BEIJING, China — In the eight competitions he took part in at the World Cup in November and December 2021, Laurent Dubreuil stood on the podium each time. This beautiful sequence ended on Saturday at the Beijing Olympics.
A serious contender for a gold medal, Dubreuil had to settle for fourth place in the 500 meter long track speed skating event.
Running in the last pair at the National Speed Skating Oval, Dubreuil crossed the finish line in a time of 34.522 seconds, three hundredths of a second behind Japan’s Wataru Morishige (34.49).
Author of an Olympic record of 34.32, the Chinese Gao Tingyu deserved the gold in front of the South Korean Cha Min Kyu (34.39).
“It’s not like I had a bad race. It was a good race, but it wasn’t a great race and I needed a great race today. It’s very disappointing, but I did the best I could today,” said Dubreuil.
It was a brighter day for Canadian snowboarders Eliot Grondin and Meryeta O’Dine, who both added an Olympic medal to their collection. To do this, they came together.
Despite a crash midway through, O’Dine crossed the finish line third and gave Canada bronze in the mixed team snowboard cross.
“I didn’t know if it was correct. I waited and hoped she was fine and was able to continue. And then I saw her name in the split times and I said ‘Go ahead’. Then she jumped to the finish line and I was like ‘We made it.’ It’s crazy, unreal, ”said Grondin.
It was Canada’s 13th medal since the start of the Games, and eighth in bronze.
Canada had a very good run in the preliminary rounds and Grondin had done a good job in the first run of the final.
Grondin quickly took the lead and distanced himself from his opponents for a good part of the race, but the peloton caught up with him. The Quebecer slipped to third position, 23 hundredths of a second behind the leader.
O’Dine was fighting for a silver medal when she collided with Italy’s Caterina Carpano. The Canadian got up and raced down the rest of the course to help her team clinch the bronze medal.
In the women’s snowboard cross event on Tuesday, O’Dine won the bronze medal. On the men’s side, Grondin was on the second step of the podium on Wednesday.
Canadians Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier finished sixth in the rhythm dance program at the Beijing Olympics.
The couple who were crowned Canadian champions were no doubt as flamboyant as their orange attire. With the music I guess That’s Why The Call It the Blues, the two skaters chained maneuvers and lifts in an impressive way. A few hesitations at the start of the program resulted in the judges awarding a score of 83.52.
Chess in team sports
Canada had an unproductive day in team sports.
In men’s hockey, Canada suffered a 4-2 loss to the United States in a Group A preliminary game that marked the return of Claude Julien behind the bench.
By his own admission, goaltender Eddie Pasquale had an ordinary day in net for Canada, which will face China on Sunday to complete the preliminary schedule.
On another type of ice surface, Canada lost not once, but twice to Sweden in women’s and men’s curling.
In the women’s section, the Canadian quartet (1-2), which came back from a defeat at the hands of Japan, lost the flag 7-6 against Sweden.
The Canadians had a chance to win in the 10th end, but only had one point on a ricochet attempt.
Brad Gushue’s men’s squad also suffered a fishtail end against Sweden.
The Canadian skip missed the target with his last stone, in a shot that could have at least allowed Canada to tie the score, if not win the match. As a result, Canada suffered a 7-4 loss which leaves them with a 2-2 record.
In the women’s team pursuit event in speed skating, the Canadian trio of Ivanie Blondin, Valérie Maltais and Isabelle Weidemann easily qualified for the semi-final round.
In the biathlon 10 km sprint for men, Christian Gow was the best of the four Canadians in the running, with a 12th place.
In ski jumping, on the men’s individual large hill, Mackenzie Boyd-Clowes and Matthew Soukup failed to qualify for the grand final.
