Courtney Mahoney will be fighting for the Mixed NOC Ice Hockey gold medal with her team, Women’s Black, after Black defeated Brown 11-7 in today’s semi-final.

Nikki Sharp in Women’s Blue went down to Women’s Yellow 5-7, meaning they will take on Brown in Wednesday’s bronze-medal match. 

Sai Lake will also be battling for bronze after his Team, Men’s Brown, were defeated by Men’s Red 7-9 in the semis. 

After a bumpy start, 14-year-old Mahoney said her team really came together to secure the victory on Day 5. 

“There were some nerves in the first period, at one stage we were 5-1 down,” Mahoney said. 

“But it was really important we kept things positive on the bench and focused on teamwork, so once we got over the nerves we fought back.” 

Mahoney said she was excited to head into tomorrow’s gold-medal match, but even though Black defeated Yellow 7-2 in the preliminary rounds, she knows it won’t be an easy game. 

“You can’t go into these games thinking you’ll top it; everyone is good enough here and anything could happen. 

“It would be pretty unreal to win the gold though; it would be a pretty good feeling to accomplish something so big.” 

Ice Hockey Wednesday January 15 schedule
Women’s 3x3 ice Hockey bronze medal match: Blue (Sharp) vs Brown: 12.00 (22.00 AEDT) 
Men’s 3x3 ice Hockey bronze medal match: Brown (Lake) vs Black: 12.00 (22.00 AEDT) 
Women’s 3x3 ice Hockey gold medal match: Black (Mahoney) vs Yellow: 13.30 (23.30 AEDT) 

The six Aussie Biathletes returned to Les Tuffes, just across the Swiss boarder in France, for the Sprint Event on Day 5 of Lausanne 2020. 

In her third event in four days, Luka Miskin was the top ranked Aussie female in the 6km Sprint, finishing 50th with only 1 missed shot. 

Coming off an Individual personal best on Sunday, Chelsey Johnson finished 74th with another PB in the Sprint, as one of only three people in the event to shoot clean, hitting all 10 shots.  

“I have shot clean in a sprint once before, but I wouldn’t say my skiing was as good as it was just then, so I’m pretty happy to have my two best races ever at the Youth Olympics,” Johnson said. 

“A lot of the races I’ve done in Europe, I haven’t had my family there to support me, so having them here, I feel like it lifts my game a bit. The environment and spectators here feeds your energy and pushes you to keep going.” 

Isabella Moon competed with a fractured finger, an injury that occurred in the official training just days before her Youth Olympic debut, and finished in 77th place. 

While disappointed with her shooting today, Moon said the experience is making her a stronger athlete. 

“I’m learning a lot, that’s for sure. I’ve learnt how to compete in such a big event and how to deal with the outside stresses. Even if it’s not my best race I know that I tried my best and that’s what I can take from it,” the 16-year-old said. 

“Having all the spectators is pretty scary, but what I’m told to do is to use the energy from the crowd and put that into my skiing and use their energy to maintain my focus. It’s really cool to learn from that and to have so many people cheering, especially for Australia.” 

In the men’s 7.5km sprint, Christian Mahon finished 89th, David Patterson 94th and Jonte Treasure 96th. 

Jonte’s 96th place finish was a significant achievement for the 17-year-old, who broke his hand in December and was unsure if we would even be able to represent Australia in Lausanne, let alone finish the event. 

Moon, Johnson, Mahon and Patterson will team up on Wednesday for the Biathlon Mixed Relay event, from 10.30am (20.30 AEDT) 

Day 5 at Les Diablerets, saw both the women and men took on the Slalom in Alpine Skiing.  

Zoe Michael finished in 27th position, with a combined time of 1:42.94 seconds.  

“The course was really icy which was new to us Aussies. I managed to make it into the top thirty, so I was really happy with that result. I was first in the start list on the second run which was pretty sweet,” Michael said. 

“The conditions were perfect, and I made sure to just have fun and enjoy the moment. I managed to do that and soak in the experience so I’m really happy.”  

Unfortunately, the icy course proved a challenge for Isabella Davis, who came out of the course in her first run, signalling the end of her campaign at Lausanne.  

Despite being disqualified, Davis was still happy with her experience.  

“The conditions were super icy – a bit different from what I’m used to racing. I was really happy with how I was skiing until I missed a gate and had to hike. 

“It’s been really exciting skiing in Switzerland and having this experience. The crowd gives you energy when you’re coming down the course. The Games have been so incredible. I’ve had the best time, it’s been surreal, but I feel like I’ve learnt so much.” 

In the men’s, Joey Steggall also finished in 27th position with a combined time 1:25.35 seconds. Thomas Hoffman finished 12th in the first run with a time of 38.22 seconds. Unfortunately, a few mistakes in his second run saw him finish in 25th overall with a time of 1:23.46 seconds. 

 “I’m feeling pretty bummed. I had some pretty big mistakes on my second run after having a nice first run,” Hoffman said. 

“My first run was really good; I went out and was able to execute what I had planned to do. I ended up in a pretty good spot, so I was pretty happy. Unfortunately, during my second run as I was coming onto the flat, I was a little late then got a bit flustered. When you lean inside, the skis don’t work as well so I came to a bit of a stop.  

“It’s been good sharing the Games experience with my family. It’s always nice to come down and talk with the family all about it. It’s really special having them here cheering from the sidelines.” 

Wednesday marks the last day of Alpine, with Michaels and Hoffman tackling the Parallel Mixed Team Event, a head-to-head Giant Slalom event from 11.00 (21.00 AEDT)