PYEONGCHANG 2018: Korea's Sungbin Yun has made history after becoming the first athlete from Asia to receive a medal in any sliding sport contested at the Winter Games after winning gold in skeleton on Friday. 

He was joined on the podium by Great Britain's Dom Parsons who took bronze, becoming the first British male skeleton medallist since 1948. Olympic Athlete of Russia's Nikita Tregubov claimed silver, an improvement from his sixth place at Sochi 2014. 

At Phoenix Park, Michela Moioli secured Italy's first ever medal in the women's snowboard cross after winning gold. She was joined on the podium by France's Julia Pereira de Susa Mabileau who won silver and Czech Republic's Eva Samkova with bronze. 

Australia's Belle Brockhoff finished 11th less than two months after undergoing knee surgery. Read more on Brockhoff HERE. 

At Gangneung Ice Arena, Australian figure skater Brendan Kerry etched his name into the top tier of international men's skating following an impressive short program that saw him progress straight to Saturday's free skate. Read more on Kerry's performance HERE.

Frida Hansdotter became the third Swedish woman to win Olympic Alpine skiing gold after taking out the top spot in the women's slalom at the Yongpyong Alpine Centre. 

Switzerland's Wendy Holdener and Austria's Katharina Gallhuber joined Hansdotter on the podium after claiming silver and bronze respectively. 

Austria's Matthias Mayer won his second alpine back-to-back gold medal with a superb performance in the men's Super-G. 

The 27-year-old made a spectacular recovery on Friday after suffering a crash the day before in the Alpine combined event. 

"I had a crash and I wasn't sure if I could start the downhill," he said.

"I have no words for a win like this. It's amazing."

A mere 0.13 seconds behind Mayer was Switzerland's Beat Feuz who claimed silver. Norway's Kjetil Jansurd took bronze, his second medal in two days. 

The USA beat Slovakia 2-1 in a preliminary-round ice hockey match at Gangneung Hockey Centre while the Olympic Athletes of Russia defeated Slovenia 8-2.

In the women's competition Finland defeated Norway 5-1 and Sweden beat Germany 1-0.

Denmark's men's curling team beat Italy 6-4 in the round robin at Gangneung Curling Centre, the country's first win of the tournament. 

Rasmus Stjerne, Denmark's skip, said that the win was an important one.

"Today we had the combination of making a lot of shots, so [I am] super-thrilled that we got the first win, and we need to collect more," he said.

Sweden also beat the USA in the round robin, extending their tournament record to 3-0. 

"We played really, really focused from the start," curling skip Niklas Edin said.

"We made pretty much all our shots from the beginning, and they [USA] had a rough start. So getting those four [scores in the first end] was almost the game right there. After that we just talked about focusing really hard on making the shots and not looking at the scoreboard too much, and trying to keep that lead."

Switzerland's Dario Cologna claimed a dominant win in the men's 15km Free cross country skiing event. The Swiss gun completed the event in 33:43.9 to beat Norway's Simen Hegstad Krueger and Olympic Athletes of Russia's Denis Spitov. 

"To win in three different Olympics is very hard work over many years," Cologna said.

"I had two not-so-easy years, the last two, but really wanted to be back. It feels very good to be back on top."

The Netherlands' Esmee Visser won gold in the women's 5000m speed skating and was joined by Czech Republic's Martina Sablikova (silver) and Natalia Voronina (Olympic Athlete from Russia). 

"I told myself to just enjoy the race, focus on how I skate and what I've done in training, then something is possible," Visser said.

"But I never imagined this. I thought a podium would be good, I never thought about this [gold].

"It feels amazing. I'm not realising it yet. I think it has to take a few more days, but it's amazing for now."

In the women's Aerials, Belarus' Hanna Huskova won gold, a moment she had been dreaming of  for "all of my sporting life".

"It is the best moment of my life," she said.

"I just focused my mind and didn't put anyone else inside [my mind] and concentrated.

"It is a team success thanks to the help of the coaches."

Huskova was joined on the podium by China's Xin Zhang and Fanyu Kong who claimed silver and bronze respectively. Find out more on how Aussies Laura Peel and Danielle Scott went HERE. 

David Barden
olympics.com.au