WATCH: Two golds and silver! Winning in moguls (again!) and speed skating. What a day for Team Canada. Allison Vuchnich reports.
Monday
Monday was Canada’s best day yet at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games.
The day was highlighted by gold medals from two of Canada’s most popular athletes, speed skating champion Charles Hamelin in the men’s 1500-metre short track speed skating event and freestyle skier Alex Bilodeau, who became the first athlete to successfully defend an Olympic gold medal in men’s moguls.
Bilodeau shared the podium with teammate Mikael Kingsbury who won the country’s other medal of the day, a silver. Another Canadian, Marc-Antoine Gagnon, finished fourth, leaving Canada just one point away from a podium sweep.
Other Canadian highlights
Other than the three male medallists, Canadian women stole the show on Monday.
The women’s hockey team defeated Finland 3-0, increasing their record to two wins and no losses.
The women’s curling team dominated a Chinese team thought to be top contenders, as Jennifer Jones‘ team made easy work of China, winning 9-2 in their first game.
Charles Hamelin wasn’t the only successful short track speed skater on Monday. On the ladies’ side Marianne St. Gelais, Jessica Hewitt and Valérie Maltais all qualified for the 500-metre quarterfinals, with St. Gelais and Maltais finishing first in their heats and Hewitt finishing second in hers. The 500-metre quarterfinals, semi-finals and final are all on Thursday, Feb. 13.
The ladies short track 3000-metre relay team qualified for the final with a second place finish in their heat. They go for gold against South Korea, China and Italy on Tuesday, Feb. 18.
Alex Gough and Kimberley McRae performed well in the first two runs of the women’s luge competition. They sit in 5th and 6th place respectively. The only other Canadian in the competition is Arianne Jones, who sits in 13th heading into the final two runs on Tuesday.
Disappointments
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Like most days of Olympic competition, Monday had its fair share of letdowns to accompany the success stories.
Three notable Canadian performances were tough to watch on Monday.
In the most shocking result of the day, Canada’s men’s curling team – a heavy gold medal favourite – fell to Switzerland 5-4 in their second round robin match of the day. They beat Germany 11-8 earlier Monday morning. There are seven round robin games left so the loss doesn’t spell disaster for the Canadians but it definitely raises concern as to whether they can perform on the Olympic stage.
Other than that, two of Canada’s top skiers went down during their events, crushing any medal hopes.
Marie-Michèle Gagnon was a medal contender in the Super Combined event but caught her ski and wiped out and wasn’t able to finish. She suffered a dislocated shoulder but plans to compete in her other alpine skiing events – the Super G, giant slalom, downhill and slalom.
Jean-Philippe Le Guellec was Canada’s best chance at a medal in the 12.5 km biathlon event. He was in fifth place but fell while rounding a corner and ended up finishing 26th. Fellow Canadians Nathan Smith and Brendan Green finished 11th and 35th respectively.
Tuesday
Many Canadian athletes will be in action on Tuesday.
Medal hopefuls to watch for:
Kaya Turski and Dara Howell will go for gold in women’s ski slopestyle.
- The qualification round is at 1 a.m. ET / 10 p.m. Monday PT.
- The final is at 4 a.m. ET / 1 a.m. PT.
- Yuki Tsubota and Kim Lamarre will also be competing for Canada in the slopestyle.
Alex Harvey is Canada’s best chance for a medal in the Cross-Country Skiing Individual Sprint event.
- Qualification Round – 5:25 a.m. ET / 2:25 a.m. PT.
- Quarterfinal – 7:25 a.m. ET / 4:25 a.m. PT.
- Semi-Final – 8 a.m. ET / 5 a.m. PT.
- Final – 8:30 a.m. ET / 5:30 a.m. PT.
- Devon Kershaw, Lenny Valjas and Jesse Cockney will also ski for Canada.
While it isn’t her strongest event, there’s still a possibility Christine Nesbitt can capture a medal in the 500-metre speed skating event.
- The first race is at 7:45 a.m. ET / 4:45 a.m. PT.
- The second and final race is at 9:35 a.m. ET / 6:35 a.m. PT.
- Nesbitt has three teammates competing, as well: Anastasia Bucsis, Danielle Wotherspoon-Gregg and Marsha Hudey.
Alex Gough and Kimberley McRae are sitting in 5th and 6th place respectively heading into the final two runs of women’s luge on Tuesday and could potentially sneak on to the podium.
- Run 3 goes at 9:30 a.m. ET / 6:30 a.m. PT.
- Run 4 is at 11:20 a.m. ET / 8:20 a.m. PT.
- Gough and McRae’s teammate Arianne Jones is sitting 13th. It will be hard for her to make up the ground.
Crispin Lipscomb is a potential medal recipient in the men’s snowboard halfpipe.
- Qualification Round – 5 a.m. ET / 2 a.m. PT.
- Semi-Final – 10 a.m. ET / 7 a.m. PT.
- Final – 12:30 p.m. ET / 9:30 a.m. PT.
- Derek Livingston and Brad Martin will join Lipscomb competing for Canada on the halfpipe.
Other Events
The first portion of the pairs figure skating competition gets under way on Tuesday.
- Pairs’ Short Program – 10 a.m. ET / 7 a.m. PT.
- Canadians to watch: Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford, Paige Lawrence and Rudi Swiegers, Kirsten Moore-Towers and Dylan Moscovitch.
The men’s and women’s teams both have early round robin curling matchups on Tuesday.
- The women play Sweden at 12 a.m. ET / 9 p.m. Monday PT.
- The men also play Sweden at 5 a.m. ET / 2 a.m. PT.
Women’s ski jumping makes its official Olympic debut on Tuesday.
- Ski Jumping first round – 12:30 pm ET / 9:30 am PT.
- Ski Jumping final – 1:25 pm ET / 10:25 am PT.
- Canadians to watch: Atsuko Tanaka, Taylor Henrich.
Four Canadians will be competing in the Women’s 10 km Biathlon.
- Women’s 10 km Sprint – 10 am ET / 7 am PT.
- Canadians to watch: Rosanna Crawford, Megan Imrie, Zina Kocher, Megan Heinicke.
The Women’s Cross-Country Skiing Individual Sprint event goes Tuesday.
- Qualification Round – 5 am ET / 2 am PT.
- Quarterfinal – 7 am ET / 4 am PT.
- Semi-Final – 7:55 am ET / 4:55 am PT.
- Final – 8:20 am ET / 5:20 PT.
- Canadians to watch: Daria Gaiazova, Perianne Jones, Heidi Widmer, Chandra Crawford.
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