Olympics Today: Team Homan attempts to stay alive

4-time Olympic gold medallists Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir join Sportsnet’s Starting Lineup to discuss how they’ve been able to make their perfect partnership work for so long.

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.

Key Links:

Medal Standings
Full Olympic Coverage
Sportsnet’s Olympic Broadcast Schedule

While you were sleeping…

Two more gold medals for Canada overnight, bringing the country’s total to eight, with 19 overall. It now seems not only possible that Canada will surpass the record 26 medals it posted at the 2010 Vancouver games, but likely.

Considering Canada won only 95 medals combined in the 19 Games held between 1924 and 2002, and has won 94 medals (and counting) in the four Games since, it’s not a stretch to say we are living in the golden era of Canadian winter athletics.

Time will tell. For now, let’s get caught up on the latest winners, and those in the hunt over the next 24 hours.

The only place to begin

It probably says something about our national psyche, our collective paranoia, our great and enduring inferiority complex, that when the French figure skating duo Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron scored a world-record 123.35 with an elegant performance in Monday night’s ice dance, vaulting into first place and laying down an extremely stiff challenge at the feet of Canadian flag-bearers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, the cries of foul play were loud and widespread.

Lost in the hullabaloo of Papadakis’ exposed nipple during Sunday’s short program, you see, was a case of dubious judging — the French duo had been unjustly rewarded for a performance that was fine but not podium-worthy in the eyes of some. The French couple finished second to Canada Sunday, and when they broke their own world record with a combined score of 205.28 a night later, Canadians watching and commenting on social media wasted little time launching accusations of gerrymandering among the judges, whipping fellow onlookers with a once-in-four-years interest in figure skating into a downright panic. The judges had kept the French in the hunt. The fix was in. It’s ice dancing, we’re Canadians — of course it was.

Except it wasn’t. Virtue and Moir, blissfully unaware of the social media maelstrom that preceded their skate, took the ice shortly after the French and did what they do best — what they’ve done for 21 years, and what they’ll never do again. They skated flawlessly, fearlessly, captivatingly to Moulin Rouge’s “Roxanne.” They scored 122.40, for an overall total of 206.07, less than a point ahead of Papadakis and Cizeron. It was an iconic performance, one that reverberated across the country, and one that perfectly closed two storied careers.

With five medals each, Virtue and Moir are the most decorated figure skaters in Olympic history. With three gold, they are tied with a trio of athletes for the most ever by an Olympic figure skater. They are only the second couple to win two ice dance Olympic gold medals. This is not to mention the seven medals (three gold) at world championships, the eight golds at Canadian championships, the seven medals at Four Continents championships, the six medals at Grand Prix finals, and on and on.

What’s left to say? The fix wasn’t in. Gold to Canada. Virtue and Moir dance atop the world once more.

 
Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir: 'We knew we had delivered'
February 20 2018
Download

A dominant performance

Before she even took off for her final run in Monday’s ski halfpipe final, Calgary’s Cassie Sharpe already knew she’d won gold.

She punctuated her first run with a huge 900, earning a score of 94.40 that stood all the way through to her second run, when she topped it with a 95.80. The closest any other competitor came to unseating her was France’s Marie Martinod, who put up a 92.60.

And in her final run, Sharpe went for broke, trying to top her score one last time despite already having the gold medal in her pocket. She stumbled as she landed a 900, ensuring it would be a victory lap and nothing more. But Sharpe still threw down a 1080 at the bottom of the hill just for kicks.

That’s how dominant Sharpe was in this competition. She’ll add this Olympic gold — Canada’s first ever medal in women’s ski halfpipe — to the world championship silver she won in 2015. And, at only 25, this likely isn’t the last we’ve heard from her.

Drama at the oval

Here’s the moment that changed everything in Tuesday morning’s women’s 3,000-metre short-track speed skating relay.

With four laps remaining, South Korea’s Alang Kim went down on an exchange. Canadian Valerie Maltais was tripped up and crashed into the end wall, taking out an Italian skater in the process. The remaining laps were marked by confusion, as skaters picked themselves up and tried to reorient with where they were in the race. Once all teams crossed the finish line, it was in the hands of the officials.

A short-track speed skating relay is an extraordinary mess of humanity at the best of times, making a determination of who was at fault and who had been victimized in this situation a considerable challenge. Safe to say, the Canadians disagreed with the ultimate decision.

After a five-minute deliberation, officials determined Canada and China had committed penalties during the race and eliminated both teams from medal contention. South Korea took gold, Italy silver, and Netherlands, which wasn’t even in the race but won the B Final, was bumped up to bronze.

As it turns out, it wasn’t the crash itself that Canada was penalized for, but its frantic work to rejoin the race during the hectic laps following, as Kim Boutin was determined to have skated too close to the track from the warmup lane, impeding South Korean and Chinese skaters. It was the first time Canada hasn’t medalled in this event since it became an Olympic sport in 1992.

[relatedlinks]

Prominent Canadians in action on Day 12 (all times Eastern):

• Women’s curling, Canada vs. Great Britain — Feb. 20, 7:05 p.m.
Canada vs. Olympic Athletes from Russia — Feb. 21, 6:05 a.m.

After losing to China and dropping to 3-4 in the process, Rachel Homan’s rink now faces the reality of do-or-die games for the rest of its Olympics. While the results thus far have been disappointing — particularly for a team as highly touted as Homan’s — it’s not over yet. Canada can still reach the medal round with a pair of wins over the next 24 hours against Great Britain and Russia. It’s complicated, but Canada is actually well positioned in some tiebreaker scenarios due to being ranked second in the tournament when it comes to average last stone draw. Still, that won’t matter if Team Homan loses again, which it ought not to do. It’s a big day for this embattled rink.

By the way, Great Britain’s head coach? Canadian legend and four-time world champion Glenn Howard.

• Figure skating, women’s short program — Feb. 20, 8 p.m.

Canada will attempt to continue its figure skating podium assault Tuesday, as the women’s singles get started with the short program. Larkyn Austman, Gabrielle Daleman, and Kaetlyn Osmond will all take the ice, with the latter two having the best shot at medalling. Osmond took home silver in this event at the 2017 World Championship, while Daleman finished right behind her, claiming bronze. The International Skating Union ranks Osmond as the No. 2 women’s skater in the world. No. 1 is Russia’s Evgenia Medvedeva, who set a world record with a score of 81.06 in the women’s short program during the team event last week.

• Freestyle skiing, men’s ski cross — Feb. 20, 9:30 p.m.

There will be four Canadians in the field when the men’s ski cross goes down Tuesday night — Chris Del Bosco, Kevin Drury, Dave Duncan, and Brady Leman. Del Bosco and Lemen both reached the quarter-finals at the most recent world championships, with Lemen ultimately finishing seventh. Del Bosco has a World Cup gold medal to his name this season, while Drury — who, at No. 7, is the top ranked Canadian on the circuit — holds a silver. Of course, one of this sport’s main features is its unpredictability. Once the gates open, it’s anyone’s race.

• Men’s curling, Canada vs. Denmark — Feb. 21, 12:05 a.m.

After dropping three straight, Canada needed a win Monday night versus Japan and got it, 8-4. That moved Kevin Koe’s rink to 5-4 in the tournament ahead of Wednesday morning’s round-robin finale against Denmark. A win in that one — the Danes are 2-5 in the tournament — will clinch a spot for Canada in the semifinals. It can still get through with a loss, but a win would mean Canada likely avoids playing Team Sweden — the class of the tournament thus far — in the semis.

• Speed skating, women’s team pursuit — Feb. 21, 6 a.m.

A chance to skate for gold is on the line when Canada faces Japan in the semifinals of the women’s speed skating team pursuit Wednesday morning. Ivanie Blondin, Josie Morrison, and Isabelle Weidemann qualified for the semis by finishing third in the quarter-final, only three seconds behind the Japanese, who came in second. If Canada wins, it’ll race for gold at 6:54 a.m.

• Women’s bobsleigh — Feb. 21, 6:40 a.m.

It’s going to be some finish to the women’s bobsleigh Wednesday, after Tuesday’s first two runs left the top eight teams all within six-tenths of a second of one another. That dead heat includes all three Canadian sleds, with two-time defending champion Kaillie Humphries sitting fifth, only four-tenths of a second off the lead with her brake woman Phylicia George. (Humphries and George are only four one-hundredths of a second behind the third-place Germans, which says something about how competitive this race is.) The Canadian tandem of Alysia Rissling and Heather Moyse sits seventh, while Christine De Bruin and Melissa Lotholz are eighth, but the times are so tight that any team from that top eight could conceivably challenge for podium position Tuesday.

• Men’s Hockey, Canada vs. Finland — Feb. 21, 7:10 a.m.

After going 2-1 in the round robin, there’s no more room for hiccups now as Canada takes on Finland in the quarter-finals. Finland passed a perhaps-more-difficult-than-anticipated test with South Korea Tuesday morning to reach this game, and will have less than 24 hours to prepare. The Canadians, meanwhile, should be well rested after cruising to a 4-0 victory over South Korea Sunday morning to qualify for the quarter-finals. Rene Bourque has been Canada’s top goal-scorer thus far with three, while Derek Roy has chipped in five assists.

Sportsnet dispatches from Korea

Shi Davidi watched Virtue and Moir’s gold medal-winning skate live, and lets you know how it all played out.

Shi also brings you great detail from the Canadian and German bobsledders who tied for the gold medal in Sunday’s two-man final.

Kristina Rutherford has Sharpe’s story from her gold-medal performance in the halfpipe, including some colourful press conference banter.

And Kristina tees you up for Wednesday night’s women’s hockey gold medal game, the latest instalment in one of sport’s fiercest rivalries.

Around the web…

When American skeleton athlete Katie Uhlaender scanned the crowd moments before her race this weekend, she was looking for her coaches — instead, she saw her estranged mother who she hadn’t spoken to in four years.

The New York Times takes you behind the scenes with an oft-overlooked contingent of Winter Olympics participants — the Zamboni drivers.

The Ringer tells you the winding story of Charles Flaherty, the 17-year-old alpine skier who became the first athlete to compete for Puerto Rico at the Winter Olympics in two decades.

When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.