Beyond the Podium: What you need to know about Sochi today

WATCH: A double silver lining for Canada on Tuesday. Allison Vuchnich reports

What you need to know about Sochi today:

Many of Canada’s top athletes and teams will be in action on Wednesday.

Key events to watch:

The men’s hockey team gets their medal round underway with a quarterfinal match-up against Latvia.

• Men’s hockey quarterfinal vs. Latvia – 12 p.m. ET / 9 a.m. PT.
• If Canada defeats Latvia as expected, they will meet up with the winner of U.S.A. vs. Czech Republic  in the semi-final round Friday.

Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse are going for gold on Wednesday, but they will have some work to do. They currently sit in second place, 0.23 seconds behind the lead, after the first two runs.

• Women’s bobsleigh Run 3 – 11:15 a.m. ET / 8:15 a.m. PT.
• Women’s bobsleigh Run 4 – 12:25 p.m. ET / 9:25 a.m. PT.
• The second Canadian team of Jenny Ciochetti and Chelsea Valois sits in 13th place going into the final two runs Wednesday.

Both the men’s and women’s curling teams take part in semi-final matches, with the women taking on Great Britain and the men going up against China.

• Women’s curling semi-final vs. Great Britain – 5 a.m. ET / 2 a.m. PT.
• Men’s curling semi-final vs. China – 10 a.m. ET / 7 a.m. PT.
• Both teams are expected to win: The women’s team, led by Jennifer Jones, had an undefeated round robin, winning all nine matches. And Brad Jacobs‘ men’s team finished second, with a 7-2 record.

Jasey-Jay Anderson looks to defend his gold medal in the men’s snowboard giant slalom on Wednesday.

• Qualification Round – 12:40 a.m. ET / 9:40 p.m. Tuesday PT.
• Round of 16 – 4:10 a.m. ET / 1:10 a.m. PT.
• Quarterfinals – 4:50 a.m. ET / 1:50 a.m. PT.
• Semi-Finals – 5:15 a.m. ET / 2:15 a.m. PT.
• Finals – 5:35 a.m. ET / 2:35 a.m. PT.
• While Anderson is Canada’s top athlete in the event, there are two other Canadians in the field – Matthew Morison and Michael Lambert.

The women’s snowboard giant slalom also goes early Wednesday morning. Caroline Calvé and Ariane Lavigne are potential podium contenders from Canada.

• Qualification Round – 12:15 a.m. ET / 9:15 p.m. Tuesday PT.
• Round of 16 – 4 a.m. ET / 1 a.m. PT.
• Quarterfinals – 4:45 a.m. ET / 1:45 a.m. PT.
• Semi-Finals – 5:15 a.m. ET / 2:15 a.m. PT.
• Finals – 5:30 a.m. ET / 2:30 a.m. PT.
• Along with Calvé and Lavigne, Marianne Leeson will be competing for Canada. All three Canadian snowboarders are strong competitors.

Other Events

Both the men’s and women’s cross country skiing team relay events are on Wednesday. The teams are made up of two athletes each.

• Women’s team sprint semi-finals – 4:15 a.m. ET / 1:15 a.m. PT.
• Men’s team sprint semi-finals – 5:05 am ET / 2:05 a.m. PT.
• Women’s team sprint finals – 6:45 a.m. ET / 3:45 a.m. PT.
• Men’s team sprint finals – 7:15 a.m. ET / 4:15 a.m. PT.
• The women’s team is made up of Perianne Jones and Daria Gaiazova. The men’s team is Devon Kershaw and Alex Harvey.

The long track speed skating women’s 5000-metre event is Wednesday.

• Women’s long track 5000-metre – 8:30 a.m. ET / 5:30 a.m. PT.
• Ivanie Blondin is Canada’s only competitor in the event.

The short portion of ladies figure skating is on Wednesday.

• Ladies Short Program – 10 a.m. ET / 7 a.m. PT.
• Gabrielle Daleman and Kaetlyn Osmond will be Canada’s representatives. Both are young, especially Daleman who at 16 is the youngest Canadian athlete in Sochi.

Canada has three athletes competing in the men’s ski giant slalom event.

• Men’s giant slalom Run 1 – 2 a.m. ET / 11 p.m. Tuesday PT.
• Men’s giant slalom Run 2 – 5:30 a.m. ET / 2:30 a.m. PT.
• Canadians to watch: Morgan Pridy, Trevor Philp, Philip Brown.

Another trio of biathlon medals will be handed out on Wednesday with the team mixed relay event, which features males and females working together.

• Biathlon mixed relay – 9:30 a.m. ET / 6:30 a.m. PT.
• Canada’s team is made up of Megan Imrie, Rosanna Crawford, Brendan Green and Scott Perras.

What happened on Tuesday:

Canada captured two medals Tuesday – both silver.

One came in the women’s 3000-metre short track speed skating relay.

Canada’s team of Marie-Eve Drolet, Valérie Maltais, Marianne St. Gelais and Jessica Hewitt actually crossed the finish line in third place. But the Chinese team that finished a spot ahead of the Canadians were disqualified, bumping the Canadians to the silver medal spot. South Korea took the gold and Italy claimed the bronze.

Canada’s other silver medal came in halfpipe skiing’s Olympic debut.

Mike Riddle was able to capture second spot with a great second run in the final. While it was all smiles for Riddle, the event saw a huge disappointment for fellow Canadian Justin Dorey who was a definite podium favourite. Dorey had the highest score in the qualification round but fell during both his runs in the final, leading to a 12th place finish. Other Canadian results included Noah Bowman finishing in 5th, and Matt Margetts who finished in 15th and failed to qualify for the final.

Other Canadian highlights:

Canada’s gold-medal favourites in women’s bobsleigh, Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse, had their first two runs on Tuesday. Both runs were very strong runs but were bested by a duo from the United States. Humphries and Moyse are in second, with the final two runs on Wednesday. Other Canadians Jenny Ciochetti and Chelsea Valois are in 13th.

Short track speed skating had a lot of events take palce on Tuesday. The women’s relay silver was one of a few highlights, but there were some disappointments as well.

In the men’s 500-metre heats, Charle Cournoyer and Olivier Jean both won their heats, advancing to Friday’s quarterfinals. Those good results were overshadowed by the devastating result in medal favourite Charles Hamelin‘s race, which saw Hamelin fall after having a big lead, knocking him out of medal contention. It was Hamelin’s second straight fall and not the end to the 2014 Winter Olympics many people expected for the speed skating star.

In the women’s 1000-metre heats, Hamelin’s girlfriend Marianne St. Gelais fell, as well. Other than the women’s relay, St. Gelais has had a very disappointing Olympic Games. St. Gelais’ relay teammates Marie-Éve Drolet and Valérie Maltais both advanced to the quarterfinals.

There were some solid Canadian results in the men’s 15 km mass start biathlon. Brendan Green and Jean-Philippe Le Guellec both performed well in the shooting ranges and finished 9th and 10th, respectively. The other Canadian in the field, Nathan Smith, didn’t finish the race.

Disappointments

The weather made it a disappointing day for two of the three Canadian competitors in the women’s ski giant slalom, including Marie-Michèle Gagnon, whose frustrating Olympics continued. Gagnon and Marie-Pier Prefontaine were unable to finish the first run of the race. The lone Canadian who did cross the finish line was Erin Mielzynski, who finished in 21st.

Men’s snowboard cross, while exciting, proved a disappointing event for Canadians.

Canada had four athletes in the event – Kevin Hill, Jake Holden, Chris Robanske and Rob Fagan. Fagan was disqualified in the first round and Holden failed to qualify for the quarterfinals as well, ending their Olympic journeys prematurely. Robanske fell and was disqualified in the quarterfinals. Hill, the only Canadian to reach the semi-finals, fell and was eliminated.