Ivanie Blondin’s silver in the women’s mass start this morning gave the Canadian speed skater her second medal of the Games — and one last dramatic call for retiring play-by-play legend Steve Armitage. It also lifted Canada’s medal count to 25. That’s the third-highest, behind Norway (35) and the Russian Olympic Committee team (31).
With just a handful of competitions left before the flame goes out on Sunday morning, those countries are out of reach for Canada. So is the national Winter Olympic record of 29 medals, set four years ago in Pyeongchang. But Canada has a shot to match its second-best total of 26, from the magical 2010 Vancouver Games.
We’ll cover that and the other remaining events in our final daily viewing guide. Plus, some ideas on who might be picked to carry the Canadian flag at the closing ceremony.
Here’s what to watch on Saturday night and Sunday morning as the Beijing Winter Games come to a close:
A bobsleigh team can win Canada’s 26th medal
The four-man crew piloted by Justin Kripps and also pushed by Ryan Sommer, Cam Stones and Ben Coakwell is in the bronze-medal position at the halfway point of the event. Two sleds are 0.18 of a second or less behind the Canadians, so they’ll have to work to hang on to their podium spot.
There’s also drama in the race for gold, with just 0.03 of a second separating the great Francesco Friedrich, who was nearly unbeatable this season, from fellow German pilot Johannes Lochner. The final two runs go at 8:30 p.m. ET and 10:20 p.m. ET.
WATCH | While You Were Sleeping: Ivanie Blondin wins silver, strong start for Team Kripps:
While You Were Sleeping: Ivanie Blondin wins silver, strong start for Team Kripps
13 hours ago
Duration 4:12
Ivanie Blondin is a two-time medallist in Beijing after winning silver in the women’s mass start event. Team Kripps is in a strong position after two heats in four-man bobsleigh. Catch up on what you missed overnight with CBC Sports’ Jacqueline Doorey. 4:12
Some other interesting stuff you should know about
Besides the bobsleigh race, only five other things are happening tonight ahead of the closing ceremony. Canadians either can’t or aren’t expected to medal in any of them. But if you’re looking for one last Olympic fix, you can watch alpine skiing’s mixed team parallel event at 8 p.m. ET, the women’s curling gold-medal game between Great Britain and Japan at 8:05 p.m. ET, the cross-country skiing women’s 30km mass start at 10 p.m ET, and figure skating’s exhibition gala at 11 p.m. ET. To cap things off, the men’s hockey gold-medal game between the defending-champion Russians and Finland goes at 11:10 p.m. ET.
And finally…
Canada will announce its flag-bearer for the closing ceremony this evening.
As always, there’s no shortage of deserving candidates. But with Canada winning just four gold medals (its fewest at the Winter Olympics since 1994), the top choices are a little narrower this time. And narrower still when you consider that women’s hockey captain Marie-Philip Poulin and short track speed skater Charles Hamelin did the honours for the opening ceremony. In a vacuum, both would be excellent picks for the closing ceremony. Poulin delivered Canada’s biggest victory of the Games by scoring twice in the gold-medal final against the archirival U.S., while Hamelin helped his team to a relay gold in the final Olympic race of his brilliant career. But Canada does not typically pick someone to carry the flag twice at the same Olympics, so we can rule them out.
The Canadian Olympic Committee also likes to spread the honour around to different sports. So that probably eliminates Poulin’s teammates (tournament points leader Sarah Nurse and goals leader Brianne Jenner stand out) as well as short track skater Steven Dubois. He won gold on Hamelin’s relay team and also captured individual silver and bronze to tie for the personal Canadian medal lead at these Games.
That brings us to snowboarder Max Parrot, who won gold in the men’s slopestyle and took bronze in the big air to complete the career set of Olympic medals — after beating cancer, to boot. And Blondin is fresh in our minds after adding the mass start silver this morning to her gold in the women’s team pursuit.
But one of Blondin’s teammates stands above them. Isabelle Weidemann won a speed skating medal of each colour at these Games, taking silver and bronze in the two women’s long-distance events and leading Canada to gold in the team pursuit in Olympic-record time. She would be my pick.
We’ll find out who the Canadian Olympic Committee selects at 6:45 p.m. ET. The chosen athlete will lead the Canadian team into Beijing’s National Stadium (aka the Bird’s Nest) for the closing ceremony, which starts at 7 a.m. ET. Live coverage begins at 6:30 a.m. ET, and you can watch it on the CBC TV network, CBC Gem, the CBC Sports app and CBC Sports’ Beijing 2022 website. Find out more about the different ways you can watch the ceremony here.
A note about this newsletter
We’ll be back tomorrow for one last Beijing 2022 edition, wrapping up the memorable moments we witnessed and what to make of it all. The Buzzer will then take a much-needed day off before returning Tuesday. The Paralympic Winter Games are coming up, and we’ll continue to follow Canada’s Olympic athletes (winter and summer) along with all the other sports Canadians care about, all year round. So, if you’re enjoying our daily Beijing 2022 updates, stay subscribed and look for us every weekday in your inbox.
The past weekend of football was all about the favourites.
The favoured teams went 13-1 straight up and 10-4 against the spread in the NFL. In college football, the three most teams bet at the BetMGM Sportsbook in terms of number of bets and money all won and covered. All three were favourites.
Trends of the Week
The three most bet college teams that won and covered on Saturday were Ohio State (-3.5) vs. Penn State, Indiana (-7.5) at Michigan State and Oregon (-14.5) at Michigan. Penn State has now lost seven straight home games as underdogs. The Nittany Lions were up 10-0 in the first quarter and were 3.5-point favourites at the time. The Buckeyes won 17-10.
In the NFL, the three most bet teams in terms of number of bets and money were the Washington Commanders (-4) at the New York Giants, the Detroit Lions (-2.5) at the Green Bay Packers and the Buffalo Bills (-6) vs. the Miami Dolphins. All three teams won, but only two of the three covered the spread as Buffalo beat Miami 30-27.
When it came to the players with the most bets to score a touchdown on Sunday, only two of the five reached the end zone — Chase Brown (-125) and Taysom Hill (+185). David Montgomery (-140), Brian Robinson Jr. (+110) and AJ Barner (+500) did not score.
Upsets of the Week
The biggest upset in the NFL was the Carolina Panthers coming from behind to beat the New Orleans Saints 23-22. New Orleans closed as a 7-point favourite and took in 76% of the bets and 79% of the money in against-the-spread betting. The Saints fired head coach Dennis Allen following the loss. They have now lost seven straight games after starting the year 2-0.
Arguably the biggest upset in college football was South Carolina beating No. 10 Texas A&M 44-20 at home. Texas A&M closed as a 2.5-point favourite and took in 59% of the bets and 58% of the money.
NEW YORK – Washington Capitals left-wing Alex Ovechkin, Carolina Hurricanes centre Martin Necas and Pittsburgh Penguins centre Sidney Crosby have been named the NHL’s three stars of the week.
Ovechkin had a league-leading five goals and nine points in four games.
The 39-year-old Capitals captain has 14 points in 11 games this season, and his 860 career goals are just 34 shy of Wayne Gretzky’s record.
Necas shared the league lead with nine points (three goals, six assists) in three games.
Crosby factored on seven of the Penguins’ eight total goals scoring four goals and adding three assists in three appearances. The 37-year-old Penguins captain leads his team with 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in 13 games this season.
Crosby and Ovechkin, longtime rivals since entering the league together in 2005-06, will meet for the 70th time in the regular season and 95th time overall when Pittsburgh visits Washington on Friday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.
TORONTO – Running back Brady Oliveira of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Hamilton Tiger-Cats quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell are the finalists for the CFL’s outstanding player award.
Oliveira led the CFL in rushing this season with 1,353 yards while Mitchell was the league leader in passing yards (5,451) and touchdowns (32).
Oliveira is also the West Division finalist for the CFL’s top Canadian award, the second straight year he’s been nominated for both.
Oliveira was the CFL’s outstanding Canadian in 2023 and the runner-up to Toronto Argonauts quarterback Chad Kelly for outstanding player.
Defensive lineman Isaac Adeyemi-Berglund of the Montreal Alouettes is the East Division’s top Canadian nominee.
Voting for the awards is conducted by the Football Reporters of Canada and the nine CFL head coaches.
The other award finalists include: defensive back Rolan Milligan Jr. of the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Montreal linebacker Tyrice Beverette (outstanding defensive player); Saskatchewan’s Logan Ferland and Toronto’s Ryan Hunter (outstanding lineman); B.C. Lions kicker Sean Whyte and Toronto returner Janarion Grant (special teams); and Edmonton Elks linebacker Nick Anderson and Hamilton receiver Shemar Bridges (outstanding rookie).
The coach of the year finalists are Saskatchewan’s Corey Mace and Montreal’s Jason Maas.
The CFL will honour its top individual performers Nov. 14 in Vancouver.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 31.
