During each day of the Games, Olympics Today will keep you up to date on the biggest news and happenings, on and off the field of play.
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While you were sleeping…
As Mikael Kingsbury crossed the finish line, fists pumping at the end of an aggressive yet smooth final run, he did so with Canada’s third medal of the day, and its second gold.
Watch @MikaelKingsbury's gold medal winning run#PyeongChang2018 #MoreCanada @Bell pic.twitter.com/pWDfxjZmxV
— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) February 12, 2018
The 25-year-old from Deux-Montagnes, Que., who has been a force throughout the World Cup season and brought home silver from the 2014 Sochi Games, was the overwhelming favourite to win gold. And those expectations only heightened when his stiffest competition, Japan’s Ikuma Horishima, took a brutal crash in his top-12 run and didn’t qualify for the final.
But you still have to make your run. And Kingsbury took his final trip down the hill with confidence and zeal. When his score was announced, he reacted so strongly his helmet flew off his head. Say this for Kingsbury — the man enjoys his moment.
But there was heartbreak, too, as Marc-Antoine Gagnon finished just off the podium in fourth and Phillipe Marquis, who was racing on a torn ACL, crashed out during his first run. That prevented Canada from claiming multiple medals in the sport — but it didn’t prevent multiple medals on the day.
By the time Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir took the ice for their free dance, the team figure skating competition at these Olympics was already over. Virtue and Moir could have taken off their skates and laid down at the middle of the rink for a nap, and Canada still would have brought home gold. Instead, they put on a first-place performance.
That’s how dominant the Canadians — including Virtue and Moir, Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford, Patrick Chan, Kaetlyn Osmond, and Gabrielle Daleman, who clinched the gold with her free program — were in this competition. Canada finished first in four of the eight combined events, and no lower than third. The Olympic Athletes from Russia, who finished second, were seven points back.
It was Canada’s first gold medal at these Games, and the second career gold for Virtue and Moir, two of the best figure skaters this country’s ever produced.
In fact, the majority of Canada’s team — with the exception of Osmond and Daleman — came up through the ranks together and will be retiring following this season. Doing so with a gold medal around your neck is just about the best ending one could write.
#SquadGolds #PyeongChang2018 pic.twitter.com/83zlruSzhG
— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) February 12, 2018
And then there was Laurie Blouin, the 21-year-old from Quebec City who claimed silver in women’s slopestyle Sunday, just 48 hours after she was hospitalized with a head injury following a nasty crash in training Friday.
There was some question as to whether Boulin would even be healthy enough to compete Sunday. But that question was answered when she stomped the landing on her third and final jump, before skidding to the bottom of the hill and taking a celebratory backwards fall into the snow.
That tumble must have felt much better than Blouin’s face-first fall Friday, which left her with a swollen black eye. But bruises fade. Olympic memoires don’t.
Prominent Canadians in action on Day 4 (all times Eastern):
• Women’s hockey, Canada vs. Finland — Feb. 13, 2:40 a.m.
For the night owls, Canada’s women’s hockey team will look to move to 2-0 at the Olympics when they face off against Finland on Tuesday. Finland was competitive in dropping its first game to the United States, 3-1, while Canada steamrolled the Olympic Athletes from Russia, 5-0. As always, the Canadians are heavy favourites to reach the gold-medal game. But they can’t underestimate the Finns, who were on form at the 2017 world championship, beating Canada in the round robin thanks to a 35-save effort from goaltender Noora Raty who should be between the pipes again Tuesday.
• Short track women’s 500-metres — Feb. 13, 5:00 a.m.
Canadian medal hopeful Marianne St-Gelais, who won silver in this event at the 2010 Games in Vancouver, will skate in the first quarter-final Tuesday as she seeks to return to the podium after finishing seventh in Sochi four years ago. She took home silver in the 500-metres at the 2017 world championship.
• Women’s luge — Feb. 13, 5:30 a.m.
Canadians Alex Gough and Kimberley McRae each posted solid results with their first two races down the track at Alpensia Sliding Centre, and will strive for the podium with their final two runs early Tuesday morning. Gough finished second and third in her first two trips, while McRae was fourth and seventh. That puts each woman firmly in the medal hunt along with the German favourites in a sport often decided by milliseconds.
• Speed skating, men’s 1,500-metres — Feb. 13, 6:00 a.m.
Three speed skaters will be part of a busy morning for Canadian medal hopefuls as Benjamin Donnelly, Denny Morrison, and Vincent de Haitre participate in the 1,500 at Gangneung Oval. Cumberland, Ont.’s de Haitre is the most likely to reach the podium here, but the Canadian legend Morrison will be a fascinating story to watch, as he competes after a tumultuous few years that have included a devastating motorcycle accident and a stroke suffered while mountain biking.
• Mixed doubles curling final, Canada vs. Switzerland — Feb. 13, 6:05 a.m.
As you sip your morning coffee, watch Canmore’s John Morris and Winnipeg’s Kaitlyn Lawes play for the first-ever Olympic gold medal awarded in mixed doubles curling. Morris and Lawes won a nail-biter over Norway Sunday, notching their seventh win in eight games thus far. They’ll clash Tuesday with Switzerland for all the marbles.
Sportsnet dispatches from Korea
On the ground in Pyeongchang, Kristina Rutherford is all over the gold medallists, taking you to McDonald’s with Kingsbury.
Rutherford also has the goods on Canada’s figure skaters after their gold-medal performance, focusing on a reflective Patrick Chan.
No surprise to those who know her, Rutherford used food to get into another story yesterday, this time with silver-winning speed skater Ted-Jan Bloemen.
And one more from Rutherford, who talked to snowboarder Spencer O’Brien about big air and her awesomely named father, Brian O’Brien.
Meanwhile, Shi Davidi takes you behind the scenes of Blouin’s silver-medal-winning run, and the frustration many slopestylers like her have had with conditions at Phoenix Snow Park.
Davidi also tells you all you need to know about Canada’s women’s hockey team’s tournament-opening romp over the Olympic Athletes from Russia.
And don’t miss this one, in which Davidi reveals the bond between Canadian goaltenders Ben Scrivens and Shannon Szabados.
In case you missed it Sunday, Daniel Nugent-Bowman has the story of Alex Harvey, who’s trying to make Canadian Olympic history in cross-country skiing.
Around the web…
You’re about to start hearing the name Mikaela Shaffrin an awful lot at these Games, and the New York Times has a great profile of the 22-year-old slalom prodigy.
The Guardian asks why a product that leads directly to obesity is a primary sponsor of the world’s foremost athletic event.
In the Washington Post, American skier Gus Kenworthy discusses the experience of being one of his country’s first openly gay Olympians.
