The sixth day of competition at the Gangwon 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games (YOG) saw more medals awarded than ever before. It was a day of success for the hosts, Korea. They led the way with a gold medal in snowboarding and two silvers in ice hockey and speed skating. 

But once again, the real hero was young British skier Zak Carrick-Smith, who wrote another chapter in his country's Alpine history by winning the men's slalom, his second gold medal and third overall at Gangwon 2024. 

The 17-year-old was in third place after the first run, according to Olympics.com. But in the second run, the two Swedes who took the top spots couldn't beat his combined time of 1:38.61: Elliot Westlund was second, five hundredths of a second behind. Liam Liljenborg crashed in the final section. The bronze went to giant slalom champion Nash Huot-Marchand of France. Neo Kamada finished fourth, just off the podium for Japan.

Carrick-Smith has already won a historic title in the men's combined and a silver medal in the giant slalom at these Youth Olympics: "It's just amazing, we're slowly climbing up the ladder, we're getting more and more exposure and I'm trying to help with that," he added. She will be joined by Molly Burton in the parallel team event on Friday, day seven. 

In the women's event, all eyes were on Giogia Collomb, who could have repeated the Italian's promise of victory, but had to settle for bronze with a time of 1:38.87. She finished third to complete her medal haul. She had already won silver in the combined event and gold in the giant slalom. Gold went to Maja Woroschitz (Austria) with a time of 1:38.61.

Silver went to Charlotte Westlund (Germany) with a time of 1:38.66. Austria's Maja Waroschitz put in a flawless performance in both runs of the women's slalom. It was her second title at the Gangwon 2024 YOG. 

The 17-year-old combined champion was 0.34 seconds ahead of Sweden's Astrid Hedin after the first run. Italy's Giorgia Collomb was 0.54 seconds behind. Germany's Charlotte Grandinger was the fastest in the second run, but Waroschitz maintained her lead (-0.79). 

"I wanted it so much. I woke up today and thought 'I want the gold medal'. I wanted it yesterday in GS (giant slalom). I fell, I was really devastated and then I called my parents and they gave me the right words for today. They told me: 'You have got nothing to lose, be happy and do what you love and everything will work out'", as quoted by Olympics.com.

The freestyle was a true spectacle and American Henry Townshend gave his country (USA) the gold of the day with a best score of 90.25, well ahead of Oly Nichols (Japan) who missed out on gold with 85.75. The bronze went to Jaako Koskinen (Finland). 

The final places and medals in curling were decided on Day 6. Denmark and Great Britain competed in the final. The British won 7 to 5 against Denmark. The bronze medal was played in a close match between Switzerland and China. Switzerland won 10 to 8. 

The Gangneung Hockey Centre was the venue for the ice hockey finals. Latvia played a perfect game on the ice to beat Denmark 10-0 in the men's final and the bronze medal went to Kazakhstan, who beat Austria 6-5. Hungary took gold in the women's competition. They beat hosts Korea 10-2. China narrowly beat Italy 8-7 for bronze.

The sixth day of competition saw two more disciplines. In the men's snowboard slopestyle, Korea's Cheanun Lee was the clear winner. With a spectacular performance in front of his home crowd, he won gold with a score of 96.00 and was far superior to his competitors. Silver went to Eli Bouchard (Canada) with 90.00. Bronze went to Romain Allemand (France) with 89.25 points. 

The speed skating event at the Gangneung Oval was, as expected, exciting and close. No one could claim victory until the very end. The mixed relay final was a battle of the best. China took gold (Yunqi Liu, Baoshuo Pan) in 3:11.74, silver went to Korea (Seok Heo, Leewon Lim) in 3:11.78 and bronze went to the Netherlands (Angel Daleman, Sem Spruit) in 3:12.10.

Medal standings: 

Italy: 9 golds, 14 medals.

France: 6 golds, 13 medals.

Germany: 6 golds, 13 medals.

China: 5 golds, 14 medals.

Korea: 3 golds, 11 medals.