Speed skater Laurent Dubreuil achieved his dream of earning an Olympic medal with bronze on Day Eight of the Games, after finishing just off the podium in Beijing, while most other Canadian athletes competing on Saturday didn’t even place in the top 10.
Meanwhile the country’s women’s hockey team continued to inch closer to the finals with a win against Germany.
Here is a full breakdown of all the events you may have missed over the weekend.
Olympics: Day Eight (Feb. 14)
Biathlon – women’s sprint (final)
In the women’s sprint final, Benita Peiffer earned the Canada’s best finish in the event in 56th with a time of 23:08.5, marking her Olympic debut. Meanwhile, her teammates Nadia Moser, Pascale Paradis and Shilo Rousseau, finished 61st, 67th, and 80th respectively.
Norway’s Maren Kirkeeide powered through some light snowfall and low falling clouds to finish first with a time of 20:40.8.
Meanwhile Océane Michelon and Lou Jeanmonnot from France followed close behind to secure silver and bronze with a times of 20:44.06 and 21:04.5.
Cross-country skiing – women’s 4x7.5km relay
In the women’s 4x7.5km relay event, Canada’s Alison Mackie, Jasmine Drolet, Liliane Gagnon and Sonjaa Schmidt finished eighth with a time of 1:19:20.7.
Norway’s Kristin Austgulen Fosnæs, Astrid Øyre Slind, Karoline Simpson-Larsen, and Heidi Weng powered through rainy conditions to top the podium with a time of 1:15:44.8. Throughout the race they took a decent lead over Sweden, who crashed twice in the second leg, and eventually earned silver with a time of 1:16:35.7.
Behind them was Finland’s Johanna Matintalo, Kerrtu Niskanen, Vilma Ryytty, and Jasmi Joensuu who finished with a time of 1:16:59.5 to take bronze.
Curling
Canada’s women’s team played in their third match of the preliminary round on Saturday against the United Kingdom and finished the game on an 7-6 loss. This is the second loss for Team Homan after losing 9-8 to the United States on Friday.
Later in the day, they came back for one more against Switzerland, but the Swiss eventually took over to win the match up 8-7. The back-to-back losses handed Canada a record of 1-3 heading into Day Nine of the competition.
Meanwhile in the men’s tournament, Canada faced Switzerland in their fourth match of the preliminary round, finishing on a 9-5 loss. After three straight wins since they started their campaign on Feb. 11, Team Jacobs hold a record of 3-1.
Freestyle skiing – women’s big air qualifiers, dual moguls
Freestyle skiers Megan Oldham, Elena Gaskell, Skye Clarke, Naomi Urness competed in the women’s big air qualifiers on Saturday.
Oldham, Clarke and Gaskell were the only Canadians to attempt the third run of the qualifiers, reaching 2nd, 8th and 13th with 80.50, 64.25 and 40.00 points respectively.
Urness was the only one who received a DNI, meaning her score was equal to or did not improve since the second run. Apart from her, nine of the 27 international skiers in the third run also found themselves in that position.
Meanwhile, Ashley Koehler, Jessie Linton, and Maya Schwinghammer competed in the women’s dual moguls Round of 16. All three of them in addition to Laurianne Desmarais-Gilbert also competed in the Round of 32, with Koehler finishing with the best advantage of 35-0.
Linton and Schwinghammer finished 21-14 respectively while Desmarais-Gilbert ended her day on a 22-13 loss to the United States’ Tess Johnson.
Ice hockey – Canada vs Switzerland
After their 5-1 victory against Finland on Feb. 12, the Canadians carried that momentum to face Germany in the quarterfinal round for the first time ever.
Less than five minutes into her return to the ice Poulin got the first goal for Canada with 12:41 on the clock. She was kept off the ice for the past two games after being checked hard into the boards by Czechia’s Kristýna Kaltounková, sustaining a knee injury.
With that goal, she tied Canadian forward Hayley Wickenheiser, who retired in 2017, for the most Olympic goals with 18, and now joins the women’s all-time Olympic goal leader club.
Sarah Fillier, Claire Thompson, Brianne Jenner and Blayre Turnbull also scored for Canada against Germany. Meanwhile, the first ever goal in women’s hockey for the Germans came from Franziska Feldmeier, who scored on a breakaway in the third.
Canada’s goaltender Emerance Maschmeyer recorded her second win and shutout of the tournament. Maschmeyer came to Milano Cortina for her second Winter Olympics after making her debut in Beijing 2022.
With the win, the ladies’ record stands at 4-1, before playing Switzerland in the semifinals later this afternoon. The United States and Sweden were the other two teams that punched their ticket to the next round after shutting out Italy (6-0) and Czechia (2-0) on Feb. 13.
Short track – 1000 metre qualifiers, 1500 metre quarterfinal
In the women’s 1000 metre qualifiers, Courtney Sarault finished first in the first heat, while Kim Boutin and Florence Brunelle finished in second in heats five and seven.
The three of them would then join Danaé Blais later in the day for the 3000 metre relay semifinals, where they would place second with a time of 4:04.856.
Meanwhile in the men’s 1500 metre quarterfinal, William Dandjinou placed second, as Félix Roussel and Steven Dubois placed first in their respective heats.
In the semifinals, results looked better for Dandjinou who topped the standings, but Dubois placed sixth with a time of 2:19.273 and Roussel was issued a yellow card after officials said he caused a crash with Latvia’s Roberts Kruzbergs.
Only Dandjinou and Dubois would make the final, but they narrowly missed the podium placing fifth and sixth with times of 2:12.639 and 2:36.955.
Skeleton
In the women’s skeleton final, Hallie Clarke finished with the best result for the Canadians placing 17th in the first heat of the day, while Jane Channell finished 19th. They crossed the finish line with times of 58.31 and 58.51 respectively.
Later on, they competed in the fourth and final round where they bettered their time, but it still wasn’t enough to make the podium. Clarke completed her run in 11th place with a time of 57.98, while Channell moved up two spots to 17th with a time of 58.23.
Austria’s Janine Flock secured gold for her country with a time of 57.26, while Susanne Kreher from Germany secured silver and Belgium’s Kim Meylemans took bronze.
Ski jumping – men’s individual: large hill
Canadian ski jumper Mackenzie Boyd-Clowes didn’t seem to have much luck on the hill this weekend at Predazzo. As the only Canadian to compete in this event, Boyd-Clowes placed 45th in the final round with 101.8 points.
Meanwhile, Slovenia’s Domen Prevc jumped off the hill with precision in the event he does the best in, to land in the top spot of the podium. Prevc finished with 301.8 points after two rounds to get his first gold medal in an individual event at the Olympics and his second overall.
He was followed by Japan’s Ren Nikaido who secured silver with 295 points and Poland’s Kacper Tomasiak who earned bronze with 291.2 points.
Speed skating – men’s 500 metre, women’s team pursuit
Laurent Dubreuil has now added bronze to his resume after narrowly missing the podium with a fourth-place finish in the Beijing 2022 Olympics. Dubreuil’s results were the best of his teammates Anders Johnson and Cedrick Brunet who finished 16th and 23rd.
Canada’s Isabelle Weidemann, Ivanie Blondin and Valérie Maltais also competed in the women’s team pursuit quarterfinal, taking first place with a time of 2:55.03.
The Japanese and the Dutch took second and third in the race.
Olympics: Day Nine (Feb. 15)
Canada’s Mikaël Kingsbury captured Canada’s first gold medal of the Milano Cortina Winter Games in the inaugural men’s dual moguls event, while other Canadian athletes struggled to get on the podium for a second consecutive day.
Meanwhile in hockey, the Canadian men took a double-digit lead against France in a full team effort to advance to the quarterfinal. Team Canada will play the winner of the Czechia and Denmark game on Feb. 18.
Alpine skiing
In the first run of the women’s giant slalom final, Valérie Grenier earned the country’s best finish of the event in 16th, while Britt Richardson, Justine Lamontagne finished 26th, 27th respectively. Their teammate Cassidy Gray completed the first round with a DNF, to exit the competition medalless.
Italy’s Frederica Brignone reached the reached the podium first, earning her second gold medal of the Games. Sweden’s Sara Hector got silver with a time of 1:10.15 as Thea Louise Stjernesund crossed the finish line to take bronze.
Biathlon
In the women’s pursuit final, Benita Peiffer finished 58th as the only Canadian representative in the event.
Italy’s Lisa Vittozzi finished first with a time of 30:11.8 to earn the second gold of the day for the hometown crowd.
Meanwhile Norway’s Maren Kirkeeide secured silver with a time of 20:44.06 as Finland’s Suvi Minkkinen skied behind her for a third-place finish on the podium.
Bobsleigh
In the women’s monobob event, Canada’s Cynthia Appiah finished with the best result for Canada, finishing ninth with a time of 1:00.11, while Melissa Lotholz finished 14th with a time of 1:00.38.
Germany’s Laura Nolte topped the standings with a time of 59.44, as Elana Meyers Taylor and Kaysha Love remained behind her earning silver and bronze for the United Sates. The two of them finished with a time of 59.49 and 59.54 respectfully.
Cross country skiing – men’s 4x7.5km relay
In the men’s 4x7.5km relay event, Canada’s Tom Stephen, Xavier McKeever, Antoine Cyr and Remi Drolet finished fifth with a time of 1:05:36.8.
Norway’s Johannes Hoesflot Kalebo, Martin Loewstroem Nyenget, Emil Iversen, and Elinar Hedegart finished at the top with a time of 1:04:24.5.
The French completed their race with silver, leaving Italy to take bronze with a time of 1:05:12.4.
Curling
Canada’s men’s team played in their fifth match of the preliminary round on Sunday against China and finished the game with a 6-3 victory.
This is the fourth win of the tournament for Team Jacobs after a 9-5 win against Switzerland on Saturday.
Figure skating - pair skating qualification
In the pair skating qualification, Canada’s Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud earned 74.60 points to finish third overall.
Canadians Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Max Deschamps finished 14th in the event with 66.04 and did well considering the challenges they had to overcome to get to this point.
Just over two weeks ago Stellato-Dudek suffered a head injury during practice in Montreal on Jan. 30, putting this Olympic Games in jeopardy and forcing them to pull out of the team competition last week.
At 42-years-old she is the oldest figure skater to compete in the Games.
Freestyle skiing – men’s big air qualifiers, men’s dual moguls
In the men’s big air qualifiers, Evan McEachran and Dylan Deschamps were the only two competitors to represent Canada.
The two of them cruised through the first two runs with decent standings to put themselves in the third and final run of the day.
Dylan Deschamps earned the best result for Canada in first place with 90.50 points, as Evan McEachran placed 17th with 34.50 points.
Meanwhile, Mikael Kingsbury competed in the inaugural men’s dual mogul event to make it all the way to the final. Julien Viel and Eliott Vaillancourt also competed in the event for Canada but neither of them made it further than the Round of 16.
Kingsbury raced against his rival, Ikuma Horishima of Japan in the big final to earn Canada’s first gold in Milano Cortina after Horishima missed his second jump of the course.
After the race, the 33-year-old said in an interview that this Olympics will be his last.
Ice hockey – Canada vs Switzerland
After the men’s team won 5-1 against Switzerland on Feb. 13, their next task was to take on France in the preliminary round.
Throughout three periods the Canadians absolutely obliterated the French, winning the match, 10-2.
Tom Wilson, Mark Stone and Devon Toews scored three goals for Canada in the first period compared to France’s single goal by Floran Douay.
Then, another three came in the second by Cale Makar, Sidney Crosby and Macklin Celebrini, who scored on a penalty shot.
After 40, Connor McDavid, Bo Horvat and Brandon Hagel scored three more to bring their total to nine goals, then Celebrini scored again on the power play to enter double digits. So far, Celebrini has four goals and two assists in the tournament, to tie for second in the competition behind McDavid.
Canada won the match 10-2, finishing the game with a fight between Wilson and a French player, which is forbidden in the Olympics, as Binnington recorded his second win.
The men continue to remain undefeated with a 3-0 record before playing in the quarterfinals on Wednesday against either Czechia or Denmark.
Skeleton
In the mixed team final, Jane Channell and Josip Brusic finished dead last with a time of 2:02.64, after Brusic made multiple mistakes throughout the course. The two of them were the only athletes representing Canada in this competition.
The United Kingdom’s Tabitha Stoecker and Matt Weston secured gold for their country with a time of 1:59.36, while Susanne Kreher and Axel Jungk from Germany secured silver, leaving their teammates Jacqueline Lolling and Christoper Grotheer to take bronze.
Ski jumping – women’s individual: large hill
Abigail Strate finished with the best result for Canada in the women’s individual event on the large hill, placing seventh with 136.7 points overall. Meanwhile her teammate Nicole Maurer, finished well behind her in 19th with 114.9 points overall.
Their fellow teammate, Natalie Eilers who competed in previous events did not do so in this one after announcing she fractured three vertebrates in her back in a post to Instagram.
Meanwhile, Norway’s Anna Odine Strøm jumped well enough to land in the top spot of the podium with 284.8 points after two rounds. Strøm was followed by her fellow teammate Eirin Maria Kvandal who earned silver with 282.7 points overall.
Lastly, Slovenia’s Nika Prevc earned bronze with 271.5, after not jumping far enough in the second round. For Prevc, this is her third medal after earning gold in the mixed team event and silver in her first individual competition.
At just 20-years-old, she is also the flag bearer for her country alongside her brother Domen Prevc in their first Games.
Snowboarding – women’s slopestyle qualifiers, men’s slopestyle
Laurie Blouin and Juliette Pelchat were the two competitors for Canada who placed eighth and ninth in the first run of the women’s slopestyle qualifiers. However, they weren’t so lucky in the second, placing 24th and 28th with 32.70 and 19.43 points each.
Snowboarders Mark McMorris, Cameron Spalding, Eli Bouchard and Francis Jobin competed in the men’s slopestyle, with McMorris taking second place in the first run. However, his teammates ranked significantly lower with Spalding having the better result of the three at 18th, while Bouchard, and Jobin ranked 26th, and 28th of 30 competitors.
In the second run their results were better, as Spalding took third with 78.76 points, as McMorris below him with 78.58 points, while Eli Bouchard placed 10th. Still for McMorris this was a major accomplishment after bowing out of events for some time since he suffered a head injury in training just before his first competition.
Unfortunately for Jobin, his results never improved, resulting in a finish in the same spot, ahead of Hiroto Ogiwara who didn’t start in the race. In the second run, he earned 17.80 points.
Meanwhile, Audrey McManiman and Eliot Grondin finished fourth in the mixed team snowboard cross quarterfinals, failing to advance to the next round.
Speed skating – 500 metre (final)
Canada’s Beatrice LaMarche earned the best result for her country in the women’s 500 metre final, placing seventh with a time of 37.53, while Brooklyn McDougall, Carolina Hiller-Donnelly 19th and 21st respectfully.
The Netherlands’ Femke Kok clinched gold while making a new Olympic record with a time of 36.49. Her teammate Jutta Leerdam secured silver while Japan’s Miho Takagi captured bronze.
