ALL THE NEWS, ACTION AND REACTION LIVE FROM SOCHI 2014 AS IT HAPPENS!

By Duncan Mackay and Nick Butler in Sochi, and Zjan Shirinian in London
Click refresh for latest updates. All times stated are Russian

Goodnight!

00:48 It's been a blast today and will be again tomorrow with all the action, as ever, to be covered on the insidethegames blog. See you tomorrow!

00:40 Join us tomorrow morning for the second half of Sochi 2014. Seven more gold medals up for grabs - in ski jumping, skeleton, alpine skiing, speed skating and cross country as well as two in short track.

After a first gold for Great Britain as well as two for Switzerland and Belarus and a figure skating one for Japan, you can see the latest medals table here as Germany's lead is cut slightly by the Swiss charge. 

00:15 Some good news on the twitter front to end on as well!! Claudia Bokel has tweeted...(see 17:38)

Happy Valentine's Day! #IOCAC #Sochi2014
- IOC Athletes' Commission Claudia Bokel getting ready to go to the party in the Olympic Village tonight perhaps? This picture suggests so...

Claudia Bokel with her Valentines Day hat ©Twitter



00:10 It ends with some interesting news that Russian President Vladimir Putin has attended both the USA and Canada houses here in Sochi tonight. That news has some interesting political overtones so stay tuned to insidethegames for a report to follow.

23:59 So the end of another day here in Sochi. 

23:52 And it was a thrilling evening session in curling. Great Britain fighting back to beat Denmark 8-6, China winning 7-5 over Norway and Germany edging Switzerland 8-7. But in terms of the home fans it was all about the other match as Russia won 7-6 over the US.

23:40 A few other results to bring you before we wrap up for the evening in Sochi. 

A 6-1 win for a rampant Finland over Norway while Canada even more comfortable in beating Austria 6-0.

In ski jumping Kamil Stoch of Poland led the way in qualifying for the large hill event ahead of two Germans in Severin Freund and Marinus Kraus.

23:38 It has been another thrilling evening in Sochi. As well as the gold medals for Japan, Great Britain and Belarus over the last couple of hours, we had two victories for Switzerland earlier as they rose to second in the medals table. 

Hanyu wins in figure skating

Yuzuru Hanyu en route to the gold medal for Japan ©AFP/Getty Images



23:07 Yuzuru Hanyu has done enough and the Japanese skater wins the gold medal. Neither Leibers nor Brown got close and the minor medals go to Patrick Chan of Canada and Denis Ten of Kazakhstan.

22:51 Peter Liebers of Germany and Jeremy Brown of the US are still to come - but were fifth and sixth respectively after the short programme so are unlikely to trouble the podium positions.

22:50 Yes he has, 178.10 in the free skate leave him still well adrift of Hanyu. Second place for the Canadian.

22:49 But it is anything but flawless from Chan as well. He smiles, but has he missed out on gold?

22:44 Triple reigning world champion Patrick Chan of Canada is now on the ice. It was not the perfect performance from the Japanese skater and Chan senses a gold medal here...

22:41 But not any more. Solid if not spectacular from Yuzuru Hanyu and the Japanese star goes in front. 178.64 he scored for the free skate.

Hanyu's total score is 280.09 and that will take some beating. Almost 25 points ahead of Tan...

22:37 In case you are wondering, there has been no change in the figure skating. Daisuke Takahashi of Japan is only good enough for fourth place. Denis Tan of Kazakhstan still leads.

Super Tsuper takes aerials gold

Alla Tsuper of Belarus wins one of the most thrilling events on the Winter Olympic programme ©AFP/Getty Images



22:25 The women's aerials gold medal has been won by Alla Tsuper of Belarus. Xu Mengtao of China takes silver and bronze goes to Lydia Lassila of Australia.

Hard to keep up with the action at the moment but over in the freestyle skiing Belarus win their third gold medal of the Games, and second of the day.

This is the fifth Olympic Games for the 34-year-old but a first medal. Her previous best was fifth at Nagano 1998 - when she was representing her country of birth Ukraine. 

Men's figure skating

22:21 Javier Fernandez of Spain has just moved into second place. Slightly worse free skate score than Machida of Japan but good enough to pip him for overall second place behind Denis Tan of Kazakhstan.

The action doesn't come quite as fast as the skeleton. It's less of a blink and you miss it zoom down a mountain and more a measured approach. But, like in the skeleton, one mistake can still cost you Olympic gold.

500 medals for Russia!

22:15 Britain, meanwhile, are now the only country to have won skeleton medals on all four occasions it has been on the programme - while, following Amy Williams victory at Vancouver 2010, it is the second time Britain has won the same event at two successive Winter Olympics.

John Curry and Innsbruck 1976 and then Robin Cousins at Lake Placid 1980 in the men's figure skating being the first example. And what a link that is back to tonight's finale...

22:14 No wonder she looked nervous afterwards - that bronze medal for Elena Nikitina was Russia's 500th Olympic medal in Summer and Winter Games combined!! The Russian is also the youngest ever women's skeleton medal winner.

Figure skating men's free programme

22:11 Six competitors are left to take to the ice - and they include the two favourites in Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan and Patrick Chan of Canada.

22:06 Denis Tan of Kazakhstan is in the lead. In fact, it is an all Asian top three at the moment with Tatsuki Machida of Japan second and Yan Han of China third.

But some heavyweight contenders are still to come.

22:01 See the insights of Philip Barker (at 20:57) for what the medal means for Britain, but for now we are going to focus on the end of the figure skating.

Skeleton reaction

21:53  It is fair to say journalists were not allowed the best position following the skeleton but the angle did allow a wonderful view of the emotions of each athletes as they awaited the presentation of flowers.

Nervous excitement from Nikitina as she waved and encouraged the vocal home support. Sheer elation from Pikus-Pace as she finally netted an Olympic medal after years of misfortune.

And from the winner Lizzie Yarnold? Nothing but beaming smiles.

The presentation of flowers following the skeleton ©ITG

Fantastic home support for bronze medal winner Elena Nikitina ©ITG


21:43 We're also getting towards the sharp end of the men's figure skating. There are five men left to skate their free programme, before leader Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan is followed by second-placed Patrick Chan of Canada.

21:39 The women's aerials finals are up and running. Twelve women are going for gold, including three from China and three from Australia.

Final run of women's skeleton

21:33 That's Britain's first gold of these Games, and their 10th in Winter Olympic history. The United States jump the Netherlands to move into fourth in the medals table, tied with Norway, with that silver.

21:32 Britain's Lizzy Yarnold follows in the footsteps of countrywoman Amy Williams to win skeleton gold. She beats America's Noelle Pikus-Pace by almost a second. Russia's Elena Nikitina is third.

21:29 It's the lead for Noelle Pikus-Pace, holding a 0.44sec advantage. Lizzy Yarnold the final runner for Great Britain.

21:28 Noelle Pikus-Pace of the United States begins her run.

21:26 Three Russians and two American's among the final six lugers. Britain's Lizzy Yarnold goes last, of course. Elena Nikitina of Russia takes the lead by 0.04sec. Two to go.

21:22 There it goes again - Katie Uhlaender of the US this time.

21:18 Huge roars as the first of the three Russians - Maria Orlova - takes to the ice, and takes the lead! Really need to stop getting excited about the lead changing as it will continue to happen over the next few minutes - with sliders going in reverse order and combining their times from the three previous runs.

21:16 I am getting ahead of myself because Germany do now have the lead courtesy of Anja Huber... But the sliders are coming thick and fast and Sarah Reid of Canada has now taken over.

21:13 Flock was tenth after the third run. Next up is Sophia Griebel of Germany but her time is only good enough for second. We will not have an eighth German gold tonight. Or not in the skeleton, anyway...

21:10 Janine Flock of Austria takes over at the top of the leaderboard. The press room is emptying rapidly as journalists scurry off to the finish line. 

Supporters, mainly British ones, in excited mood as the skeleton gets underway ©Philip Barker



21:06 Katherine Eustace of New Zealand ties with Melissa Hollingsworth for the early skeleton lead. What is it with ties at Sochi 2014? 

21:03 Definitely time for a curling results check as the skeleton suspense grows. And Britain are fighting back to 6-6 now with Denmark. The United States, China and Germany all hold narrow leads in the three other matches.

And Tomas Verner of the Czech Republic has leap-frogged Jeremy Abbott and taken the figure-skating lead.  Kevin Reynolds of Canada lies third.

21:02 Six sliders have gone so far and Melissa Hollingsworth of Canada leads. She stops the clock at 58.15 seconds.

Guess who? insidethegames Olympic historian Philip Barker is here for the skeleton

20:57 "If Yarnold wins tonight it will be Britain's second ever Winter Olympic gold won on Valentines Day - after Torville and Dean at Sarajevo 1984. It will also be Britain's tenth Winter Olympic gold and mean they have an equal number of male and female Winter Olympic champions."

20:52 We are underway in the final round of the women's skeleton. Competitors take to the ice in reverse order, of course, so it will be a while before we see the medal contenders...

Action away from the skeleton

20:48 And we are also away in the large hill ski jumping qualification. Makes skeleton seem like walking through a door in the fear stakes this one. Michael Hayboeck of Austria is the early leader...

20:45 We also had freestyle skiing aerials qualification earlier. The Australians will not be happy at the thought of an impending British victory, but their girl Lydia Lassila led the way in that event and was the only athlete to break the 90 points score barrier.

Xu Mengtao of China was second with another Australian in Laura Peel qualifying third.

20:43 Abbott was marked down last night after falling but superb today. Unlikely to hold on and win a medal with so many big names to come but can consider himself very unlucky.

He scored 160.12 for his free skate - a mark which no one else has got close to.

20:41 Jeremy Abbott of the US has taken the lead in the figure skating ahead of Jorik Hendrickx of Belgium and Misha Ge of Uzbekistan.

20:40 Lots else going on in Sochi this evening - further up the mountains as well as back down at the coast.

Skeleton finale

20:35 Further down the field we have another Britain in Shelly Rudman and Canada's Melissa Hollingsworth - the silver and bronze medal winners from Turin 2006 - but they will not be repeating that success this time around - they lie 13th and 16th respectively.

20:28 But there are plenty of other stories among the athletes chasing the medals tonight. Not least, US slider Noelle Pikus-Pace. Despite two world titles, she has not had much Olympics luck - missing Turin 2006 after being injured by a stray bobsleigh while crossing the track, before finishing fourth at Vancouver 2010.

Since then the 31-year-old has retired and made a comeback - but she is poised to win a first Olympic medal tonight.

20:25 A former heptathlete, Yarnold was introduced to Skeleton by the UK Sport "Girls4Gold" talent search and, after joining the British squad in 2010, has never looked back.

The parents of Lizzie Yarnold look nervous but excited as their daughter powers towards Olympic gold ©Getty Images



20:23 Lizzie Yarnold takes time to smile to the cameras and whisper "Happy Valentines Day" in what must be surely the most pressured moments of her young life. She will certainly spread the love in Britain tonight if she holds on in her final run...

20:19 This is Great Britain's moment in Sochi as the nation seems set for their third Winter Olympic gold medal of the latest millennium. But the excitement seems to be affecting their male curlers - who are 5-1 down to Denmark after five ends. 

Russia and China leading the US and Norway respectively and its 3-3 between Switzerland and Germany in the other matches currently on the ice in a sport where there always seems to be action taking place. Apparently handball is the same in this way at the Summer Olympics...

20:12 Beautiful scenes under floodlights out on the skeleton course. Certainly not a sport designed for journalists scampering up the hill to try and capture a quick glimpse of the action before scurrying back to the comforts of the press room

But it is certainly worth it just for the speed and sense of excitement out on the course.

Cameraman have the perfect position under floodlights at the top of the course ©ITG

An action shot, well almost, as Elena Nikitina of Russia zooms down the run ©ITG



The super fast skeleton course at the Sanki Sliding Centre ©ITGOne of the most international-looking stands seen so far at Sochi 2014. The Russian fans remained the loudest ©ITG

Figure skating free programme

20:04 But there is plenty of action going on elsewhere this evening. It may be lacking the special something for the home fans that Yevgeny Plushenko would have provided. But we are set for a Yuzuru Hanyu versus Patrick Chan battle royale later on.

In the early stages it is Ukraine's Yakov Godorozha who leads. But he was only 21st after the short programme so will not stay there for long.

Women's skeleton 

19:59 But the loudest cheers, perhaps unsurprisingly, are for the Russians Elena Nikitina and Olga Potylitsina. Potylitsina posted the second fastest time of the round to rise to fourth place as deafening chants of "Olga Olga" echoed down the course.

19:57 Another superb run and course record for Lizzie Yarnold in the third of four runs in the skeleton. 57.91 seconds. The pressure is certainly not getting to her and it will take a catastrophe now for the gold medal not to go to Great Britain for the second Games in a row.

19:49 Lizzy Yarnold of Great Britain will hold a 0.78 second lead over Noelle Pikus-Pace of America ahead of the final skeleton runs later. Russian Elena Nikitina lies third.

Brazilian shows Olympic spirit



19:46 Brazilian freestlye skier Joselane Santos was full of joy and emotion after completing her jump in the aerials earlier. The crowd cheered her as though she had won the gold - she finished down in 20th place. Surely what the Olympics is all about?

Nick Butler
insidethegames reporter at the Sanki Sliding Centre

19:33 A much simpler journey to the Sanki Sliding Centre than to the biathlon yesterday, although I did slightly miss the lack of cable-car transfer up the mountain. it's also a very different atmosphere in the press centre to the biathlon awash with British and American journalists eagerly anticipating some medal in the women's event later on. But there is also plenty for home fans to cheer after Alexander Tretiakov leads at the halfway point of the skeleton.

The sounds of Example's Changed the Way you Kissed Me is blaring out in true Valentine's Day fashion on the loudspeakers and - on that note - it seems time to investigate the course.

Be my Valentine

19:20 An update to our item about the Valentine's Day party being organised in the Olympic Village tonight (16:42). insidethegames has now been given an exclusive sneak preview of the heart-shaped hats everyone attending will be given. Sexy, eh?



19:14 It's the men's singles programme at the Iceberg Skating Palace. After that world record score yesterday by Japan's Yuzuru Hanyu in the short programme, only Patrick Chan of Canada can realistically challenge him for gold. Japan have yet to win a gold at these Games.

19:08 Gold in the women's 15km individual biathlon goes to Darya Domracheva of Belarus. She adds to her pursuit victory on Tuesday, and betters her bronze in the individual in Vancouver four years ago. Switzerland continue their good showing on day seven of the Games, with Selina Gasparin winning silver. Domracheva's countrywoman Nadezhda Skardino takes the bronze.

"I'll never stop pushing myself past my limits, but the mistakes that come with it are hard to swallow. #frustrationstation"
- Defending combined Olympic gold medallist Bode Miller, of the United States, on his frustrating 6th place finish today in Sochi.

18:49 Pursuit gold medallist Darya Domracheva crosses the finish line with a time of 43 mins 19sec - that's the one they all have to beat.

18:44 Darya Domracheva of Belarus leads in the women's 15km biathlon, having missed just one target in four rounds of shooting.

18:40 It's not quite as quick, but Alexander Tretiakov's 56.04, just a tenth shy of his own skeleton track record, sees him extend his advantage over second-placed Latvian Martins Dukurs to 0.56 seconds. With American John Daly a further second back, it will almost certainly be between the Russian and the Latvian tomorrow as they go for gold in the final two runs.

18:36 Russian Alexander Tretiakov, who set a track record in his first skeleton run, is about to go again in front of a buoyant home crowd. Let's see what he can do this time.

When should you stop funding a sport?

18:29 As Great Britain prepares to celebrate a likely Olympic gold medal in Sochi later, David Owen has written a thought-provoking blog asking whether it's right for UK sports policymakers to chase medals, and pull funding for sports where medals are a dim hope.

British skeleton star Lizzy Yarnold, who leads after two of four runs at the Sanki Sliding Centre, has benefited from money that sees her sport the most financially supported by UK Sport of all Winter disciplines

18:20 With Switzerland winning two out of two golds today in Sochi, we thought it was only right we unfurled the Swiss flag. They now sit second in the medals table, with five golds and a bronze. See the full table here.

Britain's curlers breaking records

18:15 Team GB's women's curling team played their fifth match against Japan today, winning 12-3. They stole a five in the seventh end to seal the game. The steal for five equalled the Olympic record and saw them become the first women's team to achieve this feat.

This is Team GB's second Olympic record of the week, after the six points scored in the men's Great Britain versus Switzerland match equalled the lowest in a men's Olympic curling match.

Don't you feel better now you know that?

18:07 We also have our first bit of aerials action in Sochi, with the women's qualification competition underway. The gold medal will be awarded later today.

18:05 The women's 15km individual biathlon has begun, defending Olympic champion Tora Berger of Norway is in this one.

VIDEO: Torvill and Dean recreate historic Bolero routine in Sarajevo

As we reported earlier (see 10:02) Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean have celebrated the 30th anniversary of their historic Olympic gold medal by recreating that "perfect" Bolero routine. And here it is.