LAUSANNE 2020 YOUTH OLYMPIC GAMES DAY 7: HIGHLIGHTS

Day 7 brought us the thrill of the speed skate mass start and a cracking curling final.

Japanese speed merchant Arito Motanaga took men's gold and China's Yang Binyu scorched the women's race.

And then there was the amazing story of Colombia's first ever Olympic speed skater Diego Amaya winning a silver medal.

Scroll down for highlights and how it all happened.

Lausanne 2020 Highlights

5:24pm - Watch our daily live show right now!

5:16pm - Live show spoiler

Live show coming up at 5:30pm - less than 15 mins from now.

Spoiler: There will be hula hoops.

5:06pm - 📽

This is top of our Olympic watchlist, and it's being released on Valentines' day... 😍

4:26pm - Breaking Yodli!

Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games champion 'Bumblebee' is here in Lausanne teaching Yodli how to break.

Hopefully not a bone.

This Russian breaking prodigy is dreaming of gold at Paris 2024, will it happen?

4:22pm - A unique ice hockey experience

The 3x3 mixed nation tournaments came to an end yesterday, so how did 13 players from different nationalities play on the same team?

Because they all speak hockey.

3:30pm - Live show in two hours

Our daily live show is up at 5:30pm, don't miss it!

Catch up on yesterday's here:

2:25pm - Mixed Curling gold for Norway!

Norway win mixed curling gold!

Norway's Grunde Buraas plays the final shot, a perfect takeout with the hammer that wins gold for his team. A remarkable turnaround when you think back to group stages when this Norwegian team lost to Slovenia.

Well done to Japan who have curled brilliantly here at Lausanne 2020.

Result:

Norway 5-4 Japan

2:11pm - Curling cliff-hanger into extra end!

What a shot from Takumi Maeda, curling perfection with the pressure on.

The hammer pulled off a minor miracle on ice there, scoring two points in the 8th end with his final stone.

The gold medal final goes into a final end.

2:05pm - Roaring Russia bag curling bronze

A big roar from sheet 2 as Russia have won the bronze medal.

New Zealand tried to recover from an early Russian blitz but there was no let up from the Russian rink.

Bronze goes to Russia, here's the final result:

Russia 9-5 New Zealand

1:55pm - China slide to gold in women's mass start

Gold for Yang Binyu in the women's mass start!

China's speed star adds gold to the bronze medal she won in the women's 1500m, that's China's 4th medal at Lausanne 2020 and all four have come in speed skating.

Silver goes to Czech speedster Zuzana Kursova and Italy's Katia Filippi is all about that bronze.

Results:

1. YANG Binyu 30 (Points)
2. Zuzana Kursova 25
3. Katia Filippi 10

1:40pm - Curling final: Romancing the stone

Every stone counts now, Japan have drawn level with Norway, it's 2-2 in the gold medal match.

Russia are 9-4 up against New Zealand with bronze on the line, it'll take something very special to turn this one around.

Norway score 2!

That means they lead 4-2 coming into the 8th and final end, Japan need to socre two to force an extra end.

1:34pm - Vamos Diego!

Diego Amaya just won Colombia's first ever Olympic speed skate medal - silver - find out all about his story here:

1:16pm - Speed skating: gold for Japan silver for Colombia!

Another incredible performance from Japan's untouchable Arito Motonaga who wins his second gold medal of the Games.

Adding men's mass start to his 1500m gold title, Arito has announced himself on an Olympic stage.

And what a story in silver...

Colombian blade runner Diego Amaya finished 4th in the 500m, 4th again in the 1500m, agonizingly close to the podium and now he's made that step up he so richly deserves.

Colombia's first ever speed skater on Olympic ice has made history in St. Moritz.

Bronze is in the bag for Russia's Pavel Taran.

1:10pm - Japan 1-2 Norway

That's the score going into End 5, nice draw from Japan who've halved the deficit.

Nora Oestgaard came up with the shot of the end there leaving Norway lying in one, and it looked they might extend their lead after Tabata's shot to take out the Norwegian stone didn't come off.

But Japan stayed focused and are back in it now.

1:03pm - Give the graphics dep a raise!

Loving your work Lausanne 2020 graphics dep!

12:55pm - Curling final into 5th end

5th End sweeps into action with Norway winning 2-0.

We saw the first steal of the match in End 4 as Maeda missed the take-out with his first stone.

Japan have the hammer in End 5, they need to get some points on the board soon.

Over on the bronze medal match Russia started in devastating mood and went 6-0 up at one point but New Zealand have recovered their composure and have just put two points on the board.

It's 6-2 to Russia going into End 4.

12:40pm - Women's mass start final

Here are your 16 qualifiers for the women's speed skating mass-start final.

Semi final 1:

1 KANG Soomin

2 VANHOUTTE Fran

3 WANG Jingyi

4 YOSHIDA Yukino

5 RUTKOVSKAIA Aleksandra

6 GONZALEZ SALAZAR Luisa Maria

7 STIRNEMANN Victoria

8 BANDARYNA Varvara

Semi final 2:

1 YANG Binyu

2 TAKAHASHI Yuka

3 HAUGLAND Amalie

4 FILIPPI Katia

5 KURSOVA Zuzana

6 OSTLENDER Anna

7 GREVELT Isabel

8 ALVAREZ FERNANDEZ Carla

12:35pm - Fan Watch!

12:24am - Norway slip into lead

And we have our first score of the final.

Lukas Hostmaelingen clears the Japanese stone and Norway are on the board.

It's a full house at the Champery Curling Centre, great support for for both of these teams.

12:18am - Curling: Strong start from Russia

Over on the other sheet Russia and New Zealand are battling it out for bronze.

Russia streak ahead in the first End scoring three.

Excellent start from Valeriia Denisenko's rink.

12:10am - Curling final is on!

It's live on Olympic Channel, watch here.

Japan and Norway measuring each other up in End 1, and it's finished scoreless, a blank end to start with.

Norway with the hammer.

Japan and Norway trading take-outs, Norway lie in 1 right now.

12:04pm - Men's mass start semi-final 2

And here are your 8 fastest from semi-final 2 who progress to the final:

1 GROSS Flavio

3 PARK Sangeon

3 TOBON Jonathan

4 DINIZ Sebas

5 YAMAMOTO Yudai

6 GSCHWENTNER Ignaz

7 TARAN Pavel

8 MOTSCHMANN Felix

11:51am - Speed skating mass start semi-final 1

We've had two semi-finals already in the speed skating mass starts, Arito Motonaga (Men's 1500m gold medal winner) has topped men's semi-final 1 with 31 points, he looks a real talent.

The top 8 of 16 qualify.

Here were the fastest 8 from that first semi-final qualifier:

1 ARITO Motonaga

3 SUN Jiazhao

3 SERGEEV Alexander

4 SLOTEGRAAF Remo

5 MELLEMSTRAND Oddbjoern

6 AMAYA MARTINEZ Diego

7 LLOP IZQUIERDO Nil

8 FIODARAV Max

11:30am - Curling final coming up

It's been a superb Mixed Team curling tournament in Champery with Japan and Norway playing off for gold and Russia and New Zealand in the bronze medal match.

Canada have won a medal at every Winter Youth Olympic Games up to now, but fell to Japan in a riveting quarter-final.

Looks like other countries are catching up on the Canucks.

But no doubt we'll see plenty of skip Nathan Young and his team-mates in the future, Young told CBC nerves affected him on the final draw and, while there were tears afterwards, the quartet really enjoyed the experience which can only benefit their development.

Those of you who saw Norway go down to Slovenia in the group stages will be a little surprised to see them in the final.

Victory over Great Britain kickstarted their campaign and they have played very well since including a comfortable win over Russia in the semis.

Their progress is a testament to the Winter YOG with skip Lukas Hostmaelingen and Grunde Buraas both taking up the sport thanks to the construction of the Lillehammer Curling Hall ahead of the 2016 Games which they both watched.

Skipped by Thomas Ulsrud, Norway won silver at Vancouver 2010 and gold at the 2014 World Championships.

The rink became known for their colourful curling pants, something their successors won't copy, but they do have something planned should they make the big time.

As for Japan, Takumi Maeda's rink boasts significant senior experience having played at October's senior World Mixed Curling Championships in Aberdeen, Scotland. While they didn't make it out of the group stages, they have clearly become accustomed to playing under pressure with Maeda showing nerves of steel in the quarter-final win over Canada.

It should be an excellent final. The two fourths, Japan skip Maeda and Buraas, have showed that they can deliver under the highest of pressure and there shouldn't be much in it. Japan's greater experience might give them the edge with Norway seeking their first gold of these Games.

The bronze medal match should be close too.

Russia's skip Valeriia Denisenko can be a little hit or miss, literally, so she will need to be on her game against a very solid New Zealand quartet.

10:53am - Halfpipe skiers revving up

Freestyle ski practice is underway at the Halfpipe in the Leysin SnowPark.

Shifties, cabs, grabs, blunts, 1260s, Lui Kangs... Illegals all the way...

Freestyle ski takes to the skies on Day 9 - Jan 18th - starting at 9:30am.

10:38am - Mark Streit snaps stick!

Swiss ice hockey luminary and NHL Stanley Cup winner Mark Streit showing us how it's... Oh.

The ice hockey 5x5 tournament starts tomorrow with the women's first matches.

10:05am - Buongiorno!

Alpine ski and Les Diablerets said goodbye in style yesterday..

That's all folks! 🤣

Day 7 Preview

Day 6 was the half-way point of Lausanne 2020 and we saw a final flourish from figure skating and alpine skiing.

There were gold medals for Japanese ice dancers Yoshida Utana and Nishiyama Shingo, a silver for Kagiyama Yuma, and Estonian twins made an ice hockey podium.

We saw curling at its finest too, Japan-Germany was a screamer and the bronze and gold medal matches are not to be missed today.

On Day 7 we'll see three sets of medals awarded in the mixed curling finals, and the men's and women's speed skating mass start.

Curling: Mixed final

Another storming day of curling awaits as the first medals are on the line in the Mixed Team bronze and gold medal finals.

First the bronze medal match will take place between Russia and New Zealand at 12pm, with the gold medal match - Japan v. Norway happening at the same time.

Japan have been outstanding.

Led by skip Takumi Maeda and vice-skip Tabata Momoha they ended Canada's tournament in dramatic fashion in the quarter finals win with an extra end score, then overcame heavily fancied New Zealand.

Can they find the magic again to slide their way past Norway to top of the podium?

The Norwegians put on a show in the semi-finals defeating Russia 7-2.

But they won't be walking the stone against Japan, get set for a world-class curling contest.

Speed skating: Women's and men's mass starts

Expect thrills and spills on the St. Moritz chill tomorrow.

It's mass start time.

'Chaos', 'madness', 'Nascar on ice' - Just a few of the ways people have tried to describe this event.

16 speed skaters on razor-sharp baldes start together on one extended lane over 4000 metres, 10 laps each.

During the race, skaters win points after five laps, and a final sprint at finish.

Korea did the double four years ago at YOG Lillehammer 2016 Park Jiwoo taking ladies gold and Kim Minseok the men's, but at Lausanne it's Japan and Netherlands who have impressed.

Japan glided to gold in both the men's 500m and 1500m events, Yamamoto Yudai (Men's 500m gold) and Arito Motonaga (Men's 1500m gold) are ones to watch, as are Yoshida Yukino (Women's 500m bronze) and Takahashi Yuka (Women's 500m bronze).

Netherlands did the double in the women's individual events, Isabel Grevelt won 500m and Myrthe de Boer topped the 1500m - the Dutch could dynamite this one too.

But literally anything can happen in a mass start.

Lausanne 2020 Day 7 Schedule

January 16th

Speed Skating

11:30-1:15 Women's / Men's Mass Start

Curling

12:00 - 14:30 Finals Mixed Teams

What is Lausanne 2020?

Lausanne 2020 is the third edition of the Winter Youth Olympic Games following on from Innsbruck 2012 and Lillehammer 2016.

YOGs bring together the most promising young athletes on the planet, giving the next generation of Olympic stars a stage to shine.

Lausanne 2020 will be the biggest Winter Youth Games ever with over 1870 athletes (A 40% rise on 2016) 79 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) taking part, 12 of those taking part in the WYOGs for the first time ever

Albania, Azerbaijan, Ecuador, Haiti, Hong Kong (China), Kosovo, Pakistan, Qatar, Singapore, Thailand, Turkmenistan and Trinidad & Tobago.

The Games in Lausanne in the mountains of Switzerland and France will be the first Winter Youth Olympics with equal numbers of female and male athletes.

See a list of athletes to watch here, and who to follow on social media here.

Where to watch Lausanne 2020 Youth Olympic Games

Olympic Channel will stream 300 hours of action from the 13 days of competition in Lausanne 2020 with a dedicated Winter YOG channel available on olympicchannel.com, YouTube and connected devices such as Amazon Fire, Apple TV, Android TV and Roku.

There will be an action-packed daily live show featuring news, highlights, trending stories and interviews in a fun and interactive format streamed on Facebook, Twitter and olympicchannel.com, plus a daily Olympic Channel Podcast featuring insightful interviews with personalities from across the Olympic world.

Fans can also follow Olympic Channel's coverage on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube to learn more about the event, and a full Lausanne 2020 schedule can be found here.

Enjoy!