Courtney Mahoney was a member of the silver-medal winning Women’s Black Team, that were defeated 6-1 by Women’s Yellow in the gold medal game.  

While she didn’t feel she had her strongest game of the tournament, Mahoney was stoked to be taking home a Youth Olympic silver medal. 

“I’m very privileged to have a Youth Olympic medal around my neck,” Mahoney said. 

“I didn’t play my best today, but I certainly tried to give it my all and it was a good last game.” 

Women’s Blue, featuring Aussie Nikki Sharp, was the clear winner in the Women’s bronze medal showdown against Women’s brown. They were leading 6-1 heading into the third and final period, and whilst Brown came back fighting in the final 16 minutes, Blue’s lead was too strong, and they won the bronze 6-4. 

The men’s bronze-medal match, Brown vs Black, was a much tighter contest, with the puck bouncing between goals for the entire game. With the score tied at 5-all in the dying minutes, everyone was mentally preparing themselves for a penalty shootout. However, it was Matyas Sapovaliv of the Czech Republic in the Men’s Brown, who netted the puck in the final two seconds to take the win. 

Geelong local Sai Lake, a member of Men’s brown, said winning the game in the final moments was a Lausanne 2020 highlight. 

“The game was really intense, just sitting on the bench my heart was racing. Knowing that we could have gone to sudden death was so intense, and then when our first liner scored with two seconds left was the best experience,” the 15-year-old said. 

“It’s just the best experience, being able to come here, let alone win a medal - it’s a once in a lifetime experience.” 

Read more about the exciting Ice Hockey finals action HERE. 

The Alpine skiing and Biathlon events also wrapped up on Day 6 of the Games. 

Australia’s top ranked male and female alpine skiers, Zoe Michael and Thomas Hoffman, teamed up for the Parallel Mixed Team Event at Les Diablerets Alpine Centre. They came up against the strong Swedish Team, with the Swedes taking a 3-1 win.  

Hoffman had to take on Adam Hofstedt – the Lausanne 2020 Slalom and Super-G gold medallist, and Alpine Combined bronze medallist.  

However, Hoffman didn’t let the dual Youth Olympic champion intimidate him, and beat him by 0.09 seconds in the first run. 

“I was able to win my first run against the winner of this week’s Super-G and the Slalom events, which I was super happy with. Obviously, I would have liked to race him a second time and finish, but I was still really happy with the way I skied in the first run. It gives me a lot of confidence in my own skiing ability and how I can be up there with the best boys in the world,” Hoffman said.  

“Unfortunately, I fell in the second run, which ended our race today. Despite being a short day, it was a great way to end my time at the Games. I’ve had an amazing time at Lausanne, it’s been such a great experience.” 

Across the Swiss border into France, Christian Mahon, David Patterson, Isabella Moon and Chelsey Johnson teamed up for the Biathlon Mixed Relay. 

The Team had a strong shooting day, only missing 2 prone shots and 11 standing shots in total across the four of them, finishing up in 23^rd place. 

Day 6 of the Games concluded the first Wave of Lausanne 2020, with the ice hockey players, alpine skiers and biathletes rounding out the competition. They will move out of the village to allow the Wave 2 athletes to move in, featuring freestyle skiing, ski cross, cross country skiing and snowboard. 

Competition for the Wave 2 athletes will commence on Saturday 18 January.