Sai Lake (Men’s Brown), Nikki Sharp (Women’s Blue) and Courtney Mahoney (Women’s Black) will join their Mixed NOC teams as they fight for a chance to win an inaugural 3x3 ice hockey medal. 

While for Riley Langille (Men’s Blue), Molly Lukowaik (Women’s Orange) and Ebony Brunt (Women’s Grey), Monday signalled the end of their Lausanne 2020 competition. 

Women’s Blue, featuring Sharp, headed into round five feeling confident, having only had one loss so far during the competition. 

However, their match against Brown went into a penalty shoot-out after the score was tied 4-all at full time.  

Brown took an early lead in the game, putting three points on the board in the first two periods. It was not until the third and final period that Blue managed to get one in, and change the entire mood of the game. 

“I feel like we went into the game thinking it would be an easy game and it really wasn’t. They started off really strong and we couldn’t find our legs,” Sharp said. 

“We were 3-nil down and we thought ‘oh that’s the end’, but then someone scored a goal and it picked us back up. 

“Then I managed to roof one which kept the game going and then we got 2 more in the last few minutes to equalise the score.” 

It took 10 athletes in the penalty shootout for the first player to score, securing Blue the 5-4 victory, 

“The shoot-out was so stressful,” Sharp said, “My heart was pounding and no one was scoring and I was like ‘oh no, this could go on forever’, but then Valerie [from Switzerland] on my team finally got it in and it was the best feeling in the world.” 

Five hours later, Sharp was in another penalty shootout, this time against Women’s Red, with Red securing the 5-4 victory in within the first shot of the penalty shootout. However Blue remained in second place on the ladder heading into the semi-final. 

Women’s Blue will play Yellow in tomorrow’s semi-final for a shot at advancing to the gold medal match. 

The Women’s Black team, featuring Aussie Mahoney, is heading into the semis as the team to beat, having finished at the top of the preliminary table, with only one loss out of the 7 prelim matches – a loss to Sharp’s Blue team. 

Women’s Black will face Women’s Blue in tomorrow’s semi-final, also looking to secure a shot at the gold medal match. 

Sai Lake in the Men’s Brown Team has advanced to the semi finals as the second ranked team, and will take on third ranked Men’s red on Tuesday. 

For Aussie Riley Langille in Men’s Blue, while he was understandably disappointed that his Lausanne competition had come to an end, he was happy with how he performed on the world stage. 

“It was a good experience, I would have liked to win some games, but I’ve made life-long friends and the whole experience has been really cool. 

“I’m happy with how I’ve played, but would have been nice if our Team advanced a bit further.” 

January 14 Ice Hockey 3x3 semi-finals: 
Men’s Blue (Sai Lake) vs Men’s Red @ 1.30pm (11.30pm AEDT) 
Women’s Blue (Nikki Sharp) vs Women’s Yellow @ 1.30pm (11.30pm AEDT) 
Women’s Black (Courtney Mahoney) vs Women’s Brown @ 12.00pm (10pm AEDT) 

The Aussies men had a challenging day at Les Diablerets Alpine Centre in the Giant Slalom, but will have a chance for redemption when they return to the mountain for the Slalom on Tuesday. You can stream the Slalom live at olympics.com.au/live-stream from 7.25pm AEDT

January 14 Alpine Skiing - Slalom:
Women’s Slalom Run 1 (Zoe Michael & Isabella Davis): 9.30am (7.30pm AEDT) 
Men’s Slalom Run 1 (Joey Steggall & Thomas Hoffman): 11am (9pm AEDT) 
Women’s Slalom Run 2: 1.45pm (11.45pm AEDT) 
Men’s Slalom Run 2: 3pm (1am AEDT, Wednesday 15th) 

The Biathletes will also be back in action on Tuesday in the Sprint competition.

January 14 Biathlon Sprint:
Men’s 7.5km Sprint (Christian Mahon, Jonte Treasure, David Patterson): 10.30am (8.30pm AEDT) 
Women’s 6km Sprint: (Isabella Moon, Chelsey Johnson, Luka Miskin): 1.30pm (11.30pm AEDT)