Skaters bring silver lining to rough day
The second step on the Olympic podium was a place of both joy and pain for Canada’s athletes on Day 13 of the Pyeongchang Winter Games.
The silver medal was no consolation prize for Canada’s women’s hockey team, which had its bid for a fifth straight Olympic gold medal shut down in heartbreaking fashion with a 3-2 shootout loss to the United States in Thursday’s championship game.
No previous final had ever been decided by a shootout.
“It sucks,” Canadian goaltender Shannon Szabados said of the shootout. “It becomes more individual and less of a team thing.”
Finishing second to their archrivals was a bitter pill to swallow for the Canadians. Defender Jocelyne Larocque took off her silver medal the moment it was hung around her neck. “It’s just hard,” she said. It was a different story for rising short-track speedskating star Kim Boutin, who capped her impressive first Olympics with a silver medal in the women’s 1,000 metres.
The 23-year-old from Sherbrooke, Que., won a medal in every women’s singles discipline after claiming bronze in the 500- and 1,500metre races.
“I really enjoyed it. I feel I was there to enjoy every moment and I was there not to perform, but learn,” Boutin said of her Olympic debut. “Getting the medals was unbelievable and I didn’t expect that, but it was pretty awesome.”
The men’s 5,000-metre relay team followed with a bronze, giving Canada six short-track medals in South Korea.
Curler Kevin Koe will also be competing for a medal, but not the one he wanted. The Calgary skip was relegated to the bronze-medal match after being upset 5-3 by the United States in Thursday’s semifinals.
“It’s hugely disappointing,” Koe said. “What more can you say? You don’t have to say much else.”
Canada was third in the medal standings heading into the final three days of competition with 24 — nine gold, seven silver and eight bronze. Norway led with 35 medals (13 gold) followed by Germany with 25 (13 gold).
Boutin gets her third medal
Boutin finished second with a time of one minute 29.956 second in an impressive five-skater field that included world record holder Shim Sukhee of South Korea.
But it was Suzanne Schulting of the Netherlands who came through with a surprise gold.
“I felt that on the fourth lap Suzanne passed me,” Boutin said. “She raced pretty well at the end and I felt I had a lot of speed, but I think for me it was best to keep my second position and to control this.”
Italy’s Arianna Fontana earned bronze when Shim and fellow South Korean Choi Min-jeong crashed.
Relay men bronze
The men’s relay result gave veteran Charles Hamelin of Sainte-Julie, Que., a fifth Olympic medal. He matched Marc Gagnon and FrancoisLouis Tremblay for the most career Olympic short-track speedskating medals by a Canadian.
“Oh, it was a crazy race. It was an awesome race,” Hamelin said. “We had a plan. It didn’t work like we planned. I think this is short track but we raced for the gold and I think the medal we have right now, the bronze, can be as proud as if we were the gold medallist.”
Samuel Girard of Ferlandet-Boilleau, Que., Charle Cournoyer of Boucherville, Que., and Montreal’s Pascal Dion also helped Canada win bronze. It was Girard’s second medal of the Games after winning the men’s 1,000 earlier. Hungary won gold in an Olympic record while China took silver.
Girard just missed out on another medal earlier Thursday when he finished fourth in the 500.
Koe misses final
On the curling sheets, Koe’s team put themselves in a hole after a disastrous eighth end. Holding the hammer, Koe was surprisingly weak on his attempt to draw for a single point, giving the Americans a steal of two and a 4-2 lead.
“We were in control the whole game until then,” Koe said.
“We weren’t really in trouble that end at all. That’s kind of what’s frustrating. I think we got fooled a little. The ice started coming down a little. (The shot) was probably a little light as well. You know, what can you say?”
The Americans will now take on Niklas Edin in Saturday’s final after Sweden downed Switzerland’s Peter de Cruz 9-3 in eight ends in the other semi. The bronzemedal game between Canada and the Swiss goes Friday.