Ice dancers Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue showed early that Canada's figure skating stars mean business in PyeongChang. (Olga Besnard | Dreamstime.com)
Once the Winter Games get going, the highlights come fast and furious. And while every athlete is worth watching, there are two bits of news that are always met with high anticipation: first overall medal, and first gold. After just three days of full competition, both of these milestones have been reached by Canada. Hey, it's still early — there are 13 more days to come! But we thought it was a good time to take a look at what has already been done, as well as highlights from some other countries.
The King is crowned
Not even gravity could deny Mikaël Kingsbury his gold medal. (Getty Embed)
Since 2011, Mikaël Kingsbury has been the best men's moguls skier in the world, maybe in history. He's had six straight seasons as world number one (with a seventh on the way). He has currently won 12 straight golds in World Cup mogul events. But at the Olympics, he had managed only a silver medal at Sochi 2014. Now, he finally has his gold. With a final score of 86.63, Kingsbury blew away the field and the doubts. It was Canada's first gold medal in an individual competition. And earlier...
Go team!
This magical team won Canada its first gold of the 2018 Olympics. (Getty Embed)
...the country's figure skating team clinched the gold in their event! All four figure skating disciplines (men's and women's singles, pairs, and ice dance) will have events later in the Games, but the team event is a chance for the whole group to shine. Canada has never had a stronger figure skating team than now, and they proved it yesterday. Patrick Chan, pairs Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford, and ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir all won their skates, while Katelyn Osmond and Gabrielle Daleman's third-place skates in singles helped clinch gold for the team. Remember, all of these athletes have more events coming up, too!
Anderson perfect and many silver linings
Laurie Blouin holds her silver next to USA's Jamie Anderson and Finland's Enni Rukajarvi. (Getty Embed)
Meanwhile, Canada has been home of the silver surfers in PyeongChang so far. American Jamie Anderson won her second straight Olympic gold in women's snowboard slopestyle, but she was followed closely by Canada's Laurie Blouin. And in men's slopestyle, Canadian superstar snowboarder Max Parrot also took silver. His teammate Mark McMorris won the bronze (these were the first — though clearly not the last! — Canadian medals at the Games).
Already better than Calgary
Medals from snowboarders Mark McMorris and Max Parrot mean that PyeongChang is looking more like Vancouver than Calgary for Canada. (Getty Embed)
Young Canadians are used to their athletes doing great at the Winter Games. The last three games, we've won at least 24 medals and never finished lower than fifth, including a leading performance in gold medals as hosts in Vancouver 2010.
But things weren't always so rosy.When Canada hosted in Calgary in 1988, that moment never came. The Games ended with only 2 silvers and 3 bronze.
With 2 golds, 4 silvers, and 1 bronze already in PyeongChang, Canada has flown past that result. What's next? Starting tonight, Canada is in the mixed doubles curling finals, women's luge final, and more!
Woohoo! Go team Canada!!
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It was great to read about the history of our Canadian Winter Olympians ! 😆 We are so proud of all that you’ve accomplished. It was interesting reading about all the medals that we’ve won so far. With about 12 more days left in the Olympics, we hope that you win more medals to bring home to Canada. Good Luck … GO CANADA GO ! 🙂