That brings us to the end of day six at the Winter Olympics.

It was a day where a couple of pieces of history did not eventuate, reminding us all that gold medals can be very simple on paper, but they are harder to clinch in real life.

American snowboarder Chloe Kim was hot favourite to win a third straigh halfpipe gold, but on a night where the snowy conditions got to almost everyone, it was the resilient Gaon Choi of South Korea who recovered from a nasty spill to win the title at just 17 years of age.

Italy's Arianna Fontana was challenging for an historic third straight short track speed skating crown. but Xandra Velzeboer of the Netherlands had other ideas.

At the not-so short track, an extraordinary Women's 5,000m final  produced drama, tears and a ridiculously close result despite the distance and lactic acid involved for all athletes.

Francesca Lollobrigida continued the host nation's hot start to the Games, holding her nerve and her last reserve of energy to prevail by just 0.10 seconds to win her second gold and Italy's sixth at Milano Cortina.

And day six was the day where Australia's Olympic campaign moved beyond the injuries and near misses to provide a seventh golden moment in Winter Olympic history, thanks to the resilience and fearlessness of Cooper Woods.

While others played it safe or went for pure speed, Woods went for it on the jumps at Livigno and flew higher than most — and most importantly was better on the bumps than Mikael Kingsbury to break a tie with the Canadian star and make history of his own. 

We'll be back for day seven this evening, but in the meantime I'm Andrew McGarry on behalf of Luke Pentony, and Simon Smale in Livigno, saying thank you very much for joining us on the blog, and wishing you all a very good morning.

Just a reminder that if you are keen like most of us to see what promises to be a belter of a men's snowboard halfpipe final involving Australia's Scotty James and Valentino Guseli, then you will need to be up tomorrow morning Australian time.

The final, which will be under lights in Livigno, will begin on Saturday at 5:30am AEDT, as the 12 remaining competitors go for gold. 

Relaxed. Fun. Living for the moment and enjoying every second. That is Cooper Woods down to a tee.

Despite the enormity of his win in the men's moguls final on day six, the man from the South Coast of NSW was just happy to interact with fans and take it all in. 

"I've said it a few times today, but this medal's not only for me, it's for everyone else who's been part of the journey, those that have helped me achieve this massive milestone in my career," Woods said after his dramatic win.

"It's been a crazy journey and I can't believe we're here."

You can read more about Australia's latest Winter Olympic gold medallist in Simon Smale's great feature here:

Less than 15 minutes after Xandra Velzeboer kicked off Dutch celebrations, there was more reason for joy for the team in orange.

The men's 1,000m short track final took place, and Jens van 'T Wout broke through for his first Olympic gold medal, winning in 1 minute 24.537 seconds.

The Dutch skater was never worse than second, and he ,made his move on the last lap to beat China's Sun Long and South Korea's Rim Jongun.

Australia has joined the medal tally for the first time in the Milano Cortina Games. Here's where we're sitting:

1. Norway — 7 gold, 2 silver, 5 bronze
2. Italy — 6 gold, 3 silver, 8 bronze
3. USA — 4 gold, 7 silver, 3 bronze
4. Germany — 4 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze
5. Sweden — 4 gold, 3 silver, 1 bronze
6. Switzerland — 4 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze
7. Austria — 3 gold, 6 silver, 3 bronze
8. France — 3 gold, 4 silver, 1 bronze
9. Netherlands — 3 gold, 3 silver
10. Japan — 2 gold, 2 silver, 6 bronze
11. South Korea — 1 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze
12. Czechia — 1 gold, 1 silver
13. Slovenia — 1 gold, 1 silver
14. Australia — 1 gold

Tonight wasn't the night for athletes trying to seal three consecutive gold medals.

Before Chloe Kim was left with silver in the Women's Snowboard Halfpipe, we had the Women's 500m competition in Short Track Speed Skating.

The home favourite was six-time Olympian (and two-time Italian flagbearer) Arianna Fontana, who was looking to add to titles in Beijing and Pyeongchang.

Fontana, who had already won gold in Milano Cortina in the Mixed Team Relay, was in the final of the 500m event.

However she was up against Dutch skater Xandra Velzeboer, who set a new world record in the semifinals with a time of 41.399 seconds.

Velzeboer held onto the lead in the final straight to win gold in 41.609. But don't feel too sorry for Fontana.

Her silver is her 13th Olympic medal in six Games. Top effort, that.

What could be crazier than a bunch of people sliding down an ice chute, navigating with their bodies and trying to avoid serious crashes?

A relay of said people sliding down said ice chute, then sitting up at the bottom of the run to thump a touchpad to allow  their next teammates to have a go.

That is the Luge Team Relay, and it happened on day six at the Cortina Sliding Centre.

The teams of six (men's singles, women's singles, women's and men's doubles) go down the course in four connected runs.

The time for all four is added together when the last crew crosses the line.

The German team (Julia Taubitz, Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt, Max Langenham, Dajana Eitberger and Magdalena Matschina) stopped the clock in a track record of 3 minutes 41.672 seconds to take the gold.

Austria were second 3:42.214, while Italy — who were on a high after winning the women's doubles and men's doubles on day five — added a bronze medal to their collection in 3:42.521.

If you get a chance to check out the process on TV at some stage, please do so —  it's wild stuff, and woe betide any competitors who mistime things and miss the touchpad.  

Before we went all halfpipe on everyone, we were telling you about Canada playing Czechia in men's ice hockey at Milano Rho Ice Hockey Stadium.

Canada led 1-0 after one period, and they went on with the job, scoring twice more in the second and third periods to win their Group A clash 5-0.

Macklin Celebrini, Mark Stone, Bo Horvat, Nick Suzuki and Nathan McKinnon completed the scoring.

Canada, like many countries, is benefiting from the return of NHL players for the first time in 12 years.

The Canadians are expected to be in the mix here, and that was an pretty decent start to proceedings.

Right now there are two Group C games underway.

The United States leads Latvia 2-1 in the first period, and Germany and Denmark are even at 1-1, also in the first period.

Everyone is hanging around for the medal ceremony.

Japan's Mitsuki Ono looks very happy with her bronze medal.

And now Chloe Kim adds a silver to her two gold medals.

There is a huge cheer, and she is grinning widely, so the lack of a hat-trick doesn't seem to be bothering her.

Now Gaon Choi gets the treatment, and she walks forward to a massive ovation from the crowd!

She receives her gold medal. Now she covers her eyes as the tears fall.

Now the South Korean anthem is playing as the flag is raised, and Choi looks very emotional. What a night for the 17-year-old.

You'd bet she'll be around in the French Alps in four years' time.

Clearly, the amount of snow that fell did not help the competitors tonight.

There may have been an element of finals nerves in it, too, but it's a concern the number of falls we had tonight.

Thank goodness no one was seriously hurt, but you'd hope that the skies stay clear early Saturday morning Australian time when Scotty James and Valentino Guseli go for gold in the men's halfpipe.