Short-track speed skating and curling both start today in the Olympics.
Yesterday was a little quieter on the medal-front for Canada, with a sole silver medal coming from the new Team Figure Skating competition. Today gets bigger though, as short-track speed skating and curling both get started!
Alpine Skiing
The ladies get to do the Super-Combined event today, which involves one run each of downhill and slalom. Marie-Michele Gagnon is the sole Canadian in the competition. The downhill starts at 11:00, and the medal-awarding slalom starts at 15:00.
Biathlon
After doing the Sprints the other day, the men now take on the pursuit. The difference here is the length of the race: 5 laps of a 2.5km track, with 4 rounds of shooting. Jean-Phillipe Le Guellec, Nathan Smith and Brendan Green will represent Canada again. The men’s pursuit starts at 19:00.
Curling
It’s the first day of curling! Brad Jacobs and his men will look to defend Canada’s golden supremacy, while Jennifer Jones looks to make her girls golden. The tournaments start with a 12-session round robin, followed by 4-team semifinals to determine the gold and bronze medal matchups. I will have to use a different formatting in here to list all the matches in progress, so here we go.
9:00 (Men’s Session 1): Denmark takes on China, Canada plays Germany, Switzerland battles Sweden, and Russia meets Great Britain.
14:00 (Women’s Session 1): Canada takes on China, Switzerland plays USA, Russia hosts Denmark, and Sweden battles Great Britain.
19:00 (Men’s Session 2): Sweden takes on Great Britain, Canada plays Switzerland, USA battles Norway, and Russia meets Denmark.
Freestyle Skiing
After the Dufour-Lapointe sisters won big in the Ladies Moguls the other day, it’s time for the men to play the same game. Alex Bilodeau will be here to defend his Olympic gold from Vancouver, and will be accompanied by fellow Canadians Mikael Kingsbury, Phillipe Marquis, and Marc-Antoine Gagnon. The first two qualification rounds start at 18:00 and 18:50 respectively. The 3 final rounds start at 22:00, 22:35 and 23:10 respectively.
Ice Hockey
The Canadian women started very strong the other day, and look to continue that strength. Today’s opponent, however, can be very tough. Finland was able to hold the American girls to only a 3-1 win the other day, so they are no pushovers. Canada and Finland face off at 19:00, following the USA-Switzerland matchup at 14:00.
Luge
The men have completed their singles, now the women get to go. Canada will be represented by Alex Gough, Kimberley McRae and Arianne Jones. Heat 1 starts at 18:45, followed by Heat 2 at 20:35.
Short Track
Ah yes, the other discipline kicking off today. Brothers Charles and Francois Hamelin are back, and will be joined by Michael Gilday. The men will focus on the 1500m races today, with heats at 13:45, semis at 15:04, and finals at 16:05. Spaced out between the men’s sets are the ladies 500m heats at 14:27, and the ladies’ 3000m relay semis at 15:35. Marianne St-Gelais, Valerie Maltais and Jessica Hewitt are racing in the 500m heats, and will be joined by Marie-Eve Drolet and Jessica Gregg for the relay.
Speed Skating
Over on the long track, the men get to skate both rounds of their 500m race. Canada is represented by Muncef Ouardi, William Dutton, Jamie Gregg and Gilmore Junio. The first races start at 17:00, followed by the 2nd medal-awarding races at 18:55.
Remember to check the main Sochi Olympics, CBC Olympics, and Team Canada's Olympics sites for lots of coverage.
Canada go!