After that breathless 500m speed skate, it's time to ease off the pedal and regain our composure and where better to do that than the Ice Cube Curling Centre. Britain had eked a 2-0 lead, but the Americans just halved the deficit at the third end.

Wilf O’Reilly
Former Olympic short track speed skater on BBC TV

"Lee Sang Hwa was superb out there. She was so far ahead from the start and just needed to stay on her feet, which she did. It is South Korea's first medal at the Games and she pulled through. She has been so strong this year and nobody can beat her.

"It was a fabulous performance by Olga Fatkulina, too. She stayed low after the start and worked hard towards the line."

Lee Sang Hwa winces as she crosses the line, maybe in disbelief at defending her title or possibly is exhaustion. Olga Fatkulina (+0.36) wins silver for Russia, while Margot Boer (+0.78) of the Netherlands will take home a shiny bronze medal from Sochi, which is nice.

Image source, AP

An Olympic record for defending champion Lee Sang Hwa who crosses the line in 37.28 seconds for a total time of 74.70.

Rob Hodgetts
BBC Sport in Sochi

"I've left Shaun White to cement his legendary status without me and resurfaced at the ski jumping venue for another bit of history - the first women's Olympic ski jumping contest (from 17:30 GMT).

"It's a stunning spot, an ode to concrete and steel, which from the valley resembles a giant oil refinery on the side of the hill, with the floodlights representing the flaming chimneys.

"Inside is a magnificent amphitheatre with the large hill and the normal hill surrounded by vast stands ready for almost the entire population of Sochi. A man is mowing the run-out area on a skidoo while a piste basher attached to a winch is ready to smooth the landing area."

The top five finishers in the 10k pursuit had a 90% success rate in the shooting section so standards were set remarkably high. Indeed, Olympic champion Darya Domracheva only missed two targets which is quite an achievement considering she also had to ski 10km in foggy conditions.

Darya Domracheva emerges through the mist in first place and crosses the line a whopping 37.6 seconds ahead of her nearest rival Tora Berger, of Norway, who has to settle for silver. Slovenia's Teja Gregorin grabs bronze.

10-9-8-7-6... The boosters are firing on all cylinders and the BBC website has just liftoff into unchartered territory, so strap yourselves in and enjoy the show because, for the first time during these Games, you can watch seven streams of live sporting action via this website.

The Americans have called a conference before they launch their penultimate rock. Captain Erika Brown is deliberating over tactics and that's her prerogative because curling, after all, is a marathon rather than a sprint. "Harder! Harder!" bellows the American skip but she doesn't seem too happy that the stone has settled on the edge of the scoring zone. The Americans' discontent justified as Britain eke a 1-0 lead after the first end. Brown just shrugs off the disappointment, though. "It's alright," she says while high-fiving her team-mates.

The semi-finals of the men's halfpipe is under way. Poster boy Shaun White is automatically through to the final but there are a few names to keep an eye out for and one is Ireland's Seamus O'Connor. The Irishman is currently third after earning 54.00 on his first run.

Image source, Telegraph

Security could not be much tighter over at Canada House, where The Daily Telegraph reports, external that passports are required to get yourself a beer from the fridge. You can't be too careful.

America's Debbie McCormick yelled a "hello Wisconsin" to the camera and gave the viewers a cheeky wave as the teams lined up ahead of this match. It's 0900am in that part of the world Stateside so the folks of Wisconsin could be watching.

Hello again. There were wise words from Britain's captain Eve Muirhead after the team's defeat by Sweden on Monday, describing curling as a marathon not a sprint. No-one could describe curling as a sprint.

The captain promised that her team would "step it up" against the United States and the Brits will have to do just that otherwise it'll be broom and bust for the reigning world champions.

"That is only one out of nine (round-robin matches) and I'm definitely not too disheartened," said Muirhead.

"We played really well in the middle part of the game and if we can take that to the next game. It's a new day and we'll definitely step it up."

And, to talk you through the opening stages of that Transatlantic tussle on the ice - and whatever else is on her mind - here's Aimee Lewis.

We've covered which gold medals are left to be won today, but the biggest British interest is perhaps in the women's curling. After the tension of the GB men's last-end win over Germany earlier, Eve Muirhead's team will look to bounce back from their defeat by Sweden when they take on the United States. That match is coming up at 15:00 GMT.

Simon Saunders:, external The Winter Olympics are the perfect cure for chronic boredom in lectures.

Chris Green: , externalSome events in the Winter Olympics are insane! The kind of speeds they go at with just a helmet for protection - crazy!!!

BBC Sport's roving Olympic champion Amy Williams has been posting on Twitter, external from Extreme Park: "Sun is going down here - the Half Pipe qualifications finished now waiting for semi finals."

Incidentally, despite Britain having a decent skeleton history, there is no British interest in this women's luge. Why do Britons excel head-first, but not feet-first? You can watch the women's final of the fastest sport on ice right here at the top of this page.

When the camera pans away, each competitor looks like a tiny bullet, a blur on the white background firing from one side of the screen to the other. It's hard to imagine the nerve it must take to attempt luge, or its head-first sister, the skeleton.

Has Cool Runnings made all those of a certain age favour the sliding sports in the Winter Olympics? Forget the old cliche about hurtling down a mountain on a tea-tray - it doesn't even do it justice. Sliders lie feet first, lycra hugging their legs that vibrate into every high-sided corner. They have human contact at the top, when they explode out of gate, then hear the cheers as they come in to land. In between, it's just you and the ice.

Read more about the luge in our guide to the sport.