Britain's Charlotte Gilmartin on Twitter:, external I had my Olympic debut yesterday. Incredible feeling out on the ice.

Also spare a thought for fourth-placed Astrid Jacobsen, who was competing despite the sudden death of her brother on the eve of the Games. Her missing out on a medal denied Norway a one-two-three. The men's final is up next.

Ingvild Flugstad Oesterberg got the tiniest margin of a ski over the line first to make it a Norway one-two. Vesna Fabjan of Slovenia was the lady beaten into bronze. All three medal winners link arms to salute the crowd, who respond with a standing roar.

Norway's Maiken Caspersen Falla wins gold in the women's cross-country sprint. She collapses on to the snow, roaring with delight. It's a photo finish for the silver and bronze medals.

Image source, AFP

The women's course is shorter - they only to do one ascent. That seems plenty to me. Bells ring in the crowd, the last set of supporters these six competitors see before they head into the forest...

Where in the world are you following coverage of the Winter Olympics? Check out this Facebook infograph on where people are talking about the action in Sochi.

The most mentioned British athlete between the 7-9 February was unsurprisingly Jenny Jones, followed by Jamie Nicholls, Billy Morgan, Aimee Fuller and John Baines.

Image source, Facebook

Nick Hope
BBC Sport at Rosa Khutor Extreme Park

Image source, Getty Images

"Two-time United States Olympic champion Shaun White tells BBC Sport the controversial halfpipe course - which has drawn complaints from athletes all week - is 'feeling much better' today.

"He scored 95.75 to qualify automatically for tonight's final where he's chasing a third-successive Olympic gold - but can he do it?

"'I'm hoping so'," he said. 'The atmosphere here is great now and tonight it's going to be rocking!'"

Russia's Sergey Ustiugov leads the qualifiers from the second semi-final of the men's cross-country sprint at the Laura Cross-Country Ski & Biathlon Centre. To describe the scene there, it would be best to plant the image of a Bond movie - you know, a perfect winter setting, snow on the tops of tall trees, Bond about to be chased by the bad guys. Picture perfect. Women's sprint final about to start.

American ski jumper Sarah Hendrickson on Twitter:, external I am bib number one today. That means I will be the first girl EVER to ski jump in an Olympic event. All smiles.

Wonderful stuff at the cross-country. Russia's Anton Gavarov crashed out of the first sprint semi-final, breaking his left ski in the process. Determined to finish, he got up and carried on, virtually on one leg. He took another tumble when the ski snapped completely, with a replacement being run on. He eventually finished to huge home ovation, which had me in mind of Derek Redmond at the Barcelona summer Games in 1992. Olympic spirit.

Britain's Shelley Rudman writes on Facebook:, external Only one more day of official training left until the first race day on Thursday. Training has been gradually improving, but I'm not quite as fast as the top group of girls yet. Trying to catch them up.

So, with the speed-skating taking a mid-session interval, cross-country skiing is our only live action at the moment. We're into the semi-finals of the men's sprint, which is followed by the women's final.

Norway's Marit Bjoergen, the defending champion, crashes out of the ladies' sprint (free) in the semi-final after falling on the final bend, ending her hopes of adding a second gold at these Games.

Image source, Getty Images

In the Adler Arena, medals are up for grabs in the women's 500m speed skating. Here, competitors skate twice, with the lowest aggregate time taking gold. At the halfway point of the first run, China's Zhang Hong leads after setting a new track record of 37.58 seconds, ahead of Lotte Van Beek of the Netherlands (38.67) but there are still another nine pairs to go.

The second run is due to get underway at 14:34 GMT.

Ed Leigh
BBC Sport snowboarding commentator

"Shaun White went for the double cork 1440 and over-rotated it, but it was a practice run. If this is an arms race, he has just revealed snowboarding's first nuclear arsenal."

White scores 70.75 in his second run, but the American's first run effort of 95.75 will be enough to take the defending champion into the halfpipe final.

Cross country is the oldest type of skiing, which emerged from the need to get around and hunt.

There are six Olympic Winter Games events each for men and women, with the goal simply to complete the distance as quickly as possible.

Two skiing techniques are used: classic, which involves skiing along pre-set parallel tracks, and freestyle, which closely resembles the motions of ice skating.

Read more in our guide to cross-country skiing

In the semi-finals of the ladies' cross-country sprint, Norway's Maika Casperersen Falla has won her heat to reach the final. In this event, competitors even ski uphill! How hard must that be? Getting down is tough enough.

Nick Hope
BBC Sport at Rosa Khutor Extreme Park

"That score of Shaun White's could be suggested to be a little generous given the American clearly held a lot back.

"Markus Malin of Finland isn't quite so fortunate. He looked impressive until the latter stages of the pipe when he fell into a divot.

"Lets be clear, a hole like that should not be in an Olympic halfpipe, it is really breaking up in places."

Image source, @Sochi2014

American Shaun White leads after the first run of the second heat. His score of 95.75, external leaves him set to move into the final of the halfpipe competition, an event he has won in the last two Winter Olympics. Japan's Taku Hiraoka scores 92.25 and Danny Davis of USA registers 92.00.

Have you managed to get your breath back? Ready for more? As television coverage switches from BBC One to BBC Two, there are three live streams for you to feast on here online. Take your pick from cross-country skiiing, men's halfpipe snowboarding and women's speed skating.