Golden day and night for Canada on ice and snow
Kripps’ bobsled success followed by Virtue, Moir as well as skier Sharpe
Canadian ice dance stars Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir are ending their Olympic careers on top.
In what was likely their final competitive performance, Virtue and Moir captured a gold medal at the Pyeongchang Games after scoring 122.40 points in Monday’s free skate for a world-best combined score of 206.07. They had also won gold in the team event earlier in the Olympics.
Fans at the Gangneung Ice Arena roared during their steamy skate to music from “Moulin Rouge” and they were all smiles as they took what will likely be the final bows of their illustrious career.
France’s Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron were second with a combined score of 205.28. American siblings Alex and Maia Shibutani finished third with a combined score of 192.59.
Virtue and Moir also won gold at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics but settled for silver at the Sochi Games four years ago.
Virtue and Moir have said they will retire after Pyeongchang.
It wasn’t the only Canadian gold on Monday night. Freestyle skier Cassie Sharpe set the early tone in the halfpipe and only got stronger on her way to a gold medal in her Olympic debut.
Sharpe, from Comox, delivered on all of her tricks for an opening score of 94.40. She topped that with a 95.80 in her second run.
Marie Martinod of France had a 92.60 in her second run and was gunning for Sharpe in the third run but crashed out, guaranteeing Sharpe gold.
The best of three runs is a skier’s final score in ski halfpipe. Sharpe’s final run was a triumphant victory lap.
“It doesn’t feel real yet, but once I see my family and feel the love, it’ll sink in,” Sharpe said. “So much hard work has gone into this, I’m elated.”
American Brita Sigourney took third with a 91.60 in her final run.
Calgary’s Roz Groenewoud finished 10th with a score of 70.60.
In men’s curling, Kevin Koe scored a deuce in the third and sixth ends as Canada topped Japan 8-4.
Leading 6-4 after seven ends, Koe earned a single in the eighth and ninth, forcing Japan’s Yusuke Morozumi to shake hands early.
The win thrusts Koe (5-3) into a three-way tie for second with Britain and South Korea in the round-robin portion of the tournament.
The top four teams in the round robin advance to the semifinals, with Sweden’s Niklas Edin already qualified for the playoffs with a 7-1 record.
Canada’s men play Denmark today in the final round-robin match for both teams.
Rachel Homan and Canada’s women’s rink was playing China at press time.
Earlier Monday, Summerland’s Justin Kripps tied Germany’s Francesco Friedrich for gold. Kripps and brakeman Alex Kopacz of London, Ont., slid to a combined four-run time of three minutes 16.86 seconds.
Kripps joins Pierre Lueders, who took gold at the 1998 Games in Nagano, Japan, — also in a tie — as the only Canadian men 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.
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.
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.
In women’s big air qualifying, Laurie Blouin of Stoneham, Que., was fourth and Spencer O’Brien of Courtenay was 11th, with the top 12 advancing to the finals later this week.