Japan Lead The Way At Lake Placid

The Japanese duo of Ryo Hirose and Rin Sobue landed the first medal of the games with victory in the cross-country skiing mixed team sprint classic. The pair were always in the top four and took the lead at the 3.5km mark, eventually running out winners by over nine seconds to the US and Norway.

And there was more triumph to come for Team Japan when Sakutaro Kobayashi took gold in the men's Nordic combined, which included a stunning jump of 138.6. Kobayashi then led from start to finish in the cross-country segment to bring home Japan's second gold of the day.

Japan weren't finished yet, though, as Sota Yamamoto led a Japanese one-two-three in the men's ice skating short program with compatriots Tatsuya Tsuboi and Shun Sato landing the silver and bronze, to see Team Japan end the opening day of action topping the medal table.

Friday's action also saw gold medals for France and Switzerland in snowboarding at Gore Mountain.

Benjamin Gattaz took gold for France in the men's snowboard cross, benefiting from fellow Frenchman Quentin Sodogas crashing out. While Switzerland tasted gold in the snowboard cross big final when Sophie Hediger edged out the French duo of Chloe Passerat and Kim Martinez.

Elsewhere on Friday, the curling got underway with the men's and women's round robin, and the ice hockey continued, with big wins for the Canadian and Slovakian men's teams.

Sadly, the alpine skiing fell foul to poor weather conditions at Whiteface Mountain, with the action now set to start on Saturday, including the men's and women's Super-G.

Saturday also sees gold medals on the line in the men's and women's short individual Biathlon and figure skating with the ice dance competition.