Canada had a wonderful Wednesday. Day 13 of the Olympic Games in Vancouver had a happy ending for the host country with one gold, two silvers and one bronze.
In the ladies’ 3,000 metre short track relay, Korea’s disqualification bumped Canada up to second place and let United States win bronze.
Kaillie Humphries – Heather Moyse and Helen Upperton – Shelley-Ann Brown made the one-two in the podium at the Bobsleigh event.
Clara Hughes retires with a bronze in the ladies’ 5000 final after a 14-years career.
Team Canada was too much for Russia after a 7-3 victory in the men’s hockey quarterfinals.
Bobsleigh
Pilot Kaillie Humphries and pusher Heather Moyse won gold after breaking the track record in three occasions during the heats with a combined time of 3:32.28.
Helen Upperton and Shelley-Ann Brown from Canada-2 took silver. They started the competition far from the medal standings but climbed positions to finish second.
Americans Erin Pac and Elana Meyers drove as fast as 3:33.40 to win bronze.
Speed Skating
Multi medalist Clara Hughes had a sweet retirement with a bronze medal in the 5000 metre.
Hughes, one of the four athletes in the world who can be proud of winning in both Summer and Winter Games, put an end to her 14-years career at 6:55.73, only 2.2 seconds off her personal best.
Czech Republic’s Martina Sablikova won her second gold, third in these Games at 6:50.91.
Stephanie Beckert captured the silver medal and added to her second place in the 3000 metre.
Short Track
Korea’s misfortune in the women’s short-track 3,000-metre relay changed the story for three nations.
After crossing the finish line in first place, juries decided to disqualify Korea due to an impediment in the path.
China, who was second, bumped up to first place with a world record time at 4:06.610. Canada’s Team of Jessica Gregg, Kalyna Roberge, Marianne St-Gelais and Tania Vicent got the silver 2.527 seconds behind the leader; while United States captured bonze.
In the ladies 1,000 metre heats, Canadians Tania Vicent, Kalyna Roberge, and Jessica Gregg made it to the quarter finals.
The same happened for the men 500 metre where Francois-Louie Tremblay set a new Olympic record. Charles Hamelin and Marc Gagnon reached the quarter finals as well.
Cross-Country Skiing
The quartet of Marcus Hellner, Daniel Richardsson, Johan Olsson and Andres Soedergren of Sweeden got the gold at the men’s 4×10 km relay classic/free at 1:45:05.4. Behind them, the Norweigan team finished second; while Czech Republic captured the bronze.
Canadian team finished seventh, the best result in this event.
Freestyle Skiing
Australia’s Lydia Lassila stole the gold from Chinese with a triple-flipping jump at the ladies’ aerials final. The 28-year-old had a total score of 214.74 points.
China’s Li Nina and Guo Xinxin made the 2-3 in the podium. Asians finished with two more athletes in the top 12.
Canada’s Veronika Bauer finished 15th.
Ice Hockey
Men’s Team Canada had an easy 7-3 win over Russia and advanced to semi finals.
Goaltender Roberto Luongo seemed to be the right option for the team, stopping 25 shots.
Canada will face Slovakia on Friday, who had a 4-3 win over Sweden.
In other games, United States defeated Switzerland 2-0, moving to semi finals where will face Finland, who had a 2-0 victory over the Czechs.
Curling
Men’s Sweden team had a 7-6 win over Great Britain in a Tiebreaker game Wednesday. With the victory, the Swedish advance to semi finals against Canada.
Alpine Skiing
Precarious weather conditions at the Whistler Creekside drove juries to postpone the Ladies Giant Slalom second run to Thursday 25th at 12:30 EST.
The results after the first run as follows: Austria’s Elisabeth Goergl finished first at 1:15.12. Taina Barioz was second .02 behind Goergl while Kathrin Zettel was third, .16 behind the leader.
American Lindsey Vonn crashed and broke her finger.