They're off!

The skaters are just having their skates checked and then they will start again.

Richard Winton
BBC Sport Scotland in Cortina

Image source, Getty Images

And that's it. Team GB were in that contest for most of it, but a couple of mistakes in the last few ends just allowed China to take it away from them. It's a lesson for this inexperienced quartet to learn.

They're back on Friday when they play South Korea at 13:05 GMT.

Dutch skater Selma Poutsma has hit the deck on the first corner.

Right then. Here we go.

Will Italy's Arianna Fontana win her 13th Olympic medal? And if so, what colour will it be?

Emma Smith
BBC Sport at Milano Ice Skating Arena

My word that was a massive crash in the B final! Three skaters all hit the deck, and China's Fan Kexin in particular hit the barriers at a frightening pace.

Thankfully all the skaters are up and have finished the race.

Richard Winton
BBC Sport Scotland in Cortina

Image source, Getty Images

Still a long way to go for GB's women in this tournament, even if they don't manage to pull off a comeback against China tonight. Here's the team hoping to secure a medal in Italy:

Rebecca Morrison: “Unique” is how more than one of her team-mates describe her. Always up for a giggle. And although Team Morrison are named after her she is no longer the skip.

Sophie Sinclair: “Chatty, bubbly, doesn’t stop talking,” according to one of her rink. “The one who will hide around a corner and jump out on you,” says another. One of alternate Fay Henderson’s jobs will be to occupy her during the day when the rest want a nap.

Jen Dodds: The team call themselves “Jen and the kids”, given the Beijing gold medallist is that little bit older. She’s competitive, meticulous and freakishly strong, and is “the one you want around when things kick off”.

Sophie Jackson: The skip of the team and perhaps the most outwardly reserved. One of her team-mates describes her as “a force” and a combination of logical and caring.

Richard Winton
BBC Sport Scotland in Cortina

Ach, that was a brave attempt at taking two by Rebecca Morrison but the clank of granite doesn't quite fall in her favour and Team GB have to settle for one. It edges them to within two but we've only one end to play and China have the hammer.

Before the 500m final begins, we have the B final.

Essentially, the five skaters who didn't progress through to the main final, race again to determine final rankings.

They're back smoothing the ice over ahead of the finals and the Mexican wave is keeping the crowd entertained in the meantime.

So busy in fact that we need two posts to update you, with nine golds on offer on Thursday.

• Australia's Cooper Woods takes gold on tie-breaker ahead of Canada's Mikael Kingsbury in men's mogul
• Frida Karlsson storms to victory in women's 10km cross-country skiing as part of Swedish one-two
• Alessandro Haemmerle of Austria retains his Olympic snowboard cross title in dramatic style
• Germany won the mixed team luge, with Austria second and Italy third. Ukraine's team took a knee in solidarity with team-mate Heraskevych

It's been a busy day - here are the headlines so far:

• USA snowboard superstar Chloe Kim just misses out on an historic third-straight halfpipe gold, taking silver as South Korea's Choi Ga-on wins gold
• Great Britain's Matt Weston leads men's skeleton by 0.3 seconds after first two runs; Marcus Wyatt in seventh
• Ukraine's Vladyslav Heraskevych banned from skeleton over helmet featuring images of athletes killed during Russia's invasion of his country - and tells BBC he feels "emptiness"
• GB men beat defending champions Sweden 6-3 in curling round-robin
• Italy's Francesca Lollobrigida wins 5000m speed skating gold by a tenth of a second, her second gold of the Games following victory in the 3000m
• More joy for the host nation as Federica Brignone wins alpine skiing women's Super-G gold - 10 months after sustaining multiple leg fractures and a torn ACL

Emma Smith
BBC Sport at Milano Ice Skating Arena

Arianna Fontana won her first Olympic short-track speed skating medal at Turin 2006, when she was just 15 years old.

“I had no idea what was happening!” she told the BBC’s More Than The Score podcast last week. “I was just living the dream. I was too young to really understand what it meant to be on the Olympic podium. Then when I went home, I had my whole hometown waiting for me.

“I am fortunate to have a home Olympics, because in Turin I couldn’t really understand. To be home in Milan, it is my home region.”

Twenty years on, she is one of the faces of this year's Games. She carried the Italian flag at the opening ceremony, having also been flagbearer at Pyeongchang 2018.

“I do have experience, but I have the same drive I did when I was 15. I never get on the ice just to show up," she said.

“With time, I have been able to understand my body, and my mental fitness – I have taken more time off from racing, more breaks, because mentally it can be tough. Elite athletes, we put pressure on ourselves easily, we have high expectation and it can be hard mentally.”

Image source, Getty Images

Korea's Jongun Rim is through to the final as is Jens van 't Wout of the Netherlands.

Latvia's Roberts Kruzbergs qualifies as the fastest third place skater.

The second semi-final has gone to VAR ...

Richard Winton
BBC Sport Scotland in Cortina

China have just lifted their level these last two ends and GB are struggling now. The Chinese steal two and you fear that might be it for the British quartet... unless they can pull a rabbit from the hat.

Wilf O’Reilly
Former British short track speed skater on BBC iPlayer

The 1000m is an extended sprint. You don't want to get caught at the back because there's too much in front of you.

And Liu Shaoang will have the chance to defend his crown as he qualifies in second with a time of one minute and 23.585 seconds.

Canada's William Dandjinou crossed the line the fastest.

To the men's 1000m semi-final now.

Liu Shaoang is the reigning Olympic champion, but in these Games he is representing China not Hungary as he switched his allegiance in 2023.

He is in the first semi-final.

Canda's Courtney Sarault and Kim Boutin will join Xandra Velzeboer and Arianna Fontana in the final.

As will Dutch skater Selma Poutsma, who is the fastest third place skater.

The final is coming up shortly, at the very specific time of 20:31.