Four-medal haul for Canada
BEIJING — Team Canada enjoyed its most successful day so far at the Beijing Winter Olympics with a four-medal haul on Thursday.
Snowboarder Eliot Grondin and speedskater Isabelle Weidemann each collected silver medals, while alpine skier Jack Crawford and Canada’s mixed aerials team each nabbed bronze.
Canada, with 12 total medals, now sits tied with Norway for second on the Olympic medal table. Austria leads with 13.
Grondin had not been challenged all day.
The Canadian cruised through every race on his way to the men’s snowboard cross final in Zhangjiakou at the Beijing Olympics, where he fought hard for a silver medal that was a photo finish away from being gold.
Grondin of Ste-Marie, Que., crossed the finish line 0.02 seconds behind Austria’s Alessandro Hämmerle for Canada’s second medal Thursday.
Just a few minutes earlier — and a few hundred kilometres away in the Yanqing zone — Jack Crawford held on tight for third place in the alpine combined.
The 20-year-old Grondin led every race heading into the big final. Then it was his turn to play catch-up. He stuck close to Hämmerle from start to finish, never letting the Austrian break away.
It stayed that way until Grondin plunged to the finish line for the nail-biting finish. After a few tense moments, the Canadian’s silver medal was confirmed.
“I kind of knew I was going to be silver, but I tried everything I had,” he said.
“Just to share the podium with Alessandro is amazing.”
It was Canada’s fourth medal in snowboarding at Beijing and second in as many days after Meryeta O’Dine captured bronze in the women’s snowboard cross on Wednesday.
On the slopes, Crawford finished third with a total time of two minutes 32.11 seconds for Canada’s first-ever medal in alpine combined.
The Toronto native entered the slalom portion of the event in second place after going 1:43.14 in the downhill. He then did a 48.97 in the slalom.
Johannes Strolz of Austria won gold (2:31.43) while Aleksander Aamodt Kilde of Norway took home the silver (2:32.02).
The 24-year-old Crawford came close to a medal on two previous occasions in Beijing. He was sixth in the men’s super-G on Tuesday and fourth in the men’s downhill event on Monday, finishing seven-hundredths of a second behind the bronze medallist.
Crawford says recent changes to his skiing style and overall approach have given him more of a winner’s mindset.
“I’ve taken on this new mentality of ‘how do I put myself in a position to win every single race,’ ” he said. “And even if you’re not winning, even if you’re not coming in the top 10, if you have that mentality and you have that ability to push and put yourself in the position where you could win, it’s probably going to be a good day regardless of where you end up.
Canada’s mixed aerials team picked up Canada’s third medal of the day — and second bronze — at the Zhangjiakou Genting Snow Park.
The United States claimed gold with 338.34 points while China settled for silver with 324.22.
The Canadian trio of Marion Thenault of Sherbrooke, Que.; Miha Fontaine of Lac-Beauport, Que.; and Quebec City’s Lewis Irving finished the final with a total of 290.98 points to edge out fourth-place Switzerland, which totalled 276.01 points.