Beijing Olympics Day 12: Canada loses to Sweden in ice hockey quarterfinals; Jennifer Jones loses to China; Hamelin and Dubois win gold in the 5,000 meters relay for men
Note: This file is no longer updated. A new file with day 13 events will be created on Wednesday night.
The latest OS news from Beijing and around the world on day 12. Web links to longer stories available:
10:44 Canada is eliminated in men’s hockey after falling 2-0 in the quarterfinals against Sweden.
The result comes just hours after the top-seeded United States were knocked out by Slovakia.
In the semifinals, Finland will face Slovakia and Russia will face Sweden.
10:11 China stole two in the extra time to defeat Jennifer Jones and the women’s curling team with the final result 11-9. Jones and Canada now have 4-4 in the round robin tournament.
Jones will have to beat Denmark in the final round to have a chance to qualify for the last four – although a number of other results must fall into place for that to happen.
8 in the morning: Canada’s short track team has won a gold medal in the men’s 5,000 meter relay.
This is Canada’s third medal at the Beijing Olympics. It is also the third medal in these games for Steven Dubois.
It is also the sixth overall medal for Charles Hamelin, who will be Canada’s most decorated male Winter Olympics and joins the Cindy Class as the only other Winter Olympics with half a dozen podium finishes.
There will be more coming.
07:55: Qi Guangpu from China finally climbed to an Olympic podium in men’s flights and won a gold medal on Wednesday after almost a mistake in Sochi and Pyeongchang.
Qi landed clean in a five-fold triple reverse in the medal round, when five of his six competitors tried the same trick and only he did it clean. Qi earned 129 points and beat defending champion Oleksandr Abramenko of Ukraine, who scored 116.5 points.
07:40 (updated): Canadians Kim Boutin and Courtney Sarault have to settle for a skate in the B-final in the ladies’ 1,500 meters after failing to qualify for the final.
Boutin and Sarault finished third and fourth respectively in their semifinal heats.
Only the first two riders from each semi-final make it to the final, as well as the fastest third place.
Boutin could not keep up his pace until the end of the race, finishing third in a time that was not fast enough to reach the A-final.
Sarault skated in the fastest heat and was just knocked out in a photo finish by Dutch skater Xandra Velzeboer, who qualified for the final based on her time.
07:10: Canada’s Antoine Cyr and Graham Ritchie made history by finishing fifth in the men’s classic sprint final, the best Canadian result ever in the Olympics for this event.
04:20: Brad Gushue’s rink has taken place in the men’s curling semi-final despite not playing due to results in other matches.
Team Canada meets Great Britain on Thursday to decide who their opponents will be.
01:50 (updated): The USA is out of the men’s hockey tournament at the Olympics in a fantastic way after blowing a late lead.
Marek Hrivik scored with 43.7 seconds left in the regulation, Peter Cehlarik had the winner and Slovakia beat the USA 3-2 in a penalty shootout on Wednesday to beat the top-seeded Americans in the quarterfinals. The USA led almost half of the match before the equalizer when Slovakia pulled their goalkeeper for an extra striker to play 6-on-5.
The United States had become accustomed to playing close matches in the tournament and beat Canada by two goals and Germany by one. But blown cover in front allowed Hrivik to hit a loose puck past goalkeeper Strauss Mann, who was impressive until then.
01:45: After a disappointing result on the World Cup track, the Canadian glider Jane Channell knew that she needed something to motivate herself in addition to getting better results on the skeletal track.
To create a concrete goal for herself, she ordered a brand new helmet that she would only wear at the Beijing Olympics. That is, if she made Canada’s Olympic team.
“It was my worst result in a World Cup ever and just being able to hold on was huge motivation,” said Channell after finishing 24th in Altenberg, Germany. “Just, it’s going to go well, keep going, keep pushing. Up with your chin. It really, really helped.”
22:48 (update): Canada’s Jennifer Jones defeated American Tabitha Peterson 7-6 in curling for women on Wednesday morning at the Beijing Olympics, extending her winning streak to three and improving her playoff chances 4-3.
22:35 (Update): In the men’s freestyle skiing slopestyle event, the Americans Alex Hall and Nick Goepper took gold and silver respectively. Jesper Tjader from Sweden took bronze.
Max Moffatt, the only Canadian in the field, finished ninth.
20:38: Rachel Homan says she is struggling with her loss in mixed doubles curling at the Beijing Games. Homan and partner John Morris lost to Italy 8-7 in extra time on February 7, ending Canadians’ hopes of reaching the Olympics.
18.00: Here’s a look at some of Team Canada’s upcoming events:
- Erik Read and Trevor Philp compete in alpine ski slalom for men at 21:15 ET.
- Emma Lunder, Megan Bankes, Emily Dickson and Sarah Beaudry will compete in the ladies’ biathlon 4×6 km relay at 02:45
- Antoine Cyr and Graham Ritchie compete in the men’s cross-country semifinals at 05:40 ET.
- Katherine Stewart-Jones and Dahria Beatty compete in the semifinals in cross-country skiing for women at 05:40 ET.
- Riders Kim Boutin, Courtney Sarault and Danaé Blais will compete in the quarterfinals of the women’s 1500 m at 6:30 ET.
- Riders Charles Hamelin, Maxime Laoun, Steven Dubois and Pascal Dion compete in South Korea, ROC, Italy and China for the gold in the men’s 5000 m relay at 7:30 ET.
- Canada plays against Sweden in the men’s hockey quarterfinals after defeating China. The puck falls at 8:20 ET.
- In one of the most anticipated matches during the games, Team Canada will face the USA for the gold in women’s hockey at 23.00 ET.
14:05: She will always be the girl with the ghost medal, a tragic figure, writes Star columnist Rosie DiManno. If the Russian teenager Kamila Valieva wins Olympic gold here on Thursday – because even when she is imperfect, she is brilliant – there will be no medal ceremony.
Madeline Schizas, Canada’s only participant in the women’s competition, is in 20th place and easily qualified for skating.
More from Rosie DiManno in Beijing: In exchange for the ice, Kamila Valieva was mostly sublime. But she was not Valieva
13:44: Justin Kripps will get another chance to kill the flying snow dragon. Yanqing National Sliding Center chewed on and spat out Canada’s best bobsledder in Olympic two-man races.
Kripps, Chris Spring, Mike Evelyn and Olympic rookie Taylor Austin will pilot Canada’s four-man crews on Saturday.
13.00: And so ends the modest Chinese hockey dream of these Olympics in Beijing, at least for now, writes Star columnist Bruce Arthur.
It ended with a 7-2 loss to Canada that will look good in the distant future, once Chinese government history books make sure we forget what happened here. China’s hockey team was a KHL team in last place full of Canucks and Yanks and local players who did not play here. It did its best.
Read the full Bruce Arthur column here: Canada ends China’s hockey race at the Beijing Olympics. Bring the quarterfinals
13.00: Speedskater Isabelle Weidemann can now boast an Olympic medal in all colors around her neck.
Weidemann teamed up with Ivanie Blondin and Valérie Maltais to win the gold in the women’s team pursuit over Japan in an Olympic record time of two minutes 53.44 seconds. Weidemann is just the second Canadian long-distance skater to win more than two medals in a single game.
13.00: Team Canada jumps Brad Gushue faced two difficult tests in the men’s curling competition on Tuesday but passed only one.
Earlier, Canada escaped with a 10-8 victory over Team China. In the later match against Russia, Canada managed to force an extra finish but could only see when the Russian jumper Sergey Glukhov took a 7-6 victory. Now Canada will advance to the Olympic semi-finals if they beat Great Britain on Thursday in the final match of the round robin.
at 11: Andrea Derby has judged figure skating since she retired from the pair competition when she was 16 years old. She has been a judge at championship level since 2008 and this is the second time she judges at the Olympics.
In Beijing, she sat on the judging panel for figure skating events. She judges couples next.
Read her full interview with Star’s Kerrie Gillespie here.
8:10: Su Yiming, a precocious Chinese teenager already into his second career, exploded with supernova splendor on Tuesday, cool gold in snowboard big air, writes Rosie DiManno.
Among Sus’ admirers is the Canadian Max Parrot, who himself became a double medalist, bronze in the big air – it was almost silver until today’s last rider surpassed him on the judged score with a go-big-or-go-home trick – after taking gold on Monday in slopestyle, managed to stay just away from Su in the teenager’s Olympic debut appearance.
More from Rosie DiManno in Beijing: Max Parrot lands bronze but the actor who became a snowboarder Su Yiming takes a big eye-catcher
Earlier: Riders Isabelle Weidemann, Ivanie Blondin and Valerie Maltais win gold after Team Japan crashes; Max Parrot lands bronze in the men’s big air; Germany makes bob history with gold-silver-bronze sweep.
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