More gold for Canada
History repeated itself for Canada in the two-man bobsled event at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
Canadian Justin Kripps tied Germany’s Francesco Friedrich for gold Monday. The native of Summerland, B.C., product and brakeman Alex Kopacz of London, Ont., slid to a combined four-run time of three minutes 16.86 seconds.
“When I crossed that line, and I managed to actually see the clock that said No. 1 — it’s pretty tough to see when you’re ripping up the breaking stretch — but just so excited and everybody started mobbing into the track,” Kripps said. “I saw the Germans and they were super excited, too. I was like, ‘Man, that’s nice. They’re really excited that we won.’
“We’re all good friends. Once the mob kind of dispersed a little bit Thorsten was giving me a hug, he was in my ear and he was like, ‘It was three hundredths and two and then we tied.’ I was like, ‘We tied?’ It’s insane. Amazing.”
Kripps joins Pierre Lueders, who took gold at the 1998 Games in Nagano, Japan, — also in a tie — as the only Canadians to top an Olympic podium in two-man. Lueders also won two-man silver at the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Italy, for the country’s other medal in the discipline.
Latvia’s Oskars Melbardis and Janis Strenga won bronze in 3:16.91.
The medal was Canada’s 17th of the Games (six gold, five silver, six bronze), leaving the team third in the overall standings.
The Canadian women’s hockey team earned a 5-0 semifinal win over the Olympic Athletes from Russia to set up yet another gold-medal showdown with the United States. Meanwhile, ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir topped the short dance, and the men’s and women’s curling teams once again had mixed results.
Women’s hockey
Since women’s hockey made its Olympic debut in 1998, Canada and the U.S. have met in every final except 2006 when the Americans were upset by Sweden in the semifinal. The Canadians will look to extend their gold-medal run to five straight.
Jennifer Wakefield led Canada with two goals. Captain Marie-Philip Poulin, Emily Clark and Rebecca Johnston also scored while Shannon Szabados stopped 14 shots for the shutout and her second win of the tournament.
The Americans advanced with a 5-0 victory over Finland. Dani Cameranesi scored two goals and added an assist.
Figure skating
Virtue and Moir got a step closer to ending their Olympic careers with gold medals around their necks. The threetime world champions scored 83.67 points in Monday’s short dance to stand first overall. The score topped their own previous world mark of 82.68 set at Skate Canada International in October.
“That’s something we are really proud of,” said Moir. “That is every athlete’s goal here and to come out and do the best you can. And to do it on this stage, we’re really, really proud of that. We know our work isn’t over. It’s a long event. The biggest chunk is tomorrow and we have to stay on our game.”
French rivals Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron scored 81.93 for second despite a wardrobe malfunction.