WATCH: Another gold and silver for Canada on Tuesday. This time in the debut of women’s ski slopestyle. Allison Vuchnich looks back at another golden day for Canada
Tuesday
After Canada had its best day so far in Sochi on Monday, Tuesday saw a bit of a drop.
Dara Howell won gold and Kim Lamarre won bronze in the women’s ski slopestyle, which proved the most eventful event for various reasons. Those were Canada’s only two medals that day.
WATCH: Kim Lamarre says she felt Sarah Burke with her during the competition
The fourth Canadian in the event, Yuki Tsubota, had a promising qualifier, finishing 4th. In the final run she had a disastrous-looking crash that resulted in a broken jaw.
Other Canadian highlights
Although Howell and Lamarre were the only Canadians to take home medals on Tuesday, two other women came within seconds of doing so.
Female lugers Alex Gough and Kimberley McRae finished 4th and 5th, respectively after the fourth and final run on Tuesday. Both were within a second of the bronze, which was the only medal realistically within reach after Germans Natalie Geisenberger and Tatjana Heufner dominated the first two runs Monday. Arianne Jones was the other Canadian in the field; she finished 13th.
The women’s ski jumping event was one of the most anticipated as it made its official Olympic debut on Tuesday.
Canadians Taylor Henrich and Atsuko Tanaka had very strong first jumps, finishing 7th and 8th respectively. But both had disappointing second jumps as Henrich dropped to 13th overall while Tanaka dropped to 12th. The result was about what was expected from Henrich but Tanaka was a favourite to crack the top 10, and was visibly upset after her second jump.
Canada had fairly strong performances from the three pairs representing the country in the figure skating pairs’ short program.
Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford, reigning world bronze medallists and Canada’s best medal hope in the event, finished 5th. Kirsten Moore-Towers and Dylan Moscovitch finished right behind them in 6th. The pair of Paige Lawrence and Rudi Swiegers was 13th. All three pairs qualified for Wednesday’s free skate, where the medals will be awarded.
Jennifer Jones led the Canadian women’s curling team to another convincing victory. After kicking their tournament off on Monday with a 9-2 victory over China, they kept rolling Tuesday, beating Sweden 9-3.
Disappointments
For the second straight day, Brad Jacobs‘ men’s curling team made the top of the list of disappointments for Canada.
The team followed up a shocking 5-4 loss to Switzerland on Monday with another loss on Tuesday, this time to Sweden 7-6. Considering the Canadian team entered the Olympic tournament as clear favourites to compete for a gold medal, their record of one win and two losses after the first three round robin games is hardly meeting expectations.
Canada sent three men into the snowboarding halfpipe competition. None was a medal favourite but they were expected to contend for a medal and at least advance past the qualifiers, which all failed to do.
Crispin Lipscomb and Derek Livingston finished 10th in their heats made up of 20 people each, while Brad Martin finished last in his. Only snowboarders that finished in the top eight of their heat qualified for the semi-finals. A disappointing show for Canadians was overshadowed by the event’s bigger story: Reigning two-time Olympic champion Shaun White failed to medal, finishing fourth after falling in his first run and slipping in his second.
Another disappointing result for Canadians came in the women’s long track speed skating 500-metre event.
Like the halfpipe, this wasn’t an event where Canadians were expected to medal. Christine Nesbitt was the country’s best shot but even she was a longshot, as she specializes in the middle distances of 1000 and 1500 metres. In a field of 34 skaters Nesbitt finished 12th, Anastasia Bucsis was 28th, Marsha Hudey was 32nd and Danielle Wotherspoon-Gregg was 33rd.
Another event that went poorly for Canadians involved was the men’s cross country sprint.
Alex Harvey, Lenny Valjas, Jesse Cockney and Devon Kershaw represented Canada. Valjas, Cockney and Kershaw didn’t even qualify for the quarterfinals, finishing 36th, 53rd and 56th respectively. Harvey made it but finished 4th out of 6 people in his quarterfinal, failing to qualify for the semi-finals. For a sprint specialist with the potential to reach the final, it was a very disappointing race.
The women’s cross country sprint was also on Tuesday, and saw similarly disappointing results.
Perianne Jones finished 23rd and Daria Gaiazova finished 27th in the qualification round, advancing to the quarterfinals. Heidi Widmer and Chandra Crawford failed to qualif,y with 43rd and 44th placed finishes, respectively. In their six-person quarterfinals, Gaiazova and Jones both finished 5th and therefore did not qualify for the semis.
Canadians in the women’s 10km biathlon were not expected to medal and they met those expectations.
Zina Kocher was the highest-placed Canuck at the finish, in 25th. Megan Imrie was 28th, Rosanna Crawford 45th and Megan Heinicke failed to finish the race.
Wednesday
Wednesday is a bit of a slower day before things ramp up again on Thursday.
Medal hopefuls to watch for:
Canada’s pairs will take part in the figure skating free skate event, the second part of their pairs’ competition.
- Pairs’ Free Skate – 10:45 a.m. ET / 7:45 a.m. PT.
- Canadians to watch: Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford sit in 5th place, Dylan Moscovitch and Kirsten Moore-Towers are in 6th and Paige Lawrence and Rudi Swiegers are in 13th after the short program Tuesday.
The men’s doubles luge event takes place on Wednesday.
- Men’s Doubles Run 1 – 9:15 a.m. ET / 6:15 a.m. PT.
- Men’s Doubles Run 2 – 10:45 a.m. ET / 7:45 a.m. PT.
- There’s one team representing Canada, made up of Justin Snith and Tristan Walker. They’re considered to have an outside shot at the podium.
The women’s downhill skiing event goes early Wednesday morning.
- Women’s Downhill Final – 2 a.m. ET / 11 p.m. Tuesday PT.
- Larisa Yurkiw is the only Canadian competitor in the event. She is not considered a likely medal candidate.
The final medal event Canada is involved in on Wednesday is the women’s snowboard halfpipe.
- Women’s Halfpipe Qualification – 5 a.m. ET / 2 a.m. PT.
- Women’s Halfpipe Semi-Finals – 10 a.m. ET / 7 a.m. PT.
- Women’s Halfpipe Final – 12:30 p.m. ET / 9:30 a.m. PT.
- Mercedes Nicoll, Alexandra Duckworth and Katie Tsuyuki will compete for Canada in the halfpipe. Nicoll is considered Canada’s best shot but it would be a surprise to see any of them on the podium.
Other Events
In the biggest non-medal event of the day, the Canadian women’s hockey team takes on the Americans in a showdown between women’s hockey powerhouses. The game will determine who places first in Group A.
- Women’s Hockey – Canada vs. U.S.A. – 7:30 a.m. ET / 4:30 a.m. PT.
Both curling teams are in action once again on Wednesday. The women take on their toughest opponent yet in Great Britain. After losses to Switzerland and Sweden, who are both ranked in the top five in the world, Canada’s men look to get back on track with a win over 10th-ranked Russia. A third straight loss would be a crushing blow and cause for major concern for the gold-medal favourite Canadians.
- Women’s Curling – Canada vs. Great Britain – 5 a.m. ET / 2 a.m. PT.
- Men’s Curling – Canada vs. Russia – 10 a.m. ET / 7 a.m. PT.
In the only other event featuring Canadians on Wednesday, the men’s long track speed skating 1000-metre gets under way.
- Men’s 1000-metre – 9 a.m. ET / 6 a.m. PT.
- Denny Morrison is coming off a disappointing Olympic qualifier last month but is still Canada’s best medal chance. William Dutton and Muncef Ouardi will race for the second time in Sochi, as they competed in the 500-metre event on Monday. Vincent De Haitre will also represent Canada.
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