It is Wednesday, my dudes.
(If you understand this reference, we can absolutely be friends.)
It is also Day 6 of Olympic action! Day 5 was an exciting one for Team Canada, after seeing our medal count bump up by two in the last 24 hours.
That's thanks to Prince George, B.C.'s Meryeta O’Dine, who won bronze in women’s snowboard cross in her Olympic debut, after a concussion she suffered during a training run in PyeongChang kept her out of the start gates in 2018. In the four-rider big final, 24-year-old O’Dine found herself in third place early behind Team USA's Lindsey Jacobellis, who won the gold in her fifth Olympics, and France’s Chloé Trespeuch in second. O'Dine's teammate Tess Critchlow competed in the small final, finishing second to leave her in sixth place overall.
Steven Dubois also contributed to Canada's medal haul with his nail-biting silver-medal win in the men's 1500-metre short track speed skating event.
That brings Canada's overall count to eight, and places Canada at fifth in the standings, behind Team ROC (first), Norway (second), Austria (third) and Germany (fourth).
Team Canada also posted a few good results in qualifying rounds, with both Elizabeth Hosking and Brooke D'Hondt (the youngest Canadian Olympian at these Games) earning a spot in women's halfpipe snowboarding finals. Things unfortunately didn't go quite as well for Liam Gill in the men's contest. The 18-year-old first-time Olympian, who hopped on a last-minute flight to Beijing to replace Whistler's Derek Livingston after he was injured during training, saw his first Olympic experience come to an end after placing 23rd in qualifying. American Shaun White will, however, be advancing to halfpipe finals in his FIFTH straight Olympics, after landing a clean run on his second of two attempts. Whether or not you consider yourself a fan of the three-time Olympic gold medallist, still being able to throw down 16 years into an Olympic career is definitely an accomplishment.
In inaugural men's big air ski finals, Evan McEachran was the only Canadian competitor after Max Moffat, Teal Harle and Édouard Therriault all failed to qualify. He stomped his first trick, but couldn't put down another clean jump in the three-run final and finished ninth overall. McEachran and his Freestyle Canada teammates still have the upcoming slopestyle event to look forward to this week.
There might not have been any medals for Canada in the women's slalom race, but ski racing fans should still be stoked after four Canadians finished in the top 30. Erin Mielzynski and Laurence St-Germain placed 16th and 17th, respectively, while Ali Nullmeyer finished 21st and Amelia Smart followed in 27th.
The men will be back on course for the Alpine Combine event tonight, with Whistler Mountain Ski Club alums Broderick Thompson, Jack Crawford and Brodie Seger clipping back for the downhill race at 6:30 p.m., followed by slalom run at 10:15 p.m. All eyes will be on Crawford, after his top-four result in downhill and sixth-place finish in the Super-G earlier this week.
Honestly, you might want to have two screens going tonight, because it's a big one. Snowboarders Hosking and D'Hondt will both be dropping into the halfpipe for finals starting at 5:30 p.m., while Pemberton local Liam Moffatt, alongside teammates Kevin Hill and Eliot Grondin, will step into the start gate for the men's snowboard cross at 7:15 p.m. Here's hoping Moffatt can follow in O’Dine's tracks and step onto the podium!
Women's 10km Classic Style cross-country skiing is also set to begin at 11 p.m. PST. (Just in time for all of the skinny-ski fans heading home from Whistler Olympic Park's locals ski night!)
