Richard Winton
BBC Sport Scotland in Cortina

It's half-time at the curling, so let's talk snacks...

Hammy McMillan, Bobby Lammie and Grant Hardie are all devouring Squares bars. McMillan was telling me the lads have brought a four-pack for each match in the Games. Hopefully, that's 11 matches, which is... a lot of cereal bars.

Hardie reckons the boys have got into Sour Patch Kids recently while competing in North America, so will have something along those lines for a quick carbs hit. That'll replace dried mango. Apparently a bad dose of toothache after eating a whole pack at a recent competition has put the vice skip right off that.

Bruce Mouat's role as skip is more mental than physical, so he doesn't need quite the same energy boost as the sweepers. So he's gone with some fruit.

Jenny Jones
Olympic bronze medallist snowboarder on BBC One

I thought Aidan Chollet had it! Nearly the entire race he was leading. Just before the last jump, the three other athletes seemed to overtake him, I don't know what happened there.

Alessandro [Haemmerle] held his nerve and showed his pedigree to take the gold. He is a fantastic racer. He just had to trust his nerve and reach for his experience.

I'm wondering what the Frenchman is thinking right now. It is his first Olympics but he was so, so close.

Richard Winton
BBC Sport Scotland in Cortina

Image source, Getty Images

Niklas Edin rolled the dice again there and it's not gone in his favour. Team GB steal a point in the fifth to lead 4-1 at the halfway point.

John Jackson
Two-time Olympic bobsledder on BBC Radio 4

BBC skeleton commentator John Jackson has spoken on BBC Radio 4's The World At One this lunchtime about the IOC's decision to ban Vladyslav Heraskevych.

Ukraine's Heraskevych was banned this morning for or continuing to wear a helmet featuring images of athletes killed during Russia's invasion of his home country, which the IOC says breaks its rules.

"Yeah, he's been wearing it during the training runs, but this isn't political. They've even said that this is a powerful message of memory, of mourning for those athletes. So it hasn't got any political connotations.

"And I fully side with Vladyslav. I’ve been a Royal Marine for 27 years. I'm now a veteran. For serving military and for veterans, it is really important that we remember those. And we have all had friends who have fallen in conflict. So I fully sympathise with him and I fully support what he was trying to do."

Jess Anderson
BBC Sport in Cortina

Ukrainian skeleton pilot Vladyslav Heraskevych has been banned from competing at the Winter Olympics for continuing to wear a helmet which features images of athletes killed during Russia's invasion of his home country.

Heraskevych, who has worn the helmet in all of his training runs before the competition began on Thursday, was told by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Tuesday the helmet "does not comply" with the Olympic charter and said he was not allowed to wear it.

But on Wednesday he again wore the helmet to official training and told reporters he believed he "has all the rights" to wear it.

IOC president Kirsty Coventry visited the 26-year-old at Cortina's sliding track before the first skeleton heat on Thursday and said Heraskevych "did not consider any form of compromise".

In a statement, the IOC added: "The IOC was very keen for Mr Heraskevych to compete. This is why the IOC sat down with him to look for the most respectful way to address his desire to remember his fellow athletes who have lost their lives following Russia's invasion of Ukraine."

Read the full story on our website.

Richard Winton
BBC Sport Scotland in Cortina

It's a measure of how hard these boys work that Hammy McMillan has a sheen of sweat on his brow. Meanwhile, five yards away, I've lost feeling in my toes because of the cold.

Richard Winton
BBC Sport Scotland in Cortina

Bruce Mouat and his boys have really controlled this contest and they rescued a tricky situation there after the skip's double takeout attempt with the penultimate GB throw slipped between two Swedish stones.

The Scot righted himself to deliver a fine final shot to ensure his rink take another one to edge 3-1 in front after four ends.

David McDaid
BBC Sport in Tesero

"I lost my mum last year so, I’ve thought about her a lot today,” said Anna Pryce fighting back tears after she rounded off her first Olympics with a fine 24th place in the 10km.

The last 12 months have been a lot for the 24 year-old. On top of her bereavement, she switched nation from Canada to GB, graduated as a nurse, began full-time training in the summer, and now is an Olympian.

She had highest hopes in the sprint, but just missed out in qualifying. She admitted to nerves then but today she says she was “chilled out.” As a result she was able to ski to a very creditable final standing.

It was Sweden who topped the podium once more with gold and silver through Frida Karlsson and Ebba Anderson respectively, while Jessie Diggins of the USA claimed the bronze.

On her first Olympic experience, Pryce said: "It’s been so fun. Just lots of friends in the village and on the start line. The staff is so amazing and supportive. Team mates too. There’s only four of us but it’s a really small but mighty team. I’ve had loads of fun."

Richard Winton
BBC Sport Scotland in Cortina

Here's a wee stat courtesy of BBC Sport pundit and former world champion Jackie Lockhart...

Bruce Mouat has faced Niklas Edin 43 times. The Scot has won 22. The Swede 21.

The Team GB skip has prevailed on the last three occasions - and in eight of the last 10 - but his Swedish counterpart won the one that really matters - the 2022 Olympic final.

There has been two dramatic semi-finals in the men's snowboard cross.

The first finished in a three-way photo-finish with Aidan Chollet of France and Austrian Jakob Dusek going through to the big final at the expense of the younger Chollet brother Jonas.

Jonas Chollet and compatriot Loan Bozzolo will take part in the small final to decide 5th-8th place.

The second saw victory for Eliot Grondin of Canada with defending champion Alessandro Haemmerle of Austria edging out American veteran Nick Baumgartner in a photo-finish.

Baumgartner and Lorenzo Sommariva are into the small final which comes up next.

Image source, Getty Images

Richard Winton
BBC Sport Scotland in Cortina

Niklas Edin is struggling a touch here. The Olympic champion doesn't get it right with his first stone and the Swedes are only able to take one as a consequence. Team GB still lead 2-1 after three ends.

Norwegian biathlete Sturla Holm Laegreid used a news conference yesterday to apologise again for cheating on his ex-girlfriend and taking focus away from his team-mate's Winter Olympics triumph.

On Tuesday, moments after winning bronze in the men's 20km, a tearful Laegreid said on live television that it had been "the worst week of his life" after his girlfriend ended their relationship because of his infidelity.

His ex-girlfriend, writing anonymously in Norwegian newspaper VG, said she "did not choose to be put in this position".

"It's hard to forgive. Even after a declaration of love in front of the whole world," she said.

"We have been in contact, and he is aware of my feelings about this."

Just finally on the women's 10km cross-country, away from Frida Karlsson's dominance, it is worth highlighting the performance of Great Britain's Anna Pryce.

She finished 24th, which is comfortably the best performance we've seen from a British athlete in the women's cross-country skiing at a Winter Olympics.

Image source, Getty Images

The action is continuing in the men's snowboard cross and there are eight left standing...

Quarter-final one qualifiers: Jakob Dusek of Austria and Aidan Chollet of France

Quarter-final two qualifiers: Jonas Chollet and Loan Bozzolo of France

Quarter-final three qualifiers: Lorenzo Sommariva of Italy and Nick Baumgartner of the United States

Quarter-final four qualifiers: Eliot Grondin of Canada and Alessandro Haemmerle of Austria

Semi-finals to follow shortly.

Richard Winton
BBC Sport Scotland in Cortina

Grant Hardie was a wee bit off it against China but he's been right at it so far here. A splendid shot by the GB third causes the Swedes a problem and ultimately leads to a blank end. No points scored.

Here's an overview of what's happening and what is still to come on day six at Milan-Cortina 2026...

• Now - Curling: Men's round robin (including GB men v Sweden)
• 13:56 - Men's snowboard cross final
• 15:40 - Ice hockey: Men's preliminary
• 17:30 - Luge: team relay
• 18:05 - Curling: Women's round robin (including GB women v China)
• 18:30 - Snowboard: Women's halfpipe final
• 19:15 - Short track: Women's 500m & men's 1000m
• 20:10 - Ice hockey: Men's preliminary

Richard Winton
BBC Sport Scotland in Cortina

Image source, Hammy McMillan

There's more to this curling caper than you might expect, you know. It's not just rocking up, throwing some stones and having a bit of a brush. These are seriously fit athletes with a seriously impressive infrastructure around them.

You might have heard Bruce Mouat describe himself as "a hot mess" after one of his mixed doubles matches. That's because the rink in Cortina is warmer than most venues. When British Curling became aware of that, they started sweat testing the players to make sure they could get their hydration right. Yip, that level of detail.

You can read more about all that right here

Richard Winton
BBC Sport Scotland in Cortina

That's a right good start for Team GB. Niklas Edin can't quite pull off the high-tarriff double takeout that he was after and Bruce Mouat slides in to claim two points in the first end.