Riders prepare for Redblacks after first win in months
13h ago
For the first time since July, the Riders can build off a win on Saturday.
Bronze remains the popular colour of medal for Canada at the Beijing Olympics.
Christine de Bruin (Stony Plain, Alta.) slid her way to a podium finish in the first-ever women’s monobob event, capturing Canada’s 10th bronze medal of the Games and 15th medal overall.
After four runs at the Yanqing Sliding Centre, de Bruin had a total time of four minutes 21.03 seconds, putting her behind only the American sleds piloted by Kaillie Humphries (4:19.27) and Elana Meyers Taylor (4:20.81).
Humphries won two Olympic gold medals for Canada between 2010 and 2018 competing in the two-woman bobsled. In 2019, however, she began competing for the U.S. after a legal battle with Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton.
It was Canada’s fifth Olympic medal all-time in a women’s bobsleigh event.
Cynthia Appiah (Toronto) finished eighth.
The men’s two-man event began Monday. The sled piloted by Chris Spring (Vancouver) was eighth after the first two heats, with defending Olympic co-champion Justin Kripps (Summerland, B.C.) 10th and Taylor Austin (Calgary) 20th.
The third and fourth heats are set for early Tuesday.
Snowboarding: Regina’s Mark McMorris will go for gold in the men’s Big Air competition Monday night.
The first of the final three runs in the final is slated to begin at 11 p.m., Saskatchewan time.
McMorris finished eighth in Sunday night’s qualifying rounds to move on to the 12-man final.
Max Parrot of Bromont, Que., who won gold in the men’s slopestyle, was the top qualifier in Big Air. Darcy Sharpe (Comox, B.C.) also advanced to the final after a 12th-place finish in qualifying.
Sebastien Toutant (L’Assomption, Que.) was 26th in the preliminary round and didn’t advance.
On the women’s side, Laurie Blouin (Quebec City) finished fourth in qualifying to advance to the Big Air final Monday evening. Jasmine Baird (Georgetown, Ont.) also moved on after finishing 10th.
Brooke Voigt (Fort McMurray, Alta.) was 21st in qualifying and was eliminated.
Hockey: Canada and the United States will face off for the gold medal in women’s hockey — again.
Captain Marie-Philip Poulin scored twice as Canada cruised to a 10-3 victory over Switzerland in Monday’s semifinal. The Americans beat Finland 4-1.
Canada and the United States have met in five of the previous six gold-medal matches since women’s hockey was added to the Olympic program at Nagano in 1998. The Americans are the defending champions.
The final is scheduled for Wednesday at 10:10 p.m., Saskatchewan time.
In Monday’s contest, Renata Fast (Burlington, Ont.), Brianne Jenner (Oakville, Ont.), Erin Ambrose (Keswick, Ont.), Blayre Turnbull (Stellarton, N.S.), Claire Thompson (Toronto), Emma Maltais (Burlington, Ont.), Jamie Lee Rattray (Kanata, Ont.) and Saskatoon’s Emily Clark had the other goals for Canada.
Sarah Nurse (Hamilton) added four assists and Rebecca Johnstone (Sudbury, Ont.) had three helpers.
On the men’s side, Canada is to play China in a qualification playoff game on Tuesday. Puck drop is set for just after 7 a.m. Saskatchewan time.
Curling: Patience and precise shooting by Canada proved too much for Italy on Monday.
Brad Gushue (St. John’s, N.L.) jumped on opportunities for a 7-3 victory in men’s curling.
The teams were deadlocked 2-2 after five ends but Gushue scored two in the sixth and three in the ninth to improve his record to 4-2 in the 10-team round-robin.
Gushue, Mark Nichols (St. John’s, N.L.), Brett Gallant (Charlottetown, P.E.I.) and Geoff Walker (Edmonton) sat in third place behind Sweden (6-0) and Great Britain (5-1). The top four teams after the round-robin move on to the semifinals.
Canada is to play China on Monday night and the Russian entry on Tuesday morning.
Jennifer Jones (Winnipeg) posted a pair of victories on the women’s side Monday, stealing four points in the first two ends en route to an 11-5 victory over Russia 11-5 and then knocking off Great Britain 7-3.
Jones, Kaitlyn Lawes (Winnipeg), Jocelyn Peterman (Red Deer) and Dawn McEwen (Winnipeg) improved to 3-3 in round-robin play and are tied for fifth with Great Britain and South Korea. Switzerland was in first place at 5-1, with Japan, Sweden and the United States tied for second at 4-2.
Canada is to play the U.S. on Tuesday night and China on Wednesday morning.
Figure skating: Piper Gilles (Toronto) and Paul Poirier (Unionville, Ont.) came up short of their dream of being Olympic medallists.
The two Canadians finished seventh in ice dance at the Beijing Games in what was likely the pair’s final Olympic appearance.
They came to Beijing as the reigning world bronze medallists, but some problems on technical elements in both their rhythm dance and free dance left them in seventh place overall, with a total of 204.78 points, about 10 points under their personal best.
Laurence Fournier-Beaudry (Greenfield Park, Que.) and Nikolaj Soerensen (Montreal) finished ninth, while Marjorie Lajoie (Boucherville, Que.) and Zachary Lagha (St-Hubert, Que.) placed 13th.
The women’s short program, including Madeline Schizas (Oakville, Ont.), is to begin early Tuesday morning.
Alpine skiing: Marie-Michele Gagnon (Lac Etchemin, Que.) was fifth in the third training run for the women’s downhill, with Roni Remme (Collingwood, Ont.) in 28th.
The medals are to be handed out after the final run Monday night.
Freestyle skiing: In women’s aerials, Naomy Boudreau-Guertin (Boischatel, Que.) finished 12th and Flavie Aumond (Lac-Beauport, Que.) was 13th in qualifying. Neither skier reached the final round.