Winter Olympics live: Charlotte Bankes in snowboard cross contention before Matt Weston bids to end medal drought

The knockout rounds have begun. Czech Republic’s Eva Adamczykova is in the first heat and the No.1 seed finishes second behind Josie Baff of Australia.

Both women are through to the quarter-finals.

Adamczykova was half a second quicker than anyone else in the seeding runs but in had to head racing like this it comes down to fine margins.

Charlotte Bankes says that she has been focused on reaching the Olympic podium since crashing out in the quarter-finals at Beijing four years ago.

"It's been the main focus for the last four years, but I know that I just need to focus on my riding,” Bankes said.

“For me to actually be able to ride at my full potential on race day, if I manage to do that I'll be happy and satsifed.

"I know if I'm doing that, I'm probably going to be fast, so it should end up in a good result as well."

2025 was shaping up to be Charlotte Bankes’ year. By April, the snowboarder was leading the World Cup standings with five wins and had just picked up a silver medal in the World Championships, only pipped to gold by a dramatic photo finish. She was on track for a third Snowboard Cross World Cup title in four years, the ideal preparation for her fourth Olympic Games.

Then she broke her collarbone, and suddenly her Olympic year was flipped upside down.

All 32 riders took part in the seeding runs earlier and the draw for the first knockout round is complete.

There will be eight heats with four riders in each. Two go through from each heat with everyone bidding for the best position as they go down the course.

Charlotte Bankes is set will go in heat two alongside Sina Siegenthaler of Switzerland, Australia’s Abbey Wilson and China’s Pang Chuyuan.

The president of the International Olympic Committee has defended the decision to ban Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych from competing at the 2026 Winter Games.

During practice runs at Milan-Cortina, Heraskevych wore a helmet bearing the images of Ukrainians killed as a result of Russia’s invasion of the country, and insisted he would wear the helmet when the competition began on Thursday morning.

With Matt Weston leading the way after two runs in the men’s skeleton things are looking good for Team GB.

The women’s skeleton has historically been a success for Great Britain with Amy Williams and Lizzy Yarnold taking the gold medals in 2010, 2014 and 2018.

Milano-Cortina’s women’s competition begins today at 3pm and the women looking to emulate Williams and Yarnold are Tabby Stoecker, Amelia Coltman and Freya Tarbit.

All three will be competing for Team GB but they’ll have to punch above their weights to try and finish in the medal positions.

“I’ll try to perform at my best and go for a medal, and that’s kind of my goal: to be happy with how I’m riding and focus pretty much solely on that, not on the end result, because I know that it’ll come from that.”

Just ridiculous stuff from Johannes Hosflot Klaebo, who has scorched his way to another Olympic gold ahead of his Norwegian rival Einar Hedegart, who collapses over the finish line in utter exhaustion but can only finish third!

France’s Mathis Desloges breaks up the Norwegian dominance to claim silver, and there is a very impressive sixth place for Great Britain’s Andrew Musgrave - his best-ever Olympics finish, one better than his previous best of seventh from Beijing.

The sun is out so it’s taps aff for Team GB’s Andrew Musgrave in the cross-country skiing men's 10km interval start.

Musgrave jumps to the top of the standings after an impressive 21:06, but he is knocked off the podium as the top-ranked Norwegian’s come through.

Norway’s Johannes Hosflot Klaebo is bidding for an eighth Olympics gold.

”Pretty frustrating. We were the better team today, the first was just a disaster. Just pretty disappointed that's the outcome after what was a very solid nine ends, just one end that was a bit rough.

“When they have hammer in the last end, it's always going to be a tough steal, but we threw it all at them.”