BEIJING — HALFPIPE PODIUM PALS
Friends and teammates Cassie Sharpe and Rachael Karker wanted nothing more than to share an Olympic podium together. A pair of solid runs in the women's freeski halfpipe turned that dream into reality. Calgary's Sharpe won silver with a 90.75 and Karker took home the bronze with an 87.75. "It was amazing. Cassie and I have shared so many podiums over the years and I'm so happy we were also able to get this one," said Karker. Between the two friends on the podium was the seemingly unstoppable Eileen Gu, who won gold for her third medal in Beijing. The Chinese sensation also won gold in women's big air and a silver in women's slopestyle. "She is a machine," said Sharpe of the 18-year-old Gu.
THIS TIME, DUBREUIL DELIVERS
The 1,000 metres is not Laurent Dubreuil's signature event, and it's not a distance that comes naturally to the Canadian speedskater. He certainly fooled the crowd at the National speedskating Oval Friday, and the thousands watching from home. The 29-year-old from Lévis, Que., raced to a silver medal in the 1,000 with a time of one minute, 8.32 seconds. He was 0.40 seconds behind gold-medallist Thomas Krol of the Netherlands. Dubreuil's first 600 metres was so quick that his opponent couldn't make the switch from the inner lane to the outer lane on the crossover. The medal came as a surprise to the Canadian himself, who finished fourth in the 500 — his signature event — earlier in the Games. "It's crazy to win a medal in the 1,000 and not in the 500. That's not what I would have bet on," said Dubreuil. "As much as it was disappointing and a letdown six days ago, this is incredible and a huge surprise for me."
GUSHUE DIGS DEEP
Brad Gushue called it the toughest game he's ever had to play. The Canadian skip put aside the disappointment of losing to Sweden in the semifinal and dug deep to defeat American John Shuster 8-5 in the bronze-medal game. "You want to give 100 per cent but you don't have 100 per cent," said Gushue. Canada stole two points in the ninth end and ran the U.S. out of rocks in the 10th. It was Canada's only curling medal in Beijing. And the second for Gushue and vice Mark Nichols, who won Olympic gold at the 2006 Games in Turin, Italy. "I'm obviously disappointed it's not a gold, but it could also be nothing," Nichols said. "The bronze medal is going to look really nice next to the gold medal."
KEEPING THE DOOR OPEN
When Brady Leman crossed the finish line second in the small final at Genting Snow Park — a disappointing sixth overall in men's ski cross — the 35-year-old likely put an end to his Olympic career. But he's not ready to make anything official just yet. While Leman said the Beijing Games are likely his last Olympics, he also said he's "keeping the door open a crack" to returning. "I'm not getting any younger, but I'm still fast and I still think I can win," he said. The Calgary native's sixth-place finish capped off a difficult day for the Canadians, who were heavily favoured to win medals and entered the event with high expectations. Three of Canada's four skiers — Reece Howden of Cultus Lake, B.C., Toronto's Kevin Drury and Ottawa's Jared Schmidt — didn't make it past the quarterfinals. Leman, the 2018 Olympic champion in the discipline, got closer. but finished last in his semifinal.
SKATERS NEED TO BOUNCE BACK AFTER HARD FALL
Canadian champions Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro are 13th in the Olympic figure skating pairs competition after a frightening stumble during their short program. Skating to "Hold on Tight" by Forest Blakk, Moore-Towers and Marinaro scored a disappointing 62.51 after they both took a hard fall on their throw triple loop. Marinaro caught his toe pick in the ice when he was launching Moore-Towers into the air — a mishap they said never happens — and both wound up on their stomachs. After the skate, Marinaro was pretty blunt in assessing what went wrong. "I hit my toe pick after I threw her and fell on my face," he said. Fellow Canadians Vanessa James and Eric Radford are in 12th after the pairs short program. Both teams qualified for Saturday's free skate.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 18, 2022.
The Canadian Press
