Happy first official day of the 2022 Winter Olympics! And welcome to the first day of Pique's Olympic blog, where I attempt to offer a run-down of recent results and a preview of what's coming next.
I'll preface this by saying that while the Olympics have a way of hooking my attention into sports that truly never cross my mind outside of a two-week period every four years (curling, figure skating and speedskating, to give you an example), I'm mostly focused here on what's going on with local athletes. With a few exceptions that I think everyone should know about, like an absolutely incredible save women's hockey goalie Ann-Renée Desbiens made earlier this week. But more on that later.
Let's get into it!
While you were (most likely) sleeping, most of Canada's Olympic roster rolled into the Beijing National Stadium—better known as the Bird’s Nest—for the opening ceremony, decked out in head-to-toe Lululemon, led by flagbearers Marie-Philip Poulin (women's hockey captain) and short-track speedskater Charles Hamelin (a five-time Olympic medallist), and the Olympic flame was lit.
But even though the opening ceremonies mark the official start to the 2022 Games, the action is already underway—and not just because Beijing is 16 hours ahead of Vancouver. (For anyone as stressed out about time differences as I am, Pique's sports reporter Harrison Brooks broke down all the times to catch Sea to Sky athletes' events over the next two weeks. What a hero!)
So far, Canadian Olympic fans have already been treated to that above-mentioned save (is it too soon to call it the save of the tournament?) from Desbiens, which came in a 12-1 win over Switzerland on Thursday afternoon Beijing time.
In moguls qualifiers earlier this week, local Sofiane Gagnon made Whistler proud as she charged through the bumps to put down a solid run in her Olympic debut. She and teammate Chloe Dufour-Lapointe will both have another chance to advance to finals in the second qualifying session scheduled for Saturday (or 2 a.m. on Sunday, PST) while 2014 Olympic champion and 2018 Olympic silver medallist Justine Dufour-Lapointe already punched her ticket to finals with a 10th place finish in the first qualifying round.
Olympic debut alert 🚨🇨🇦
— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) February 3, 2022
Canada's Sofiane Gagnon 🇨🇦🎿 completes her first Olympic run and secures a place in the second qualifying round on Sunday before the women's moguls finals #Beijing2022 pic.twitter.com/VUjJWggPwf
One of the biggest highlights so far (at least as far as Whistlerites are concerned) didn't take place in actual competition: Whistler's Broderick Thompson flew to third place during an alpine downhill training session with a time of 1:43.92, while Alpine Canada teammate and fellow Whistler Mountain Ski Club alum Jack Crawford finished close behind in fifth.
Coming up at 6:45 p.m. today (Feb. 4), Whistler-based snowboarders Jasmine Baird and Brooke Voigt are hitting the slopestyle course for the qualifying round of the women's event, before (fingers crossed!) finals the following day.
If you're coming home from the bar late tonight, don't head straight to bed: the action starts bright and early when Reid Watts and the Canadian luge team hit the track for their first and second runs at 3:10 and 4:50 a.m. On second thought, maybe it's a better idea to just wake up before the sun. Luge action continues with third and fourth runs starting at 3:30 a.m. on Sunday, so might as well get used to the early alarms.
Later Saturday, we'll see if Whistler Mountain Ski Club alums Thompson, Brodie Seger and Crawford can put those hot training runs to good use when they step into the start gate for men's Downhill action at 7 p.m. Following that up is the snowboard slopestyle qualification round at 8:30 p.m., featuring Mark McMorris and Darcy Sharpe.
Not to jinx it, but it's safe to say there's a good chance we'll see those two powerhouses in the slopestyle finals at 8 p.m. on Sunday, followed by Teal Harle putting down his Big Air qualifying run in men's Freestyle Skiing at 9:30.
Anyone else slightly overwhelmed?
This seems like a good place to leave off for the first day—enjoy the first weekend of Olympic action, and tune back in here on Monday, when we'll hopefully have some medal-wins to recap!
