Team Canada reclaimed gold in women’s hockey and snagged silver in women’s ski cross on day 13 of the Beijing Olympics.
Canada has now won 20 medals at the Beijing Games.
Here’s what you may have missed from the day’s competition that began Wednesday night and ended Thursday morning.
Hockey
The big story of the day, of course, was the women’s hockey team winning gold against the United States in a thrilling 3-2 matchup that proved to be a battle right up to the final seconds.
The win was a redemption story for Team Canada, who were forced to settle for silver four years ago in the 2018 Olympic final — also against the U.S. — after taking gold in the previous four Winter Games.
Sharpshooter Sarah Nurse got Canada off to a good start in the first period, but it was captain Marie-Philip Poulin who secured Canada’s win with the next two goals.
The U.S. was able to make things more interesting with their first goal in the second period, but not even a goalie pull and a long-fought-for goal in the last 15 seconds of the third period could change the Americans’ fortunes.
Canada never lost a game in the Beijing tournament, including a 4-2 bout against the U.S. in preliminary play. The team scored 57 goals throughout the Games, an Olympic record.
Freestyle Skiing
Marielle Thompson won the silver medal in women’s ski cross, edging out three other Canadians in the event.
The North Vancouver native, who won gold at the 2014 Games in Sochi, managed to move up to second position halfway through the course, but could not catch Sweden’s Sandra Naeslund, who dominated throughout and claimed the gold.
Canada’s Brittany Phelan, a silver medal winner at the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang, won the small final for an official fifth-place ranking, while fellow Canadians Courtney Hoffos and Hannah Schmidt ranked sixth and seventh overall.
Meanwhile, all three Canadians in the women’s freeski halfpipe qualifiers scored high enough to move on to the finals on Friday.
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Rachael Karker fared best, finishing in second place with a best score of 89.5 across two runs. Reigning champion Cassie Sharpe, who won gold at the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang, placed sixth with a best score of 86.25, while Amy Fraser scored 75.75 for 11th place.
The men’s freeski halfpipe qualifiers also saw all three Canadians move on, with their finals set to be held on Saturday.
Brendan Mackay took fifth place with a best score of 87.25, with Noah Bowman close behind in sixth place and a best score of 85.5. Simon d’Artois finished seventh with his best score of 82.5.
Curling
Canada’s men’s curling team will have to play for bronze after losing to Sweden in their semifinal match.
The score was 4-3 Sweden in the tenth end when Canada had the last shot to level the score, but came just shy of doing so. The game ended with Sweden winning 5-3.
Canada will now play the United States for bronze at 1:05 a.m. ET on Friday.
In the women’s round robin, Canada toppled Denmark 10-4 in their final qualifying session, but did not qualify for the semifinals with a 5-4 record.
Figure Skating
Madeline Schizas was among 25 skaters competing for a medal in the women’s single skating competition, which concluded with the free skate program.
The combined score of the free skate and Tuesday’s short program determined the final rankings. Schizas finished the short program with a score of 60.53, and scored 115.03 in the free skate for a combined score of 175.56.
Fifteen-year-old phenom Kamila Valieva of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) entered the competition as a medal favourite, but fell on several jumps resulting in a fourth place finish. Teammates Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova won gold and silver, respectively. Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto took home bronze.
If Valieva finished in a podium spot, Games officials would not have handed out medals or have had the flower ceremony due to the unresolved doping controversy surrounding the ROC star.
Earlier in the Games, Valieva helped secure a gold medal in the figure skating team event for the ROC.
That win is in doubt pending the result of an investigation. Canada finished fourth the event, and could be bumped into a medal spot if the ROC is stripped of its win. Olympic officials can’t award the medals until the doping case is resolved.
Speed Skating
Canadians Alexa Scott and Maddison Pearman competed for a medal in the women’s long-track 1,000-metre speed skating final, but came up short of the podium.
Scott had Canada’s best result with a 12th place finish, while Pearman finished 26th.
Alpine Skiing
Canada’s Roni Remme skied out on the downhill portion of the women’s alpine combined final.
Without a downhill time, she was unable to compete for a medal in the following slalom portion and finished at the bottom of the overall rankings.
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