Canada did not reach the podium on Day 2 of medal events in Beijing. Snowboarder Laurie Blouin came close, placing fourth in the women’s slopestyle. Speed skater Ted-Jan Bloemen did not, finishing 10th in the men’s 5,000 metres. With both athletes falling short after taking silver in these events four years ago, Canada remains at two medals and is still looking for its first gold.
But it was far from a boring day. The mixed doubles curling event went bonkers, with Canada’s team at the centre of the chaos. The mayhem (both on and off the ice) set up a dramatic conclusion to the round robin tonight, followed by the semifinals on Monday morning.
We’ll start our daily viewing guide there, then look at what could be a big medal day for Canada in snowboarding and short track speed skating. Plus, a Canadian teenage figure skater delivers under pressure and the Dufour-Lapointe sisters share a tearful farewell.
Here’s what to watch on Sunday night and Monday morning:
What the hell just happened in mixed doubles curling?
Today looked like it would be a get-right day for Canada’s Rachel Homan and John Morris. A tough schedule to start the tournament left the Canadians clinging to the fourth and final playoff spot with three games remaining. But Sunday’s matchups vs. the Czech Republic and Australia — the two worst teams in the standings entering the day — offered a great chance for Canada to solidify its status for the medal round. The road seemed to get even easier when one of Australia’s players tested positive for COVID-19, apparently disqualifying them from the rest of the event and removing the danger of Canada suffering an upset.
Until, that is, Chinese health officials reinstated the Australian duo in time for them to upset 2018 silver medallist Switzerland for their first win. Then the rejuvenated Aussies pulled off an even bigger shocker, racing out to a 7-0 lead over Canada before blowing it but ultimately pulling out a 10-8 win when Homan whiffed with her team’s final rock.
That brutal defeat forces Canada (5-3) into the most pressure-packed scenario imaginable for tonight’s final round-robin draw. A win puts them in the playoffs. A loss sends them home. And their opponent is the top team in the table: 8-0 Italy. The surprising Italians have already locked up the top seed for the semifinals, but they’d surely love to knock out the country that won gold in 2018, when Morris dominated this event with Kaitlyn Lawes. The round-robin finale is at 8:05 p.m. ET.
If Morris and Homan survive, they’ll play in the semifinals at 7:05 a.m. ET. Great Britain and Norway (both 5-3) have joined Italy in clinching spots, based on their tiebreaker advantages. If Canada doesn’t get the final berth, it will go to Sweden (5-4).
Read more about today’s mixed doubles drama and watch highlights here. Get primed for tonight’s game by watching That Curling Show with hosts Devin Heroux and Colleen Jones at 7 p.m. ET on the CBC Sports YouTube channel.
WATCH | Homan, Morris suffer shocking loss to Australia:
Highlights: Homan & Morris fall short in roller coaster loss to Australia
10 hours ago
Duration 3:40
Canadians Rachel Homan and John Morris rallied after falling behind 7-0 to Australia, but would lose 8-7 in an extra end of mixed doubles curling. 3:40
Canadian medal chances on Sunday night/Monday morning
While the curling semifinals aren’t technically medal games, they also kind of are, in the sense that a victory guarantees you at least a silver. But if we’re talking opportunities for Canadians to win actual, defined spots on the podium, here are the strong possibilities in chronological order:
Snowboarding: Men’s slopestyle final at 11 p.m. ET
Canada’s big 3 of Mark McMorris, Max Parrot and Seb Toutant all qualified today for the 12-man final. Each guy is capable of reaching the podium in this event, which involves riders tricking off ramps and urban-style features like railings and a makeshift roof. McMorris did it at the last two Winter Olympics, taking bronze both times. Parrot topped him in 2018, winning silver. Parrot took silver at last year’s world championships, and is the reigning Olympic champ in big air, an event that demands a similar skill set (McMorris and Parrot are also very good at it).
McMorris, though, seems like the man for Canada right now. He won the prestigious X Games men’s slopestyle title for the sixth time two weeks ago, and last night he put up the second-best score in qualifying. Toutant, who skipped the X Games, was eighth in qualifying. Parrot, who finished seventh at the X Games, was 10th. The top qualifier was 17-year-old Chinese rider Su Yiming. He’s now the slight betting favourite to win gold, just ahead of McMorris.
Short track speed skating
Canada has two strong contenders on Monday morning with Kim Boutin in the women’s 500 metres and Pascal Dion in the men’s 1,000m. First, they’ll have to survive the quarter-final and semifinal rounds. Racing starts at 6:30 a.m. ET.
Boutin got bronze in the 500 in 2018 after a South Korean skater was disqualified for interfering with her in the final. This led to Boutin being harassed by online trolls. But she battled through it, ended up with three medals and was named Canada’s flag-bearer for the closing ceremony. She’s currently ranked second in the world in this event and is the No. 2 favourite in the betting odds, which imply a toss-up between three athletes. The women’s 500m final is at 7:46 a.m. ET.
Dion is ranked No. 1 in the men’s 1,000 after reaching the podium three times this season. He captured a bronze at the 2018 Olympics as part of the Canadian men’s relay team but is still looking for his first individual Olympic medal. Dion is the No. 2 favourite in the betting odds, which show no clear favourite. The men’s 1,000m final is at 7:58 a.m. ET.
WATCH | McMorris leads trio of Canadians into slopestyle final:
Mark McMorris leads trio of Canadians into Olympic snowboard slopestyle final
19 hours ago
Duration 7:46
Mark McMorris qualified in second place, Sebastien Toutant qualified in eighth place and Max Parrot qualified in tenth place, as all three Canadians advanced to the men’s snowboard slopestyle final at the Beijing 2022 Olympics. 7:46
Some other interesting stuff you should know about
Madeline Schizas came through. But will it matter? The 18-year-old figure skater delivered under pressure last night, placing third with a personal best in the women’s short segment of the team event to lift Canada from sixth place into the five-team final round. Unfortunately, Roman Sadovsky promptly finished last in the men’s free skate, leaving Canada a distant fourth in the overall standings. It would take a miracle to catch Japan for bronze as the event closes tonight with the pairs (8:15 p.m. ET), dance (9:30 p.m. ET) and women’s (10:35 p.m. ET) free skates. The team from the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) leads and will try to hold off the United States for gold.
The Canadian women’s hockey team plays its last game before facing the United States. Coming off blowouts of Switzerland and Finland by a combined score of 23-2, Canada faces the ROC tonight at 11:10 p.m. ET. This will be a mere appetizer for Monday night’s round-robin finale vs. the U.S., which will itself be a mere appetizer for the archrivals’ near-certain showdown in the gold-medal game.
Also…
There’s a double dose of alpine skiing tonight. The postponement of last night’s men’s downhill due to high winds means two races are on tap for tonight. The women’s giant slalom is up first, with the first leg at 8:30 p.m. ET. The men’s downhill, which takes place on a different slope about a half-mile away, goes at 11 p.m. ET. Then the second and final leg of the women’s giant slalom at 1:30 a.m. ET. Canada doesn’t have a strong contender in either race. Valérie Grenier is 13th in the World Cup women’s GS standings. Jack Crawford is 21st in the men’s downhill. Neither has reached an international podium at the highest level. But you never know in alpine — and especially in the downhill, which is the sport’s most volatile event.
And finally…
The Dufour-Lapointe sisters bid a tearful farewell to the Olympics. Justine and Chloe were big stars at the 2014 Games in Sochi, where they shared the women’s moguls podium after Justine won gold and her older sister took silver. The Canadians also both competed in the 2018 final, where Justine landed a silver of her own. Now in the twilight of their careers, Justine, 27, and Chloé, 30, made it to today’s final at what is likely their last Olympic Games. It didn’t end well, with Justine crashing out in the first run and Chloé failing to advance past the second. Both sisters were in tears afterward as they shared a (probably) final Olympic embrace. Certainly not the ending these two great athletes deserved. But at least they had each other.
How to watch live events
They’re being broadcast on TV on CBC, TSN and Sportsnet. Or choose exactly what you want to watch by live streaming on CBC Gem, the CBC Sports app and CBC Sports’ Beijing 2022 website. Check out the full streaming schedule (with links to live events) here and read more about how to watch the Games here.
If you’re located outside Canada, you unfortunately won’t be able to access CBC Sports’ coverage of the Games on the app or the website. That’s due to the way the Olympics’ media rights deals work. But if you’re in the northern United States or other international regions, such as Bermuda, that regularly offer the CBC TV network, you can watch the Games there.
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A top official of the Pakistan Cricket Board declined Friday to confirm media reports that India has decided against playing any games in host Pakistan during next year’s Champions Trophy.
“My view is if there’s any problems, they (India) should tell us in writing,” PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi told reporters in Lahore. “I’ll share that with the media as well as with the government as soon as I get such a letter.”
Indian media reported Friday that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has communicated its concerns to all the Champions Trophy stakeholders, including the PCB, over the Feb. 19-March 9 tournament and would not play in arch-rival Pakistan.
The Times of India said that “Dubai is a strong candidate to host the fixtures involving the Men in Blue” for the 50-over tournament.
Such a solution would see Pakistan having to travel to a neutral venue to play India in a group match, with another potential meeting later in the tournament if both teams advanced from their group. The final is scheduled for March 9 in Pakistan with the specific venue not yet decided.
“Our stance is clear,” Naqvi said. “They need to give us in writing any objections they may have. Until now, no discussion of the hybrid model has happened, nor are we prepared to accept one.”
Political tensions have stopped bilateral cricket between the two nations since 2008 and they have competed in only multi-nation tournaments, including ICC World Cups.
“Cricket should be free of politics,” Naqvi said. “Any sport should not be entangled with politics. Our preparations for the Champions Trophy will continue unabated, and this will be a successful event.”
The PCB has already spent millions of dollars on the upgrade of stadiums in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi which are due to host 15 Champions Trophy games. Naqvi hoped all the three stadiums will be ready over the next two months.
“Almost every country wants the Champions Trophy to be played here (in Pakistan),” Naqvi said. “I don’t think anyone should make this a political matter, and I don’t expect they will. I expect the tournament will be held at the home of the official hosts.”
Eight countries – Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Afghanistan – are due to compete in the tournament, the schedule of which is yet to be announced by the International Cricket Council.
“Normally the ICC announces the schedule of any major tournament 100 days before the event, and I hope they will announce it very soon,” Naqvi said.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Ottawa‘s Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand are through to the doubles final at the WTA Finals after a 7-6 (7), 6-1 victory over Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the United States and Australia’s Ellen Perez in semifinal action Friday.
Dabrowski and Routliffe won a hard-fought first set against serve when Routliffe’s quick reaction at the net to defend a Perez shot gave the duo set point, causing Perez to throw down her racket in frustration.
The second seeds then cruised through the second set, winning match point on serve when Melichar-Martinez couldn’t handle Routliffe’s shot.
The showdown was a rematch of last year’s semifinal, which Melichar-Martinez and Perez won in a super tiebreak.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will face the winner of a match between Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend, and Hao-Ching Chan and Veronika Kudermetova in the final on Saturday.
Dabrowski is aiming to become the first Canadian to win a WTA Finals title.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
Inter Milan winger Tajon Buchanan, recovered from a broken leg suffered in training at this summer’s Copa America, is back in Jesse Marsch’s Canada squad for the CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinal against Suriname.
The 25-year-old from Brampton, Ont., underwent surgery July 3 to repair a fractured tibia in Texas.
Canada, ranked 35th in the world, plays No. 136 Suriname on Nov. 15 in Paramaribo. The second leg of the aggregate series is four days later at Toronto’s BMO Field.
There is also a return for veteran winger Junior Hoilett, who last played for Canada in June in a 4-0 loss to the Netherlands in Marsch’s debut at the Canadian helm. The 34-year-old from Brampton, now with Scotland’s Hibernian, has 15 goals in 63 senior appearances for Canada.
Midfielder Ismael Kone, recovered from an ankle injury sustained on club duty with France’s Marseille, also returns. He missed Canada’s last three matches since the fourth-place Copa America loss to Uruguay in July.
But Canada will be without centre back Derek Cornelius, who exited Marseille’s win Sunday over Nantes on a stretcher after suffering an apparent rib injury.
The Canadian men will prepare for Suriname next week at a camp in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
“We are looking forward to getting the group together again with the mindset that there is a trophy on the line,” Marsch said in a statement. “We want to end 2024 the right way with two excellent performances against a competitive Suriname squad and continue building on our tremendous growth this past summer.”
The quarterfinal winners advance to the Nations League Finals at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., with the two semifinals scheduled for March 20 and the final and third-place playoff March 23, and qualify for the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Thirteen of the 23 players on the Canadian roster are 25 or younger, with 19-year-old defender Jamie Knight-Lebel, currently playing for England’s Crewe Alexandra on loan from Bristol City, the youngest.
Bayern Munich star Alphonso Davies captains the side with Stephen Eustaquio, Jonathan Osorio, Richie Laryea, Alistair Johnston and Kamal Miller adding veteran support.
Jonathan David, Cyle Larin and Theo Bair are joined in attack by Minnesota United’s Tani Oluwaseyi.
Niko Sigur, a 21-year-old midfielder with Croatia’s Hadjuk Split, continues in the squad after making his debut in the September friendly against Mexico.
Suriname made it to the Nations League quarterfinals by finishing second to Costa Rica in Group A of the Nations League, ahead of No. 104 Guatemala, No. 161 Guyana and unranked Martinique and Guadeloupe.
“A good team,” Osorio said of Suriname. “These games are always tricky and they’re not easy at all … Suriname is a (former) Dutch colony and they’ll have Dutch players playing at high levels.”
“They won’t be someone we overlook at all,” added the Toronto FC captain, who has 81 Canada caps to his credit.
Located on the northeast coast of South America between Guyana and French Guiana, Suriname was granted independence in 1975 by the Netherlands.
Canada has faced Suriname twice before, both in World Cup qualifying play, winning 4-0 in suburban Chicago in June 2021 and 2-1 in Mexico City in October 1977.
The Canadian men, along with Mexico, the United States and Panama, received a bye into the final eight of the CONCACAF Nations League.
Canada, No. 2 in the CONCACAF rankings, drew Suriname as the best-placed runner-up from League A play.
Canada lost to Jamaica in last year’s Nations League quarterfinal, ousted on the away-goals rule after the series ended in a 4-4 draw. The Canadians lost 2-0 to the U.S. in the final of the 2022-23 tournament and finished fifth in 2019-20.
Canada defeated Panama 2-1 last time out, in an Oct. 15 friendly in Toronto.
Goalkeepers Maxime Crepeau and Jonathan Sirois, defenders Joel Waterman, Laryea and Miller and Osorio took part in a pre-camp this week in Toronto for North America-based players.
Canada Roster
Goalkeepers: Maxime Crepeau, Portland Timbers (MLS); Jonathan Sirois, CF Montreal (MLS); Dayne St. Clair, Minnesota United FC (MLS).
Defenders: Moise Bombito, OGC Nice (France); Alphonso Davies, Bayern Munich (Germany); Richie Laryea, Toronto FC (MLS); Alistair Johnston, Celtic (Scotland); Jamie Knight-Lebel. Crewe Alexandra, on loan from Bristol City (England); Kamal Miller, Portland Timbers (MLS); Joel Waterman, CF Montreal (MLS).
Midfielders: Ali Ahmed. Vancouver Whitecaps (MLS); Tajon Buchanan, Inter Milan (Italy); Mathieu Choiniere, Grasshopper Zurich (Switzerland); Stephen Eustaquio, FC Porto (Portugal); Junior Hoilett, Hibernian FC (Scotland); Ismael Kone, Olympique Marseille (France); Jonathan Osorio, Toronto FC (MLS); Jacob Shaffelburg, Nashville SC (MLS); Niko Sigur, Hadjuk Split (Croatia).
Forwards: Theo Bair, AJ Auxerre (France); Jonathan David, LOSC Lille (France); Cyle Larin, RCD Mallorca (Spain); Tani Oluwaseyi, Minnesota United (MLS).
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
