Canada is doing well in total medals, but is still chasing that golden feeling in Beijing. (ID 238407324 © Pavel Byrkin | Dreamstime.com)
It was a big weekend in sports.
Did you know that Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime won his first-ever ATP (tennis) title at a tournament in Rotterdam?
Perhaps you were tuning into a little something known as the Super Bowl, where the Los Angeles Rams put together a last-gasp touchdown drive to come from behind and beat the underdog Cincinnati Bengals, 23–20? They call the Super Bowl the 'Greatest Show on Earth', after all! But if there's anything that could outclass the NFL title game, it might a little something known as ...
The Olympics!
The Beijing Winter Games are past the halfway point, and Canada is doing great. At 15 total medals, they are tied for fourth, alongside Austria and Germany. Let's look at some of the latest medals!
De Bruin wins de bronze
Christine de Bruin holds her bronze. (Getty Embed)
The monobob—a one-person bobsled race—is a new race at this Winter Games. Canada took advantage of the new event when Christine de Bruin took home bronze! "I’m so shocked. I can’t believe this just happened," she told CBC, going on to say that when she first raced in monobob at a World Cup event, she came last. We'd say that she's improving!
Meanwhile, speed skater Steven Dubois added a second medal to his Beijing Games with a bronze in the 500m event. He also won a silver in the 1500m, making this an amazing week for him. "I trained the whole year and before that too just for the 500[m]. This is my specialty. I was super happy," he said to CBC after grabbing bronze.
Congrats, Steven!
? BRONZE ?
Steven Dubois wins his second short track medal of #Beijing2022 after skating to bronze in the men's 500m ?
Details: https://t.co/9GMtoagjH5 pic.twitter.com/rvv82UVhSv
— Team Canada (@TeamCanada) February 13, 2022
The chase is on
One of Canada's top medal winners so far is Isabelle Weidemann, who won silver in the epic 5000m speed skating race! (Getty Embed)
In the last games—Pyeongchang 2018—Canada took a national record 29 medals. Being at 15 medals halfway through these games puts the Canadian team on track to get very close to that total again. But that year also ended with 11 gold medals. Currently, Canada has 10 bronze, 4 silver, and just one gold. But several athletes are positioning themselves to bring some golden gleam back to the nation's trophy case!
One of the first among these is the Canadian women's hockey team. Last night, they performed with devastating skill and speed against Switzerland in the semifinal to win 10–3. That included a stunning backhander by captain Marie-Philip Poulin, which you can watch below now!
This means that they're on their way to the gold medal game, where their opponents are, of course, Team USA (who just beat Finland 4–1 this morning). That gold medal match will happen on Wednesday evening and should be a thriller!
Elsewhere, Max Parrot—who won Canada's only gold medal so far in the snowboard slopestyle—is back in the final of another event, big air. There he is joined by fellow Canadians Mack McMorris (who who bronze in slopestyle) and Darcy Sharpe.
Three Canadians will compete for a medal in the men's big air final ⬇️
Max Parrot, Mark McMorris and Darcy Sharpe are headed to the finals ?? ? pic.twitter.com/IMotHM6b6H
— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) February 14, 2022
And in the women's big air final, there are two more Canucks: Laurie Blouin and Jasmine Baird. Blouin finished fourth in the qualifying rounds, so she in particular seems to have a real chance of making some noise in the final!
Good luck to these and so many other Canadians—curlers, bobsledders, skaters, and more!—doing their thing in Beijing!
😎 😎 😎 😎 😎 😎 😎 😎 😎 😎 😎