TONS of skiing finals, curling semis, PLUS a women’s hockey rivalry for GOLD 🥇
Olympics Edition
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Ski Cross 🎿 Qualifications and Final
Ski Cross! Ski Cross! Ski Cross!
You don’t want to miss this! Canada’s ski cross team looks to continue Olympic dominance in Beijing and we’ve got some Canadian medal hopefuls in the women’s competition.
The entire women’s ski cross event will play out on Wednesday night and early Thursday morning and Canada has a couple of medal contenders in the field. 2014 Sochi gold medalist Marielle Thompson of B.C. is among the list of competitors who will be skiing. Brittany Phelan, who won silver in PyeongChang, is also in the lineup.
Canada’s best hopes for a medal are Thompson and Phelan, although Hannah Schmidt and Courtney Hoffos could always surprise us!
HOWEVER, watch out for Switzerland’s Fanny Smith and Sweden’s Sandra Naeslund, both of whom dominated in the women’s World Cup and are in top-notch form. Naeslund has won nine races, including the test event on the Olympic track in November.
Ski cross qualifications begin on Wednesday at 10:30pm ET. And don’t forget to tune into the final on Thursday at 1am ET on CBC Sports and CBC Gem!
Alpine Skiing ⛷ Combined Slalom
Downhill PLUS slalom?! HOW FUN!!
The women’s Combined Slalom final is almost here and it marks the final alpine ski event of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games.
Mikaela Shiffrin is expected to be back on the slopes for the women’s alpine combined!
Shiffrin raced the downhill for the first time at an Olympics on Tuesday. She didn’t win a medal - finishing in 18th place, 2.49 seconds behind gold medalist Corinne Suter - but it gives her more experience on the course ahead of Thursday’s combined, which features each a downhill and slalom run.
Despite her recent form, Shiffrin is still considered a favourite for gold in the combined event, with qualifications beginning on Wednesday at 9:30pm ET with the downhill.
One Canadian will also be participating in this event. Sooooo watch out for 26 year old Ronni Remme on the slopes!
Tune in to the women’s Combined Slalom Final, Thursday at 2:10am ET on CBC Sports and CBC Gem.
Freeski Halfpipe 👏 Qualification and Final
The freestyle skiers take on qualifying AND finals in the halfpipe this week!
Team Canada has three athletes set to compete in the qualifications - Amy Fraser, Cassie Sharpe and Rachael Karker. Sharpe is the reigning freestyle skiing halfpipe champion, having captured the gold during the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. But she’ll face some adversity in Beijing.
Sharpe underwent surgery last February, and only got back into competition in December. So she’ll be testing her physical limits during this event. Still… keep and eye out for Sharpe.
Karker is another Canadian to keep a close eye on. She’s made quite a name for herself ahead of her first Olympic appearance. Sooooo will Karker make her first Olympic experience a good one? Make sure to watch to find out!
And of course we all know Eileen Gu. Gu is one of the biggest breakout stars from the Beijing Winter Olympics. And she has another chance to stand on top of the podium this week.
The freestyle skier had already made a name for herself in China by claiming X Games golds in the superpipe and slopestyle events last year and she now has Olympic GOLD and SILVER medals at just 18 years old.
And we haven’t seen the end of Gu’s reign over these Olympic Games. The breakout star is competing in the women’s Freeski Halfpipe and you better believe she’s hungry for the win.
Check out the women’s Halfpipe qualifications Wednesday at 8:30pm ET and the Halfpipe FINAL Thursday at 8:30pm ET on CBC Sports and CBC Gem!
Women’s Curling 🥌
The Women’s curling semifinal will take place Friday morning as the round robin concludes this week. Canada is currently 4-4 in the round robin and the next few days of competition will determine if they make the semifinal.
Team Canada is made up of Jennifer Jones (skip), Kaitlyn Lawes (third), Jocelyn Peterman (second), Dawn McEwan (lead), Lisa Weagle (fifth/alternate) – Jones, Lawes, and McEwan were part of the team that won gold at Sochi 2014. That team went 11-0 at the Games that year.
Lawes went on to win gold in 2018 with John Morris in the Mixed Doubles curling event and is appearing in her third straight Olympic Games.
Canada is hoping to reclaim their gold medal position as the competition continues. Once the round robin is complete and the semifinal teams are determined, the semis will take place Friday morning at 7am ET on CBC Sports and CBC Gem.
Figure Skating ⛸ Women’s Free Skate
The Women’s Single Free Skate event will take place Thursday morning as Kamila Valieva leads the competition after the Short Program on Tuesday. Unfortunately, Canada’s Madeline Schizas fell to 20th place in the first round of competition.
Valieva made headlines last week after she failed a mandatory drug test. She testified and it was determined she would be allowed to skate in the event, but if she won there would be no medal ceremony.
The young Russian skater also made headlines by landing two quad jumps in the Team Figure Skating event last week, being the first person to ever do that in competition. The fifteen-year-old, despite not completing a perfect routine, still sits at the top and is favoured to win the event.
Kamila’s teammate Anna Shcherbakova currently sits in second, while Kaori Sakamoto of Japan sits in third.
The Free Program will take place Thursday morning at 5am ET on CBC Sports and CBC Gem.
📺 Must-see Event: Canada vs. USA Gold Medal Game
Give me the hockey rivalry we’ve all been waiting for! 😏
It's literally the moment we knew was coming. CANADA vs. USA. Does it get any better than this in ice hockey?!? I think not!
Here's a bit of a history lesson for you... The United States are the defending Olympic champions and these two rivals have met in five of the six previous gold medal matches since women’s hockey was added to the Olympics in 1998. Team U.S.A defeated Canada 3-2 in the teams' previous outing at PyeongChang 2018 and this game went all the way to a shootout. Coming into this final, the Americans have a 5-1 record in Beijing and their only loss came from Canada. Meanwhile, the Canucks are UNDEFEATED in the Games thus far. Canada has totalled four gold medals (2002, 2006, 2010, 2014) and two silvers (1998, 2018) in the previous six Winter Olympics. Five of those gold medal games were against the U.S.
So basically, the excitement for this matchup IS REAL. Even JB knows what’s good ⬇️
Based on their play to date, the Canadians are heavily favoured for the first time in a gold medal match against their American rival. And they’re reached that status by a unified approach and incredible depth.
The Canadian offence has scored at a record pace, putting up 54 goals and hitting double digits in FOUR of its games. ANDDD the Canadian attack is fast and deep. The red and whites have had scoring from all four lines and their defence, and head to the final with six top scorers in the tournament.
The U.S. will undoubtedly counter with speed of their own, but they need to find a way to produce on offence. The Canadian shooters, meanwhile, are connecting at a high rate of proficiency. The U.S. leads the tournament with shots on goal at 334 - 24 more than Canada - but is being outscored 54-28, a stunning difference considering the historic parity between the two nations.
This needs no further buildup. TONIGHT. 11:10 pm ET. CBC Sports, the CBC Sports app, and CBC Gem.
🍁 Canada Watch 👀
Didn't I say we got this?!? Well... IT'S HERE!!! BRING OUT THE WOMEN'S GOLD! 🥇🎊
Can we just take this in for a moment? Isabelle Weidemann has got a FULL medal set! YES!
That gold medal came as Team Canada won the women’s Team Pursuit speed skating at the Beijing Olympics. The trio of Weidemann, fellow Ottawa native, Ivanie Blondin, and Valerie Maltais of Saguenay, Que., defeated Team Japan in the "A" final. Not to mention they did it in Olympic-record breaking fashion with a time of two minutes 53.44 seconds. It seemed like it was going Japan's way until Nana Takagi went down on the final turn and crashed into the padding. Canada finished with a final time margin of victory of 11.03 seconds.
I have been asking for more medal moments like this, and I am SO glad we got this GOLDEN moment 👇🤩:
TOTAL MEDAL COUNT || Women: 6 | Men: 9 | Mixed Team: 3
🥉BRONZE - Count: 7
Isabelle Weidemann (Speed Skating - Women's 3000-metre)
Kim Boutin (Short Track Speed Skating - Women’s 500-metre)
Team Canada (Ski Jumping - Mixed Team)
Meryeta O’Dine (Snowboard Cross)
Team Canada (Aerials - Mixed Team)
Team Canada (Snowboard Cross - Mixed Team)
Christine de Bruin (Monobob - Women’s)
🥈SILVER - Count: 1
Isabelle Weidemann (Speed Skating - Women's 5000-metre)
🥇GOLD - Count: 1
Team Canada (Speed Skating - Women's Team Pursuit)
TV Guide
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