Olympic wake-up call: Canada earns 1st medals of Beijing 2022

Speed skater Isabelle Weidemann won Canada’s first medal on Day 1 of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games, claiming bronze in the women’s 3,000 metres on Saturday in Beijing.

The 26-year-old from Ottawa put up a time of three minutes, 58.64 seconds, en route to her first Olympic podium result.

“I was a little bit shaky at the start. I was really nervous going to the line,” an ecstatic Weidemann said after the race.

“I knew that I had to just get through the first few laps before I could start to fight and really show the work that I’ve done. I think I had about four laps to go, and I could see my pair was starting to slow down a little bit, and I knew I had a little bit more. So I think at that point I was like, ‘I can fight this.'”

The win was Canada’s fourth Olympic bronze medal all-time in the event. Weidemann’s race was also the fastest any Canadian has performed in the event at the Olympics.

Her bronze medal also marked Canada’s 200th all-time medal at the Winter Olympics.

The King is dethroned

Canada’s Mikaël Kingsbury has won an Olympic medal, but was unable to defend his men’s Olympic moguls title, winning silver on Saturday.

Kingsbury finished with 82.18 points in the six-man super final at Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou, behind Walter Wallberg of Sweden, who scored 83.23.

The 29-year-old Kingsbury was attempting to become the second men’s moguls skier to win back-to-back Olympic gold medals after fellow Canadian Alex Bilodeau achieved the feat in 2010 and 2014.

Hat tricks for everyone!

OK, maybe not hat tricks for literally everybody, but there was no shortage of goals in another dominant win by the Canadian women’s hockey team.

The Canadians trounced Finland 11-1 to improve to 2-0 on the tournament.

Brianne Jenner and Sarah Nurse each recorded hat tricks and Natalie Spooner had a four-point game as the Canadians outshot the defending bronze medallists 48-29.

Much like the team’s rout against Switzerland in the tournament opener, 16 different players registered points for Canada, with captain Marie-Philip Poulin continuing to showcase her elite playmaking with three assists against Finland.

Hockey Canada also provided an update on Mélodie Daoust, who was injured in the second period against Switzerland and missed the game against Finland. The two-time Olympic medallist is listed as day-to-day and is expected to return to the lineup at some point in the tournament.

The team will have a rest day today, before facing off against the Russian Olympic Committee, which you can watch on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app, and CBC Gem on Sunday at 11:10 p.m. ET.

Homan, Morris, overmatched by near-perfect Swedes

Canada’s mixed doubles curling duo of Rachel Homan and John Morris dropped their second match of the Olympics, falling 6-2 to the Swedish team of Almisa De Val and Oskar Eriksson.

The Swedes played near-perfect, with De Val curling 95 per cent in the match.

Homan and Morris struggled to find their groove from early on, as the Swedes capitalized on Canada’s misses with back-to-back steals in the first two ends.

Morris and Homan are set to hit the ice again at 7:05 a.m., ET, against the United States.

Medal-hopeful Blouin advances to slopestyle finals 

Laurie Blouin is into the finals in women’s slopestyle snowboarding.

The defending Olympic silver medallist from Quebec City finished seventh in qualifying, scoring a 71.55 on her second run.

“I’m happy for sure. I had some mistakes,” Blouin said after her second run. “I’m not satisfied, but I’m happy. I’m just happy I landed two runs. I just had to put at least one down.”

Fellow Canadians Jasmine Baird and Brooke Voight each missed out on the finals, posting scores of 49.50 and 47.11, respectively.

Soukup, Boyd-Clowes make ski jumping final

Both of Canada’s athletes competing in the men’s normal hill ski jumping competition are through to the finals.

Calgary’s Mackenzie Boyd-Clowes, competing in his third Olympics, qualified in 17th place with a score of 94.5.

The 30-year-old’s best finish in the event is 25th at the Sochi Games in 2014.

Soukup, a 24-year-old Olympic rookie, qualified 47th, scoring 75 points.

Canada has never won a medal in Olympic ski jumping.

Keegan Messing update

Canada’s top men’s figure skater is expected to arrive in Beijing in time for the men’s short program.

Keegan Messing has received two negative COVID-19 tests, and travelled to Montreal on Friday where he will have his final PCR test.

If all goes well, he’s expected to land in Bejing on Monday. The men’s individual competition begins the next day.

“By the time he gets here, it’ll be just adrenaline,” said Mike Slipchuk, Skate Canada’s high performance director, in our full story.

Norway claims 1st medal of Beijing 2022

Therese Johaug of Norway captured the first medal of these Olympics in the women’s skiathlon.

The Norweigans continued their dominance in cross-country skiing, adding to their all-time medal lead at Winter Olympics with the country’s 133rd gold medal.

There was concern among the country’s cross-country team, as several of its top contenders had tested positive for COVID-19, putting some of their medal hopes in jeopardy.

Canada’s Cendrine Brown and Katherine Stewart-Jones finished 20th and 23rd, respectively.

Dahria Beatty, the only Yukon-born Canadian at the Games, finished just behind in 24th. And Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt finished 44th.