Canada claimed its second gold medal of the Beijing Winter Olympics in a stunning upset on day 11, while adding another snowboarding bronze to its tally.
Here’s what you may have missed from the day’s competition, which ran Monday night into Tuesday morning.
Speed Skating
Canada won its first-ever Olympic gold medal in women’s team pursuit speed skating after a shocking crash by Japan.
Isabelle Weidemann, Ivanie Blondin and Valerie Maltais were trailing the Japanese throughout the gold-medal race, though Canada had begun to close the gap after Weidemann moved into the lead position for the final two laps.
But the final lap saw Nana Takagi stumble and fall as Japan rounded their final bend before the finish line, sending her sliding into the wall as Canada clinched the gold with a time of two minutes 53.44 seconds — an Olympic record.
Tuesday’s gold marks Weidemann’s third medal in Beijing, after nabbing silver in the women’s 5,000 metres and bronze in the 3,000 metres. It’s the first for both Blondin and Maltais.
The men’s team pursuit team of Ted-Jan Bloemen, Jordan Belchos, Connor Howe and Tyson Langelaar placed fifth in the overall rankings after winning the C final against South Korea.
Snowboarding
Max Parrot won the bronze in the men’s big air snowboard final, his second medal of the 2022 Games after winning the gold in the slopestyle event last week.
The 27-year-old Quebec native fell in his first of three runs, but recovered on his second jump with a score of 94 — the second-highest for that run.
He then scored a respectable 76.25 in his third and final run, with his top two scores combining to secure a place in the top three.
Fellow Canadians Mark McMorris and Darcy Sharpe finished 10th and 12th, respectively.
In the women’s big air final, Laurie Blouin posted the third-best score of the second run with an impressive 86.25. But falls after her first and third jumps kept her out of the medal standings, with Blouin ultimately finishing in eighth place.
Jasmine Baird was more consistent and scored 130 with her combined two best scores, putting her in seventh place.
Hockey
The men’s hockey team beat China 7-2 to advance to the quarterfinals on Tuesday.
Canada took advantage of China’s penalty troubles and scored four goals on the power play, and one on a penalty shot.
Canada now has a 3-1 record overall heading into Wednesday’s quarterfinal against Sweden — including a 4-2 loss to chief rivals the United States.
The team is looking to bounce back from the bronze medal it won at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games and return to the streak of gold medals it had in past Games.
Figure Skating
Nineteen-year-old Madeline Schizas will compete for a medal in women’s single skating after qualifying in the short program Tuesday morning.
Schizas was the lone skater representing Canada in the event and locked in a score of 60.53 that was good enough to advance to Thursday’s final, which is a free skate competition.
The Canadian will be joined in the final by 15-year-old Kamila Valieva of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC).
Valieva is at the centre of a doping controversy that has prompted Games officials to delay awarding medals in the women’s team event until an investigation is completed. Valieva helped the ROC win gold in the Feb. 7 event.
If Valieva finishes in the top three of the women’s event Thursday morning, the medal ceremony will not be held during the Winter Games. Valieva had the best result in the short program on Tuesday.
Bobsleigh
Canadians Justin Kripps and Cam Stones, Christopher Spring and Mike Evelyn, and Taylor Austin and Jay Dearborn all competed in the final of two-man bobsleigh but came up short of a podium spot.
Spring and Evelyn had the best finish for Canada with a seventh-place spot; Kripps and Stones finished 10th, while Austin and Dearborn finished 20.
Germany dominated the competition with its three pairs sweeping the podium.
Freestyle Skiing
Max Moffatt will move on to the men’s freeski slopestyle final on Wednesday after finishing 11th in the qualifier with a score of 74.06.
Edouard Therriault finished just outside the top 12 in 13th place and will not be advancing, while fellow Canadians Evan McEachran and Teal Harle placed 24th and 26th, respectively.
The lone Canadian in the women’s freeski slopestyle final, 17-year-old Olivia Asselin, did not attempt any tricks in her first run and only scored 16.83 points.
She ultimately withdrew from the competition and did not complete her next two runs, marking a disappointing end to her Olympic debut.
Meanwhile, in the qualifiers for men’s aerials, Canada’s Miha Fontaine, Lewis Irving and Emile Nadeau did not finish in the top spots to advance to Wednesday’s medal round.
Alpine Skiing
Marie-Michele Gagnon tied for eighth place in the women’s downhill final with an impressive time of 1:33.45, just under two seconds behind gold medal winner Corinne Suter of Switzerland.
Fellow Canadian Roni Remme placed 24th overall, crossing the finish line 3.49 seconds behind the top time.
Curling
Canada’s men’s team defeated China 10-8 in their first round-robin session on day 11, but lost 7-6 to the Russian Olympic Committee later on.
The squad holds a 5-3 record as they seek a spot in the semifinals on Thursday.
Biathlon
Jules Burnotte, Adam Runnalls and brothers Scott and Christian Gow finished sixth overall in the men’s 4×7.5-kilometre relay.
Comments