the team down.” Dodds won’t accept that, praising her partner, but what can you say? They will play Sweden for the bronze medal tomorrow after Italy – participating in this format for the first time – hammered them 8-1.

Curling: we have the grandstand finish here. Team GB only managed to take one shot from their powerplay leaving it 5-5 going into the eighth and final end. With four stones to go, only two are on the dancefloor. Find a telly, this could be a wild conclusion.

Curling: The powerplay worked, Norway banking three shots in the sixth end to pinch the lead 5-4 with two ends to go! Team GB’s turn to respond, pulling the powerplay lever themselves. “A massive opportunity missed,” says Steve Cram on commentary when Bruce Mouat’s stone doesn’t curl enough to deflect into shot. It allows Norway to pop a guard in with their final stone – also a mistake, we’re told. A sport of strategy, that’s certain. Team GB have called a timeout to consider their options before this vital final stone.

We’re nearly away in the men’s 1000m final. They’ve been pulled up on safety grounds at their first attempt. Now, something similiar how this event was won at Salt Lake City in 2002? Go on, do it.

That could have been a lot worse for Norway, but they complete a bad end giving up just one shot, GB leading 4-2 with three to play. Norway use their powerplay! The place stones are moved off to the left, while they hold the hammer. In summary, it gives them a better chance to rack up multiple shots in one end. And they’ll need to.

They’re about to jump in the women’s 500m final. Buckle up!

I can’t speak with real authority on the career of Kristin Skaslien, but on the available evidence, she is a clutch performer. With the final stone here, she steals the win over GB who had three shots in position. After four ends – the halfway mark – Dodds/Mouat lead 3-2. Meanwhile in the other semi, Italy are thumping Sweden 5-0.

“It’s not over until the bloke with the clipboard sings,” writes Mysterion_Voice on twitter of the short-track speed skating. And so it goes with the second-semi of the men’s 1000m with Hungarian Liu Shaoang getting the nod and Juneso Le (KOR) given the flick by the TV official with the latter tripping the former in their battle for second, so it was decided after several minutes of deliberation.

The five finalists are:

Ren Ziwei (CHN), Shaolin Sandor Lui (HUN), Li Wenlong (CHN), Wu Dajing (CHN) and Liu Shaoang (HUN).

First up though, the women’s 500m final – all the stars made it:

Adriana Fontana (ITA), Kim Boutin (CAN), Suzanne Shulting (NED), Zhang Yuting (CHN) and Hanne Desmet (BEL).

It’s punch for punch in the curling. Skaslien didn’t get it right in the first end but did with the decisive stone of the second, knocking the Team GB pair out of shot. But they’ve bounced back in style in the next end, getting three shots in place early. It’s up to Skaslien again who drives with the precision of Rob Parella in the gold medal game of the lawn bowls at the Auckland 1990 Comm Games. She’s succesful in knocking two away from danger – nicely played. But can Dodds slot in a second with the final stone? She sure can! Centimetre perfect grom the Scot! So, after three ends, the GB pair lead 3-1.

Supreme work from Arianna Fontana (ITA). The defending champion overtook Kim Boutin (CAN), the world record holder, with a thundering turn of pace at the start the last lap. They both advance to the final of the women’s 500m. A fall in the second semi, Desmet (BEL) hitting the deck when in second spot but she was well behind Suzanne Schulting (NED) who is through easily. There’s a review to determine what happened to Desmet… and she’s saved by the television ref! The push was detected, the penalty issued. Zhang Yuting (CHN) makes the cut too. Five skaters will race for gold.

The pressure on Skaslien, she has to thread the needle with the final stone of the first end… and doesn’t come close – gave it too much welly. A top start for Team GB, they lead 1-0.

Brendan Corey is out of the men’s short track speed skating. The Australian was in third when the bell rang, tried to find a gap that wasn’t there to enter the top two and finished in the wall instead.

And while we’re back at the skating for a moment, here are the semi-final start lists for the women’s 500m – coming up shortly.

Semi-final one:
Kim Boutin (CAN)
Adrianna Fontana (ITA)
Adrianna Valcepina (ITA)
Elena Sergina (ROC)
Alyson Charles (CAN)

Semi-final two:
Suzanne Schulting (NED)
Hanne Desmet (BEL)
Qu Chunya (CHN)
Petra Jaszapati (HUN)
Zhang Yuting (CHN)

To the curling! A huge moment for Team GB’s mixed doubles pair Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat – time for their semi-final against Norway’s Kristin Skaslien and Magnus Nedregotten. It’s the best of eight ends with the Norwegians holding the hammer for the first of those on the basis that they finished higher on the table. Dodds has the first stone and lands it right on the Olympic rings. We’re away.

Related: Britain’s mixed curlers slide into semi-finals despite defeat by Norway

The men’s 1000m quarters begin. And three skaters are on the ice with laps to go, Andrew Heo (USA) and Jordan Pierre-Gilles (CAN) able to walk to the line and the semis. Yikes, that was a big tumble for Korean Janghyuk Park – the medical team are taking him away with a banged-up wrist. He’s not in a good way, the poor fella.

“Are you out in Beijing Adam?” asks Michael Simpson. “Slightly colder sporting disciplines than the usual for yourself!” True enough – not conventional cricket weather; currently -1 in the Chinese capital. However, brilliant as it would be, I’m not in situ.

Arianna Fortana has nine Olympic medals and she’s every chance of adding a tenth for Italy later tonight, cruising through her quarter final while her competitors took each other out in pursuit. “Oh dear” says the caller after a second false start to the fourth race, wiping out another Italian, Martina Valcepina. “That’s a tough one to take.” Now a broken skate when they have a fourth crack at starting the race. I might leave it there for now but if the rest of the night at the Capital Indoor Stadium runs like that, it’ll make brilliant TV.

Some drama to start the short-track quarters! Naturally. Women’s 500m to begin. Kim Boutin, Canadian superstar, is through easily and it is a Canadian one, two “but not the two we were expecting” says the race caller after Alyson Charles hits the deck during the final lap! Upstairs we go with the television referee to decide what went on and he decides it was the third Canadian, Florence Brunelle, at fault. Thus, he gives Charles a ticket to the semi-final along with Italian Arianna Valcepina. The TV official will be a busy boy tonight.

I neglected to mention, there is also an Australian in the 1000m short-track speed skating – quarter-finals starting shortly. Brendan Corey, a 20-year-old who was born in Canada before moving with his family a couple of years ago, broke the national record in the heats.

Of course, it is 20 years since Steven Bradbury won Australia’s first gold medal in Winter Games history in the same event. A lovely fella and true pioneer in his field – an awful lot more than the meme of that wildly bonkers final at Salt Lake City. Still, what a moment.

Nice job, Luke. Hello everyone. It’s 7pm Beijing time on the first Monday of these XXIV Winter Games, and I assure you there’s plenty coming between now and the close of play in the Olympic City.

Firstly, from a Team GB perspective, in about an hour we’re up to the business end of the mixed doubles curling with Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat in their semi-final against Norway’s Kristin Skaslien and Magnus Nedregotten. But it’s worth noting the married Norwegian duo (we’ll talk more about this later, I’m sure) accounted for the Scots them comfortably, 6-2, in the round-robin stage.

Throughout that clash, we’ll also have a close eye on the chaos of the short-track speed skating, from the quarter-finals, starting in half an hour, to the medal races in the women’s 500m and men’s 1000m. Can Canadian superstar Kim Boutin add gold to her silver and two bronze medals at Pyeongchang? For the men, Wu Dajing is looking to defend his Olympic crown in this event and secure the host nation their second gold of these Games so far.

Just before 9pm in China we’ll be off to the mixed team ski-jumping as well – the first time that it has been run and won at the Olympics. It is an event where four competitors jump for each nation, two men and two women. Germany go in as world champions from 2021.

Then deeper into the night, at Yanqing Sliding Centre, the women will be in the early stages of their single luge competition. And lastly, more women’s ice hockey at the national indoor stadium – China v Sweden and Swizerland v Finland – to round out the night.

Keep me company by dropping me a line or pinging me a tweet.

Related: Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics schedule: full programme and live scores

That’s all from me. I’ll hand you over to my colleague Adam Collins to take you through to close of play.

Another member of the Sadowski-Synnott family has struck gold after Zoi Sadowski-Synnott’s dad Sean went viral on social media for a sweary live television interview in New Zealand, in the wake of her winning the nation’s first ever Winter Olympics gold medal.

Related: Zoi Sadowski-Synnott’s father sparks joy with TV interview after historic gold

See below for links to all the Winter Olympics content we’ve published today … plenty more to come:

Related: ‘A dream came true’ – Beat Feuz wins blue riband men’s Olympic downhill Related: Defending Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin out of giant slalom on first run Related: Peng Shuai says Weibo post sparked ‘enormous misunderstanding’ Related: Beijing Winter Olympics 2022: day three – in pictures Related: Olympic hockey match delayed before players return to ice in masks under helmets Related: Gold medal puts Jakara Anthony in exclusive Australian club after realising childhood Olympic dream

Daniel Hemetsberger. As I said, ouch.

Evocative images from day three. I was going to say beautiful, but there is one of the skier Daniel Hemetsberger, of Austria, with blood all over his face after he hit a gate in the men’s downhill. Ouch.

Related: Beijing Winter Olympics 2022: day three – in pictures

The medal ceremony for the women’s 15km biathlon is ongoing now. There is a huge smile from Denise Herrmann of Germany as she takes the top step of the podium. She jumps up and down in delight and waves to the camera. A fine effort – the first German to win gold in the event since 2002.

Denmark close out a 3-2 win against Czech Republic in Group B of the women’s ice hockey.

A Polish short-track speed skater recalled on Monday “crying like crazy” in the back of an ambulance after a 3am knock on the door of her isolation hotel room at the Winter Games by employees wearing cameras on their belts.

Related: Polish skater Maliszewska reveals ‘traumatic’ Winter Olympics isolation

The speed skating great Ireen Wüst swept around the Beijing oval in a time of 1:53.28secs to win the 1500m at the Winter Games on Monday and claim her sixth Olympic gold medal. Wüst, the reigning champion, set the pace with an Olympic record time in her race and watched on as world record holder Miho Takagi of Japan failed to match it in the final pair.

Takagi claimed the silver behind Wüst for the second successive Olympics in 1:53.72 and Dutchwoman Antoinette de Jong took bronze in 1:54.82. Wüst is the most decorated Dutch Olympian, and adds another gold medal to the five that she has won over four previous Games since her Olympic debut in Turin in 2006. The 35-year-old has said the Beijing Olympics will be her last before she retires. (Reuters)

On to ice hockey, now … Denmark lead Czech Republic 3-2, with under three minutes to play in the third period, in Group B of the women’s competition. Japan, China and Sweden are the other nations in the group and Japan are currently top with three wins out of two.

In 90 minutes or so, the Great Britain team go into action in the curling mixed doubles semi-final, against Norway. Italy and Sweden contest the other semi-final.

Here’s a more recent piece, which I confess I missed at the time, by Paul MacInnes on Cornelius Kersten and Ellia Smedding:

Related: Cornelius Kersten, the speed skater who has ended Team GB’s long wait

“I believe Ellia Smedding is training and living in Heerenveen, where the world-class Thialf ice arena is, since she was a teenager,” writes Stan de Greef on email. “Thanks for your reports on Wüst!”

Thanks for the email, Stan.

Denise Herrmann of Germany has 15km biathlon gold wrapped up, it seems. It looked like she might have left the door open for someone to overhaul her time, a little earlier, but I don’t think anyone can catch her now.

Inge Kersten emails from the Netherlands, celebrating Wüst’s incredible success, and also wondering where Ellia Smeding of Great Britain does her training. I confess, I have no idea. Can anyone tell me? Email me!

Here’s a piece from back in 2018, by Andy Bull, on why the Dutch are so good at skating:

Related: Champagne on ice: the mystery and myths behind Dutch skating success

The sheer physical effort being expended by the competitors in the 15km biathlon is plain to see. They are, mostly, collapsing in exhaustion at the finish line. Combine the skiing with the mental application and calmness needed for the shooting and it’s an insanely demanding event.

Anyway, as it stands, Herrmann, Chevalier-Bouchet and Røiseland are taking gold, silver and bronze respectively.

Wüst’s gold-medal streak at the Winter Olympics stretches back to 2006. What a phenomenal achievement.

Vanessa Voigt, of Germany, narrowly misses a podium spot in the women’s 15km biathlon! She comes home less than a second behind Røiseland. Herrmann stays top.

Herrmann, Chevalier-Bouchet and Røiseland are in the medal positions in the women’s 15km individual biathlon at the moment. Dzinara Alimbekava comes home in 44’44”4 to place fourth, as it stands, and pushes the world champion Marketa Davidova down to fifth.

Herrmann comes home with 19/20 in the biathlon … she collapses in exhaustion just after the finish line. The German’s mark of 44’12” is currently leading time. That’s 15” ahead of Marte Røiseland of Norway, as it stands. Will it be enough?

Ragne Wiklund, the 2021 world champion, cannot knock Wüst off the top of the standings in the skating.

Chevalier-Bouchet misses for the first time! Her coach looks annoyed, it was all going so well. She notches 19/20 like Herrman.

Herrman pushed down to sixth in the 15km biathlon … but finishes strongly with a perfect final shoot, and registers 19/20 overall.

Ireen Wüst of the Netherlands sets an Olympic record in the women’s 1500m speed skating final! 1min 53 sec. It’s all happening. Can anyone beat that?

Anaïs Chevalier-Bouchet of France now leads the 15km women’s biathlon, with 15 out of 15 in the shooting! Herrman, the previous leader, missed a few moments ago.

Davidova nails five out of five on her latest prone shoot and is in second place.

Beautiful images from yesterday’s action:

Related: Beijing Winter Olympics 2022: day two – in pictures

In the women’s biathlon, Denise Herrman of Germany is currently leading with two perfect shoots, in other words, 10 out of 10. The world champion, Davidova, is also going well.

The most consistent downhill skier of all time finally added the lone piece of hardware missing from his trophy case on Monday when Switzerland’s Beat Feuz struck gold in the sport’s most prestigious event.

Related: ‘A dream came true’ – Beat Feuz wins blue riband men’s Olympic downhill

“Hello Luke, Geoff Lemon was right to point out the splendidly named Mac Forehand in the list of qualifiers for the men’s Freeski Big Air,” emails Duncan Cooper from Stockholm.

“His is not the only splendid name in the list, though. Qualifying from Sweden at the bottom of the list is Jesper Tjäder. ‘Tjäder’ is the Swedish word for capercaillie, so his name translates as Jesper Capercaillie. Tremendous.”

That sounds entirely plausible. Thanks Duncan. Personally I think Beat Feuz is hard to, er, beat, when it comes to Winter Olympics names.

Great Britain’s curling semi-final against Norway is coming up at just after 12pm UK time. A little less than three hours away, in other words. Bruce Mouat and Jen Dodds will be assured of a silver medal if they can win it.

The women’s 15km biathlon is under way. Marketa Davidova of Czech Republic, the reigning world champion, has just sped out of the starting gate.

Makayla Gerken Schofield, who produced a brilliant run to finish eighth in the women’s moguls yesterday, is having a chat with the BBC now.

You can see the schedule here:

Related: Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics schedule: full programme and live scores

Coming up in the next little while: Women’s 15km individual biathlon, short track skating, ski jumping (mixed team – normal hill), and women’s single luge (Run 1)

Evgeniia Lalenkova, of the Russian Olympic Committee, has just gone fastest in the skating. Smeding of Great Britain is out of the top 10.

There were strange scenes earlier in the women’s ice hockey. A preliminary round game between Canada and the Russian Olympic Committee was delayed by an hour – apparently because the ROC team had failed to provide Covid-19 test results to officials. The match eventually started with players from both teams wearing masks under their helmets:

Related: Olympic hockey match delayed before players return to ice in masks under helmets

Ellia Smeding is now seventh-fastest in the 1500m long track speed-skating. I don’t claim to be an expert on this one, but Simon Brotherton on the BBC explained that there are no heats, the skaters go straight into the final, in pairs, and the final leaderboard is compiled that way. Belarus are currently in top position.

Beat Feuz of Switzerland captured gold in the Olympic men’s downhill. The 41-year-old Johan Clarey of France was 0.10 seconds behind in second and two-time Olympic champion Matthias Mayer of Austria was 0.16 behind in third.

The victory gave Feuz the one thing lacking from a career filled with accomplishments. He won a silver medal in super-G and bronze in downhill at the 2018 Olympics and is the four-time reigning World Cup downhill champion. Feuz is second in this season’s downhill standings. (AP)

Ellia Smeding, the first Great Britain long track speed skater to compete at the Winter Olympics since 1980, has just contested the 1500m against Huang Yu Ting of Chinese Taipei. Smeding clocks 2min 01sec, 3/10ths slower than her opponent, but that seems to be a very competitive time. The final is continuing in a head-to-head format.

In other news, Peng Shuai gave an interview to L’Equipe – her first to an independent news organisation since the controversy over her Weibo post – and she played the scandal down, calling it an ‘enormous misunderstanding’:

Related: Peng Shuai says Weibo post sparked ‘enormous misunderstanding’

Earlier today, Mikaela Shiffrin was dramatically DQ-ed from the giant slalom after missing a gate on her first run. Here’s our news story:

Related: Defending Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin out of giant slalom on first run

Thanks Geoff and hello, everyone. Let’s find out what’s happening in the land of artificial snow.

Righto, that’s me for the day. Luke McLaughlin will be your next ski instructor.

The qualifiers in the men’s Freeski Big Air.

Sweden – Birk RUUD
USA – Alexander HALL
Sweden – Oliwer MAGNUSSON
Sweden – Henrik HARLAUT
USA – Colby STEVENSON
Norway – Christian NUMMEDAL
Norway – Tormod FROSTAD
USA – Mac FOREHAND
Spain -Javier LLISO
Italy – Leonardo DONAGGIO
Canada – Evan McEACHRAN
Sweden – Jesper TJADER

I am sorry for not alerting you earlier that there is a man named Mac Forehand.