The final full day of the Beijing Winter Olympics saw Canada win its fifth speed skating medal of the 2022 Games and advance in the top three of the four-man bobsleigh competition.
Here’s what you may have missed from the overnight competition during Day 15.
Speed Skating
Canada’s Ivanie Blondin won the silver medal in the women’s mass start speed skating final, a redemption after she fell in the semifinals at the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang.
Blondin, who won her semifinal heat, was strong throughout the gruelling 16-lap race and managed to pull to the front for the final laps.
She looked like she was going to cross the finish line first, only for Irene Schouten of the Netherlands to overtake her in the final seconds to claim the gold. Blondin was less than a second behind.
Fellow Canadian Valerie Maltais came in sixth place in the final, after finishing seventh in her semifinal heat.
In the men’s mass start final, Jordan Belchos finished in 13th place while fellow Canadian Antoine Gelinas-Beaulieu came in 15th overall.
Bobsleigh
The four-man Canadian team led by Justin Kripps secured the bronze medal position after the first two runs of competition, with a combined time of 1:57.38.
The two other Canadian teams led by Christopher Spring and Taylor Austin finished 11th and 21st, respectively. Both teams moved up one spot from their first runs.
The teams move on to the third run on Sunday, aiming to qualify for the fourth and final run later in the day and a chance for a medal.
Canada’s Christine de Bruin came up just short of a medal in the two-woman bobsleigh competition, finishing fifth in the fourth and final run. She won the bronze in women’s monobob earlier in the week.
Pairs led by Cynthia Appiah and Melissa Lotholz also made the final run, but finished eighth and 12th respectively.
Freestyle Skiing
Canada’s three skiers were unable to clinch a medal in the men’s freeski halfpipe.
Noah Bowman got closest with a fourth-place finish and a best score of 84.75 in his second run. A stumble on the third run ensured he would not get a spot on the podium.
Brendan Mackay nearly had a shot of getting into the top three with a promising third run, but fell on his final trick attempt and was forced to settle for ninth place with a best score of 65.5.
Simon d’Artois had two bad runs but improved in the third with a score of 63.75, which put him in 10th place.
Many skiers in the final commented after their runs on the high winds impacting the course. The winds also led to the alpine mixed team parallel slalom event getting postponed with just one day left in the Games.
Figure Skating
Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro had the best night for Canada in the pair skating free skate, finishing 10th overall after their score was combined with the short program from Friday.
Vanessa James and Eric Radford placed 12th overall after their free skate.
Cross-Country Skiing
Canada’s Olivier Leveille and Remi Drolet finished 27th and 35th, respectively, in the men’s 30-kilometre mass start free finals.
The event was postponed an hour and shortened from 50 kilometres due to high winds.
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