BEIJING — JUST PLAIN OFFENSIVE
Canada's women's hockey team gave up more than two goals in a game for the first time in this Olympic tournament. It hardly mattered, as the offence hit double-digits in goals once again. Canada has clinched at least a silver medal by advancing to the women's hockey final with a 10-3 rout of Switzerland. With the lopsided result, Canada now has an Olympic tournament-record 54 goals in Beijing. Claire Thompson had a goal and two assists for Canada. She has two goals and 10 assists so far, setting a tournament record for points by a defenceman. Canada will meet the defending Team U.S.A. in the gold-medal game on Wednesday night.
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JONES COMES UP CLUTCH
With her back against the wall, Canadian skip Jennifer Jones reeled off a pair of must-wins on Monday to stay in the medal hunt. Jones's Canadian rink beat Russia 11-5 and Britain 7-3 to even its record to 3-3 in Olympic women's curling competition. Canada entered the day mired in a three-game losing skid and a fourth loss would have ended the team's medal hopes. "We absolutely needed to win that game. We knew that coming in. We needed to win both (games) today and we did that," said Jones, who won gold for Canada at the 2014 Sochi Games.
ÌýBRONZE FOR DE BRUIN
With Kaillie Humphries of the United States well out ahead entering the last two heats of the monobob, the battle on Monday was for the other podium positions. Canadian bobsledder Christine de Bruin was second after Sunday's two heats and maintained that position after Heat 3, but was passed by decorated American veteran Elana Meyers Taylor in the last heat. Still, de Bruin held off Germany's Laura Nolte and picked up her first career Olympic medal.
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ÌýSCARY MOMENT
Canadian snowboarder Sébastien Toutant crashed hard in qualifying for the men's big air competition and remained down for several minutes before being helped up and walking away. Toutant, the reigning Olympic gold medallist, fell on his back after attempting a triple cork 1620 — three off-axis flips with 4 1/2 rotations — to try to break into the top 12. Toutant's teammate Mark McMorris, who qualified with in eighth, said Toutant severely bruised his heel in practice and had been with the doctor until "90 seconds before his jump." Fellow Canadian Max Parrot finished first in qualifying and will look for his second gold medal of the Games when the big air final goes Tuesday. Parrot won gold in the slopestyle event last week.Ìý
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CLEARED TO COMPETE
Russian teen figure skating star Kamila Valieva has been cleared to continue competing at the Olympics despite returning a positive result from a drug test in December. The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that Valieva does not need to be provisionally suspended ahead of a full investigation. Though Valieva can skate in Beijing, a separate longer-term investigation by Russia’s anti-doping agency could yet result in a ban and disqualification from the Olympics. The International Olympic Committee said Monday afternoon that if Valieva finishes in the top three in women's competition, there will be no medal ceremony during the Games. There will also be no ceremony for the team event won by Valieva and the Russian team a week ago. Canada finished fourth in the team event. The decision by CAS was not without its controversy, with both the Canadian and U.S. Olympic committees expressing their disappointment in statements on Monday.Ìý
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 14, 2022.
The Canadian Press
