After the spectacle and celebration of the opening to the 22nd Olympic Winter Games, Sochi hosts its first day of full competition on Saturday with nine sports in action.
The Russian’s staged a spectacular show to welcome the world of winter sports to its shores for the first time in Friday’s Opening Ceremony.
Whilst the build-up has been dominated by security fears, human rights concerns and delays to preparations, finally the attention can now turn to the sport itself where five gold medals will be won and the first batch of new Olympic champions will be crowned.
The first gold medalist of the Games will be crowned at breakfast time in Winter Olympic snowboarding’s newest event – the slopestyle.
A must-watch for adrenaline junkies, the slopestyle the most purest form of snowboarding as it is a greater reflection of the kind of things that boarders do on the mountains and the snowparks every day.
Jamie Nicholls and Billy Morgan are Great Britain’s hopes for the event on a relatively quiet opening day for Team GB athletes.
Nicholls secured automatic qualification to the final, while Morgan will aim to secure his place on Saturday morning.
Snowboarding icon Shaun White of the United States was due to lead the field for this event, but pulled out just days before after citing “the potential risk of injury” on the same course where fellow boarder Torstein Horgmo of Norway had broken his collarbone in a training run.
White’s notable absence leaves his biggest rivals for gold in Canada’s Mark McMorris and compatriot Seb Toutant as the leading contenders to be crowned the first Olympic champion of Sochi 2014.
One of winter sport’s biggest stars will be in action on the ice however, as speed skating legend Sven Kramer, Olympic champion over 5,000m, looks to defend his title for the Netherlands.
Among the nine sports on show today, biathlon perhaps sums the exceptional athleticism and uniqueness of the Winter Games and today sees the men’s 10km sprint title up for grabs.
Former sprint world champion Martin Fourcade, who has performed strongly so far, leads the charge for gold, while Norway’s Ole Einar Bjoerndalen needs just one more medal to equal the record for most medals won by a winter sports athlete.
The current record of 12 is held by fellow Norwegian and cross-country skier Bjoern Daehlie.
British interest in this event comes in the form of Lee Jackson, who posted his best result, 55th, in the sprint as GB’s only biathlete at Vancouver 2010.
Elsewhere, women’s ice hockey faces off with a fascinating clash between the United States and defending Olympic champions and arch rivals Canada.
Across the afternoon and evening, the team event in figure skating, making its debut at the Games, continues following the opening rounds on Thursday, the first two runs of the men’s singles luge take place, plus the spectacular ski jumping competitions begin with the men’s normal-hill qualifying.
You can access all the action from the Sochi 2014 Olympics across BBC TV, Red Button and radio, with up to six live streams available online, connected TVs, mobiles, tablets and the BBC Sport app.
SOTB’s TV viewing guide to Day 1 of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games below:
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DAY 1: SATURDAY 8th FEBRUARY
08:00 – 11:00 |
SNOWBOARD & CROSS COUNTRY Presenter: Hazel Irvine |
The BBC team sets the scene in Sochi as Hazel Irvine introduces the first morning of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, kicking off more than 200 hours of coverage on BBC Two.
Great Britain has high hopes of achieving its highest-ever medal haul in Sochi and has a real prospect of opening that account in the first event of these Games through Billy Morgan who competes in the men’s snowboard slopestyle.
The 24-year-old from Southampton has had his injury problems in the build-up to Sochi but was fourth at the 2013 World Championships, and will fancy his chances of winning Team GB’s first-ever Olympic medal on snow.
The first women’s event of the Games is in cross country skiing, where Marit Bjoergen is among the favourites.
The Norwegian’s five-medal haul in Vancouver was the best by any athlete at the 2010 Winter Olympics, and she will be expecting to add to that tally today.
| 08:00 |
Winter Olympics Preview |
| 08:45 | SNOWBOARD – LIVE Men’s Slopestyle Final* |
| 10:00 | CROSS-COUNTRY – LIVE Women’s 15km Skiathlon Final* |
14:30 – 16:30 |
SPEED SKATING & BIATHLON Presenter: Jonathan Edwards |
The presenting baton in the afternoon passes onto Jonathan Edwards as he introduces further coverage from the first Saturday of the 2014 Winter Olympics.
This afternoon’s programme on BBC Two includes the men’s 5,000m speed skating final, where Dutch superstar Sven Kramer is aiming to retain his Olympic title.
After that comes the first gold medal in biathlon, one of the most arduous of all winter sports.
Norway has a rich history in biathlon, and Ole Einar Bjorndalen is hoping to become the most successful Winter Olympian of all-time in Sochi.
However, his teammate Emil Hegle Svendsen has been the man in form in the build-up to the Games, with France’s Martin Fourcade another medal contender.
| 14:30 | SPEED SKATING – Men’s 5,000m Final* |
| 15:15 | BIATHLON – Men’s 10km Sprint |
17:10 – 19:00 |
FIGURE SKATING, LUGE & FREESTYLE SKIING Presenter: Clare Balding |
The closing stages of the opening day from Sochi sees Clare Balding introduce action from three different winter sports.
There is action from the team figure skating event, which is making its debut at these Games, with Great Britain among the ten nations involved.
This will be combined with coverage of the opening runs of the men’s luge takes place at the Sanki Sliding Centre.
Britain’s Adam Rosen will be competing in his third Olympics but the top spots are likely to be dominated by German athletes, who include defending champion Felix Loch.
In the women’s moguls final, reigning Olympic champion Hannah Kearney will start as a strong favourite.
The American won World Championship gold earlier in 2014 and is set to retire after Sochi so will be desperate to go out with a bang.
| 17:10 | FIGURE SKATING – Team Event |
| LUGE – Men’s Singles |
| 18:00 | FREESTYLE SKIING – LIVE Women’s Moguls Final* |
19:00 – 20:00 |
TODAY AT THE GAMES Presenter: Clare Balding |
Highlights and a full round-up of the best of the action from day one of the Winter Olympics with Clare Balding in the BBC studio in Sochi.
Five gold medals were decided on the opening day, including in men’s snowboard slopestyle, a spectacular event which is making its debut at the Games.
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| 05:25-07:10
08:00 10:30 11:25 14:00 14:30-19:00 20:00 21:00 21:30 22:30 |
SNOWBOARD
ICE HOCKEY SNOWBOARD SPEED SKATING FREESTYLE SKIING FIGURE SKATING SNOWBOARD ICE HOCKEY FREESTYLE SKIING TODAY AT GAMES |
LIVE Men’s Slopestyle – Semi Finals
LIVE Women’s Group A – USA v FIN REPLAY Men’s Slopestyle – Final LIVE Men’s 5,000m LIVE Women’s Moguls – Qualification 2 LIVE Team Event REPLAY Men’s Slopestyle – Final Highlights REPLAY Women’s Moguls Final Day 1 Highlights (loop) |
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| 08:4009:50-11:10
11:30-14:15 16:30 18:00-19:30 |
SNOWBOARDCROSS COUNTRY
SNOWBOARD LUGE FREESTYLE SKIING |
LIVE Men’s Slopestyle – FinalLIVE Women’s 7.5km Skiathlon
REPLAY Men’s Slopestyle – Final LIVE Men’s Singles – Run 2 LIVE Women’s Moguls – Final |
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Alongside BBC TV’s main coverage on BBC Two, Winter Olympics fans have the chance to become their own TV directors and choose which event they want to watch at the touch of a button.
Full uninterrupted coverage of each individual session and event at the Sochi Games can be accessed in a number of ways.
Selected events can be found via the BBC’s two Red Button streams on TV – available via Freeview, Freesat, BT Vision, Sky, Virgin Media and YouView – by simply pressing the red button on your remote control (see Red Button 1/2 listings above).
All six live streams, featuring access to every Sochi 2014 event, will be made available via the BBC Sport website on all devices.
These streams can also be accessed through the BBC’s Connected Red Button service on TVs via Virgin Media TiVo and Sony Freeview Smart TVs and via the BBC Sport app for connected TVs.
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Men’s 10km Sprint*
Lee Jackson
LIVE: 2.30pm-4.10pm BBC Sport Online
Women’s 15km Skiathlon*LIVE: 9.50am-11.10am BBC Red Button 2
Team Event – Ice Dance Short Dance
Penny Coomes & Nick Buckland
LIVE: 2.30pm-4.10pm BBC Red Button 1
Team Event – Women’s Short Program
Jenna McCorkell
LIVE: 4.10pm-6.05pm BBC Red Button 1
Team Event – Pairs’ Free Program
LIVE: 6.05pm-7.00pm BBC Red Button 1
Women’s Moguls – Qualification 2
LIVE: 2.00pm-2.30pm BBC Red Button 1
Women’s Moguls – Finals*
LIVE: 6.00pm-7.30pm BBC Red Button 2
United States v Finland
Women’s Prelim – Group A
LIVE: 8.00am-10.30am BBC Red Button 1
Canada v SwitzerlandWomen’s Prelim – Group A LIVE: 1.00pm-3.30pm BBC Sport Online
Men’s Singles – Run 1LIVE: 2.30pm BBC Sport Online Men’s Singles – Run 2
LIVE: 4.30pm-6.00pm BBC Red Button 2
Men’s Normal Hill Individual – Qualification
LIVE: 4.25pm-5.35pm BBC Sport Online
Men’s Slopestyle – Semi Finals
Billy Morgan
LIVE: 5.25am-7.10am BBC Red Button 1
Men’s Slopestyle – Finals*
Jamie Nicholls / Billy Morgan (tbc)
LIVE: 8.40am-9.50am BBC Red Button 2
Men’s 5,000m Final*LIVE: 11.30am-2.00pm BBC Red Button 1 All timings/channels listed above are subject to change. *denotes event finals.
Great guide. Enjoying the coverage so far. Loved the snowboarding!