Rob Walker
BBC Sport commentator

"Anastasiya Kuzmina has created history here by defending her sprint title. A wonderful performance. What a story, her brother missed out on a bronze yesterday representing Russia. Kuzmina hasn't just won the gold, she has strolled to it, almost 20 seconds clear of the next opponent and she has demolished a world class field in style."

There's more joy for the host nation as Olga Vilukhina takes silver to give Russia their second medal of the games. Kuzmina was born in Russia so it's double delight for the hosts. Vita Semerenko of Ukraine snatches the bronze. Amanda Lightfoot of Great Britain finishes 75th.

With only a couple of competitors left on the course, Kuzmina is guaranteed the gold for the second Winters in a row. The 29-year-old obliterated the field, winning by 19.9 seconds.

Image source, BBC Sport

BBC Sport's Thomas Gent:, external "Amy Williams putting the finishing touches to Matthew Pinsent at the Men's Luge final... Looking good!"

The home fans are screaming after a stunning run from Olga Vilukhina of Russia catapults her into second. Moments earlier Karin Oberhofer of Italy had taken the silver position from Anais Bescond, who now slides out of the medals.

There is still nobody challenging Felix Loch in the men's luge and he looks like a dead cert for gold later today. His overall lead over Russia's Albert Demchenko is 0.388 seconds, with Armin Zoeggeler of Italy more than a second behind.

Brent Pope
BBC Sport ice hockey commentator

Russia's women see out a 4-1 win over Germany thanks to goals from Iva Gavrilova, Yekaterina Smolontseva and two from Olga Sosnina, and the host nation take charge of Group B following Sweden's earlier 1-0 win against Japan.

"It was an incredible turnaround in the final 20 minutes and the Russians must embrace this and use it. That is the burden of a nation's expectation lifted, and potentially ignited."

Rob Hodgetts
BBC Sport in Sochi at the luge

"Twisting your way up the inside of the track layout you notice several sections are actually uphill. The backside bits, ie the outside of the bends, look like giant beer barrels, all planking and dark wood. And I've revised the noise an approaching luge makes. It's more a rattle than a hum. You too?"

Coral Bale, external: Wow, Kuzmina blitzed that.

Rob Walker
BBC Sport commentator

"A staggering performance from Anatasiya Kuzmina. No woman has ever defended her title and she has just put herself in pole position to do just that. What a sensational performance, she shot clean too."

Anastasiya Kuzmina of Slovakia barnstorms across the line to shatter Bescond's time by almost 30 seconds. They may as well hang the gold medal around her neck now. That was a brilliant performance.

Ollie Williams
BBC Sport in Sochi

"Ten nations are down to five after two days of skating in this brand-new Olympic event, and Russia can already do no worse than silver tonight. Canada are the only team who can catch them under this event's points system but, even then, it feels like a stretch.

"The bronze medal is probably heading to the United States but Italy and Japan are still in the mix. Evgeni Plushenko, the Russian superstar whose short programme was Thursday's highlight, returns in the free skate shortly."

Amy Williams
2010 Olympic skeleton champion on BBC TV

"Germans rule the luge, they can perfect their skills and have so much money going into research and development, it shows. Who knows if they can bring home gold but the Russian and Italian are close."

Darya Domracheva comes in second, and Tora Berger third. No gold medal for either of the favourites with Bescond in the lead. Defending champion Anastasia Kuzmina of Slovakia has finished her second shoot without a single penalty and leads by 32 seconds on the split times so she is in a great position to take the glory.

Rob Hodgetts
BBC Sport in Sochi

"In places you can virtually touch the track, but it would be like trying to tickle bionic trout. The only indication is a cascade of yelps and whoops and then a low rumble as the luge flies by. Trying to get a snap with a luge in the middle of the frame is either an extreme exercise in timing and judgement, or the route to madness. A motor-drive would be cheating."

Anais Bescond of France pummels her ski poles to surge over the line and snatch the lead from Germany's Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle with a time of 21:36.7 mins.

Image source, Getty Images

Russia's women have come storming back after a slow start against Germany in Group B, with four goals in seven minutes taking them 4-1 in front at the Shayba Arena.

Britain's number one alpine skier Chemmy Alcott, who is competing in her fourth Winter Olympics, will line up in the start gate for Monday's super combined. Alcott, who is just back from an almost career-ending leg break, is essentially using the downhill part of the race as an extra training run ahead of Wednesday's downhill.

She said: "I put every commitment into my rehab. I plugged myself into every machine I could find to speed up the healing process - I even oiled the floor so my broken leg could slide up and down while I used the rowing machine.

"Sochi was always the aim. I knew it was going to be tight but I didn't let myself think of the consequences of not making it."

Rob Hodgetts
BBC Sport in Sochi at the luge

"So I find myself watching luge of a Sunday evening. And walking out into the middle of the track for the first time, I've made myself laugh. Not knowing the track's layout I was on a bridge expecting a slider to come flying downhill from one direction and instead he went up it from the other. Shows how steep the finish run-out is."

The top three in the men's luge maintain their form in the third of the four runs in the singles event. Germany's Felix Loch set a new track record of 51.613 seconds, beating the 51.964secs he set in Saturday's second run and the defending Olympic champion leads Russia's Albert Demchenko by 0.388 seconds with one run to go.

Loch has an aggregate time of two minutes 35.762 seconds while Demchenko is on 2:36.150

Italy's Armin Zoeggler retains his third place with a time of 2:36.803 seconds but he is being pursued by Russia's Semen Pavlichenko and Germany's Andi Langehan and will need to avoid any errors in his final run to secure a medal.