Canadian Olympic Update
Posted Feb 9, 2014 06:40:26 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Canadian world champion Spencer O’Brien will be leaving Sochi empty-handed after finishing 12th in the Olympic women’s slopestyle. The Courtenay, B-C, snowboarder struggled in her first run, earning 30 points. She improved slightly in the second run, receiving 35 points. American Jamie Anderson won gold with an impressive 95.25 on her second run
Matthias Mayer of Austria won the Olympic downhill as the big favourites struggled in Alpine skiing’s signature race. Mayer completed the Rosa Khutor course in two minutes, 6.23 seconds. Erik Guay of Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, was the top Canadian, finishing 10th. Benjamin Thomsen of Ivermere, B-C, was 19th, followed by Calgary’s Jan Hudec who was 21st. Manuel Osborne-Paradis, also from Ivermere, finished 25th.
Canada goes into the second full day at the Sochi Winter Games tied with the Netherlands for second place in the medal count. Canada’s Olympians have a full set of medals after the first day of the Games. Justine and Chloe Dufour-Lapointe won gold and silver respectively in women’s moguls, while Mark McMorris of Regina took bronze in men’s snowboard slopestyle.
Long-distance speed skater Ivanie Blondon will make her Olympic debut today in the women’s 3-thousand metre. German veteran Claudia Pechstein is back at the Olympics with a realistic shot at gold. She’s still cursing the suspension which ruled her out of the Vancouver Games four years ago.
In men’s luge, runs three and four will take place today with medals on the line. Sam Edney sits in 10th after his first two runs, 1.18 seconds behind leader Felix Loch of Germany. Mitchel Malyk enters the day 27th while John Fennell is in 30th place. All three Canadian lugers are from Calgary.
Russia leads Canada 47-41 after the short programs and pairs free skate in the new team figure skating event. Both men’s and ladies free skate programs go today, with the ice dancing free skate to follow. Defending Olympic ice dance champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir placed second behind Russia in the short program yesterday. They’ll have another chance to improve Canada’s overall score today.
