Figure skating star Yevgeny Plushenko targetted a medal-winning Olympic landmark today but Ole Einar Bjoerndalen's latest bid to seize the mantle of greatest winter Olympian melted in the Sochi heat.
Double Olympic gold medallist Plushenko, 31, is amongst the favourites as the men's figure skating short programme gets underway, but he faces competition from three-time world champion Patrick Chan, and Japan's Yuzuru Hanyu.
Plushenko is looking to become the most medalled man in Olympic figure skating history while Chan, 23, and Hanyu, 19, could become the first men from their countries to win the men's title.
Chan has dominated the sport since finishing fifth at the Vancouver Olympics and has won the last three world titles, but Hanyu beat the Canadian in the Grand Prix final.
Other leading challengers will be Japanese Daisuke Takahashi, the Olympic bronze medallist, Tatsuki Machida and Spaniard Javier Fernandez, the world bronze medallist.
In all six golds were up for grabs today, but 40-year-old Norwegian biathlon great Bjoerndalen missed out again on his bid to win a record 13th Winter Olympic medal.
He had equalled his compatriot Bjorn Daehlie's record of 12 medals when he won gold in men's 10km sprint on Saturday but could only finish fourth in the pursuit on Monday.
On Thursday, he was way down the field as French biathlete Martin Fourcade claimed his second gold of the Games in the men's 20km individual to add to his triumph in the 12.5km pursuit.
Fourcade became the first French athlete to win two golds at the same Winter Olympics since skier Jean-Claude Killy in 1968.
Germany's Erik Lesser was second with Yevgeny Garanichev of Russia taking third.
With temperatures pushing a balmy 16 degrees Celsius at the sub-tropical venue, some athletes taking part in the gruelling women's 10km cross-country race discarded their winter weather gear in favour of T-shirts.
The rising temperatures also saw tweaks made to the schedule with Thursday's training for the men's super-combined ski race brought forward to 0530 GMT as course officials attempted to preserve snow conditions.
