Speed skater Macdonald will skate for relay gold
Jamie Macdonald’s Olympic debut race ended in disappointment Saturday in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
But the 23-year-old from Fort St. James dug in her blades and carved out a satisfying result in the relay later in the day.
Macdonald’s hopes of winning an individual medal at the Games came to a crashing halt when she fell while attempting a pass in her 500-metre preliminary round heat race.
Macdonald was in good position to utilize the speed that had her ranked sixth in the world standings in the 500m event and was two laps into the four-lap race when she clipped the blade of Chinese skater Han Yutong and crashed to the ice as she tried to overtake her on the inside straightaway.
Martina Valcepina of Italy and Yutong finished 1-2 to advance to the quarterfinal round on Tuesday (2 a.m. PT). Canadians Marianne St-Gelais and Kim Boutin also moved on to the quarterfinals.
Macdonald put that fall behind her and came up with a great performance later Saturday in the women’s 3,000m relay. She teamed up with St-Gelais, Boutin and Kasandra Bradette to place second in the first heat with a time of 4:07.627 and qualified for the A-final.
Canada led its heat for the first 19 laps of the 26 lap race, when Korea grabbed the lead and held it the rest of the way. The Koreans clocked 4:06.387.
China and Italy, the first two finishers in Heat 2, also advanced to the A-final, set for Feb. 20 at 2:29 a.m., PT.
In the men’s 1,500m event, defending Olympic gold medalist Charles Hamelin of Levis, Que., was disqualified for impeding in the final while Samuel Girard of Ferland-et-Boilleau, Que., finished fourth. Pascal Dion of Montreal finished third in the B Final with a time of 2:26.412.
Hyojun Lim of Korea won gold, Sjinkie Knegt of the Netherlands took silver, and Russian Semen Elistratov captured bronze.