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The Canadian men dominated the mogul and short-track podiums yesterday, while the Canadian women pioneer new competitions today.
Yesterday was a very big day for Canada. Charles Hamelin won gold in short-track speed skating, and Alex Bilodeau successfully became a repeat champion in the moguls with fellow Canadian Mikael Kingsbury earning the silver! Today will be a big day for the women, with multiple big events on, including a couple Olympic firsts.
Biathlon
The women get to take on the Pursuit today, although only going 10km to the men’s 12.5km by skiing a 2km track instead of the 2.5km. Rosanna Crawford, Megan Imrie and Zina Kocher will represent Canada, as they did in the Sprint. The race starts at 19:00.
Cross-Country
It will be a busy day for the cross-country skiing, as both the men and ladies go through all rounds of the Sprint Free competitions. Skiers will start at 15-second intervals and race around a loop (1.2-1.3km for women, 1.4-1.6km for men). The top 30 finishers make it to the quarterfinal heats, where they are divded into 5 heats of 6 skiiers. The top two in each heat move on, along with 2 wild-card spots for the fastest of the skiiers finishing 3rd or 4th in their heat. The semifinals will have 2 heats of 6, then the finals with have a single heat of 6 to determine the medals.
The women will go first, with qualifications at 14:00, quarterfinals at 16:00, semifinals at 16:56, and finals at 17:22. Daria Gaiazova, Perianne Jones, Chandra Crawford and Heidi Widmer will represent Canada. The men will have their events alternate with the women’s: qualifications at 14:25, quarterfinals at 16:25, semifinals at 17:06, and finals at 17:30. Alex Harvey, Len Valjas, Devon Kershaw and Jesse Cockney participate for Canada.
Curling
Brad Jacobs and his men had a rougher start yesterday, getting used to the ice and rocks. They pulled off the early win against Germany yesterday with an 11-8 score, but lost in their later match against Switzerland by a 5-4 mark. They only have the one game today, in the middle section against Sweden. On the women's side, Jennifer Jones and her ladies got a strong start by beating China 9-2 yesterday. They only have the one match today, an early game against Sweden.
9:00 (Women’s Session 2): Korea plays Japan, Russia takes on USA, Switzerland faces Denmark, and Sweden battles Canada.
14:00 (Men’s Session 3): Norway plays Russia, Canada takes on Sweden, USA faces China, and Great Britain battles Germany.
19:00 (Women’s Session 3): Korea plays Switzerland, Great Britain takes on USA, China faces Russia, and Denmark battles Japan.
Figure Skating
The pairs kick off their regular competition today with the short program. Canada is well represented by 3 pairs of skaters: Paige Lawrence with Rudi Swiegers, Meagan Duhamel with Eric Radford, and Kristen Moore-Towers with Dylan Moscovitch. The event starts at 19:00.
Freestyle Skiing
Here we go with another new event! Just like we saw in the snowboard slopestyles the other day, we get to see the skiing version as well. Canadians Dara Howell, Yuki Tsubota, Kim Lamarre and Kaya Turski will seek to win the first ever Olympic gold for this competition. The ladies qualifications start at 10:00, followed by the finals at 13:00.
Ice Hockey
We are continuing with the women’s Group B today, as Germany plays Sweden at 14:00 and Russia takes on Japan at 19:00.
Luge
The women wrap up their singles runs today and determine who wins the gold. Canadians Alex Gough and Kimberley McRae are sitting 5th and 6th respectively after the 2 runs yesterday, with Arianne Moore following behind at 13th. Run 3 starts at 18:30, with Run 4 starting at 20:20.
Ski Jumping
Although the Normal Hill Individual isn't unusual for ski jumping, this year's new competition has something special: women. After the insertion to the Olympic program in 2011 (not in time for Vancouver), this will be the first time that women can compete in Olympic ski jumping. Taylor Henrich and Atsuko Tanaka will soar through the air, with hopes of bringing Canada the first gold in the competition's history. Ladies qualifications start at 21:30, followed by the finals at 22:25.
Snowboarding
Ah yes, the iconic snowboard competition. The halfpipe is the one we all get to hear about. Canadians Derek Livingston, Crispin Lipscomb and Brad Martin will try to keep up, while American superstar Shaun White is expected to run away with the game again. Qualifications start at 14:00, followed by semifinals at 19:00 and finals at 21:30.
Speed Skating
After watching the (incredibly gorgeous) Dutch men sweep the Men's 500m podium yesterday, the ladies get their turn to play. Canadian legend Christine Nesbitt will attempt to keep the Dutch ladies at bay, with help from fellow Canadians Anastasia Bucsis, Marsha Hudey and Danielle Wotherspoon. Race 1 starts at 16:45, followed by Race 2 at 18:34.
Be sure to check out the official Sochi 2014 Olympics, CBC Olympics, and Team Canada Olympics websites for plenty of coverage.
Canada go!