Image source, Getty Images

Here's what the locals have come to see: Chinese success.

The crowd cranked up the volume when Tingyu Gao's name was announced and the skater keeps the decibel level high as he whizzes round the track.

It's a new Olympic record! Gao sets a time of 34.32 seconds and that is surely enough for a medal.

Britain's Cornelius Kersten is down to 10th now, by the way. While the 27-year-old wasn't expected to challenge for a medal, it's been a cracking experience.

Image source, Getty Images

It looks a lovely, if absolutely freezing, evening at the Zhangjiakou National Biathlon Centre.

The biathletes are having to squint to keep the watery sunshine out of their eyes as the take aim at the range.

Each miss results in a 150m penalty loop in this discipline. Costly.

Around 50 of the 94 competitors have begun their race. Norway's Johannes Thingnes Boe holds the early lead.

Impressive work from Italian skater David Bosa, unzipping his lycra top to his naval and taking off his sunnies within a millisecond of hitting the line.

More impressively, we see the first sub-34 seconds time of the competition.

Jordan Bolz of the United States and Norway's Bjorn Magnussen are the skaters to go south of that mark.

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

That was a very good time for Cornelius Kersten, skating well.

Maybe a little bit unfortunate having the last inner lane but I think he'll be quite happy with that time.

Dutch skater Thomas Krul - no relation to Tim, I don't think - won the silver on the 1,500m earlier this week. He's gunning for gold now.

Krul sets the new pace with a time of 35.06 seconds.

Fast start from the Brit! Kersten takes the 100m bell in 9.90 seconds and continues his pace around the full loop.

Kersten, up to a full speed of about 40mph, crosses the line in 35.36 seconds and that's enough to take the lead.

That's out of the four so far, remember. And there is a lot of talent to still come. So basically, don't get too excited yet.

British hope Cornelius Kersten will start in the outside lane of his heat. On the inside is Kazakhstan's Ivan Arzhanikov.

Kersten waves to the crowd when his name is announced, tightens his sunglasses and then gets down to business....

Image source, Getty Images

So, for anyone not familiar with this event, this is the drill.

Speed skating takes place on a 400m track featuring two competition lanes.

Skaters compete in pairs, meaning just two competitors are on track at once. But, rather than competing directly against each other in a knockout format, they are ranked purely by the time they set. One skater starts in the inner lane and the other in the outer lane.

To ensure they cover equal distances, skaters change lanes each lap at the crossing straight (opposite to the finishing straight).

Each skater races once per event. The fastest time wins gold, second fastest wins silver... that bit is obvious.

Got it?

Right then, the ice has been smoothed/filled in/whatever and the men's 500m is up and running.

The first of 15 pairs are out, with Britain's Cornelius Kersten out next.

It's all over in the big top-of-the-table curling match between Sweden and Canada in the men's competition.

The Swedes, who have never won Olympic gold, have edged it 7-4 meaning they stay unbeaten after four matches.

Canada drop to fourth with two wins and two defeats while there were also wins for China, Switzerland and Norway in that session.

Team GB, who had a day off today, sit third having played a match less than those around them.

Image source, Getty Images

Still waiting for the speed skating to start. BBC commentator Simon Brotherton says there is a scar in the ice, caused by a machine working on the surface rather than a skater in the previous women's team pursuit quarter-finals.

It is just gone 9am and this is your hourly news bulletin straight from Beijing...

• Day eight of the Winter Games has given us two medals so far
• The first golden nugget was claimed by USA in the Snowboard Cross mixed team event;
• The team of Lindsey Jacobellis and Nick Baumgartner - with a combined age of 76 - won what was the first relay event in snowboard cross at a Games;
• Favourites Norway missed out on a medal in the cross-country skiing women's team relay, with the Russian team claiming gold
• A further four medals will be handed out on day eight;
• Great Britain are yet to win a medal

Image source, Getty Images

At 09:00 another set of medals will be decided, although again no Brits will be involved in this one.

Attention will once again be on the cross-country skiing/shooting fun of the biathlon with the men's 10km.

It is the shortest of the distances covered by the men in the individual biathlon events with two stops at the shooting range involved.

The competitors will go off at 30-second intervals with the fastest time, unsurprisingly, the winner.

Watch out for France's Quentin Fillion Maillet. He's going for a second gold of the Games after winning the 20km event.

Another gold to match his shades...?

Image source, Getty Images

Slight delay in the speed skating as the ice maintenance team are touching up the surface.

But there is another event at 9am which should be starting on time...

Image source, Getty Images

Cornelius Kersten may sound Dutch - his father is from the Netherlands and the 27-year-old skater was raised there - but he represents Britain because that's where his mother is from.

After finishing 19th in the men's 1,500m earlier this week, Kersten now goes among 30 skaters in the 500m.

Speed skating is an Olympic sport which British fans can be forgiven for paying little attention to. Especially the long-form.

For 30 years there has not been a British athlete in the long-track. Until this year.

Now we've got two! London buses and all that.

Ellia Smedling and Cornelius Kersten, who are also a couple and run their own coffee business together, have given the nation's speed skating scene a boost.

Back to the National Speed Skating Oval then. And we have British representation in the men's 500m...

Ollie Williams
Commentator on BBC TV

Image source, Getty Images

The ROC took a gamble and said Veronika Stepanova we don't know exactly what we are going to get from you but we are going to try and get in you a position to win this.

They delivered on that for her and she in the back half of that last lap absolutely showed why that gamble paid off.

But Germany the big surprise here.

Rob Walker
Commentator on BBC TV

It has been a really difficult games for the Swedish female distance skiers, they're on the podium with the bronze.

All credit to the Germans as well, hanging on for the silver medal. Not the individual stars of the other teams but collectively they richly deserve their moment on the podium.

What a finish and this time the Norwegians were nowhere.