Christine de Bruin wore an Olympic medal around her neck for the first time in her career, and the Canadian bobsledder liked the feeling.
B次元官网网址淚t feels awesome,B次元官网网址� she said of the bronze medal she claimed in the Olympic debut of the monobob. B次元官网网址淚t feels heavy. ItB次元官网网址檚 nice.B次元官网网址�
No doubt, the feeling of two medals would be even nicer.
The native of Stony Plain, Alta., picked up CanadaB次元官网网址檚 first sliding medal of the Beijing Olympics on Monday when she raced to third place in the monobob in a time of four minutes 21.03 seconds.
She will have a chance to add to CanadaB次元官网网址檚 coffers in the two-woman event on Saturday. She said the knowledge of the track at Yanqing National Sliding Centre gained during her monobob runs should serve her well.
B次元官网网址淚t means that I have a really good understanding of the track and with Buj (Kristen Bujnowski), my brakewoman behind me, we have a very competitive push,B次元官网网址� de Bruin said.
B次元官网网址淧ut the two together and we should have a great result.B次元官网网址�
Kaillie Humphries, de BruinB次元官网网址檚 former teammate, led a one-two punch atop the podium for the United States with a dominating time of 4:19.27. American veteran Elana Meyers Taylor took silver in 4:20.81.
Humphries picked up her fourth Olympic medal. She won two gold and a bronze in the two-woman event as a competitor for Canada before switching to represent the United States after the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.
Meanwhile, CanadaB次元官网网址檚 womenB次元官网网址檚 hockey team handily beat Switzerland 10-3 to set the stage for a gold-medal rematch against the United States on Wednesday night.
Canada has reached every final since womenB次元官网网址檚 hockey made its Olympic debut in 1998, but lost the gold medal in a 3-2 shootout loss to the Americans four years ago in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Canada has rewritten Olympic hockeyB次元官网网址檚 record book en route to the final in Beijing, blitzing the record for most goals scored in the tournament (54) and set new marks for the fastest four and five goals in a game.
The U.S. beat Finland 4-1 in MondayB次元官网网址檚 later semifinal.
CanadaB次元官网网址檚 womenB次元官网网址檚 curling team rebounded from a three-game losing streak with an 11-5 win over Russia, and evened its record with a 7-3 victory over Britain later Monday. The menB次元官网网址檚 curling squad improved to 4-2 with a comfortable 7-3 win over Italy. And the nationB次元官网网址檚 snowboarders look poised to add to their success after a total of five athletes qualified for the finals of the menB次元官网网址檚 and womenB次元官网网址檚 big air events.
Max Parrot will be looking to follow up his gold-medal slopestyle performance from last week with a similar result in the big air, and appeared on form after topping the menB次元官网网址檚 qualifier.
Parrot said he was B次元官网网址渟tokedB次元官网网址� by his performance, despite making a mistake on his third jump, but said his focus was firmly on the future.
B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檝e got my ticket for the final so really just focusing on that,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淭hatB次元官网网址檚 whatB次元官网网址檚 important. ItB次元官网网址檚 not to finish first in (qualifiers) or second or third, itB次元官网网址檚 to make it to the final.B次元官网网址�
Teammate Mark McMorris was eighth and Darcy Sharpe finished 12th to secure the last spot in the final. S茅bastien Toutant, the eventB次元官网网址檚 defending champion, fell twice and did not advance.
On the womenB次元官网网址檚 side, Laurie Blouin qualified fourth for the big air final and Jasmine Baird was 10th.
Seventeen-year-old Olivia Asselin also qualified for the finals of the womenB次元官网网址檚 freestyle skiing slopestyle. Asselin finished in 11th after scoring a 64.68 on her first run at the Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou. Megan Oldham, who finished fourth in the big air, did not advance to the final.
HumphriesB次元官网网址� first gold medal sliding for the United States came after a trying four years that included an acrimonious split with Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton B次元官网网址� the sportB次元官网网址檚 national governing body.
Humphries filed a harassment complaint with the organization in 2018, claiming she was B次元官网网址渞epeatedly and horribly verbally and mentally abused by the head coach.B次元官网网址�
Todd Hays, who led the U.S. womenB次元官网网址檚 team from 2011 to 2014, has been CanadaB次元官网网址檚 head coach since 2017.
The allegations remain under investigation.
Asked if she had any words for Canada, Humphries started off by saying B次元官网网址渘ot reallyB次元官网网址� before continuing.
B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檓 still Canadian,B次元官网网址� said the dual citizen. B次元官网网址淚 will never forget my time as part of Canada, and I am so proud and honoured to still consider myself Canadian. I am also American. To me, itB次元官网网址檚 not a rivalry. IB次元官网网址檓 not picking and choosing one country over the other.
B次元官网网址淐anada will always hold my past. Every single time I represented Team Canada, I did so with my heart and soul. The U.S.A. has my future.B次元官网网址�
TorontoB次元官网网址檚 Cynthia Appiah was eighth on the 1,615-metre, 16-turn track located about 90 kilometres north of Beijing.
In womenB次元官网网址檚 hockey, team captain Marie-Philip Poulin scored twice and Claire Thompson had a goal and two assists as the Canadians set a new Olympic tournament record with 54 goals.
B次元官网网址淚 know when you look at the Olympic scores, you kind of think it has been an easy road for us, but that could not have been any further from the truth,B次元官网网址� forward Sarah Nurse said.
B次元官网网址淲e want to generate a ton of offence but we know we have to clean things up defensively. I know going into the championship (game) we will have to tighten some things up defensively.B次元官网网址�
In figure skating, TorontoB次元官网网址檚 Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier of Unionville, Ont., finished a disappointing seventh in ice dance in what could be their last Olympics.
Gilles and Poirier botched a rotational lift, which was reflected in their score of 204.78.
Gilles fought back tears as she tried to explain what went wrong. Poirier said to her gently: B次元官网网址淵ou were amazing.B次元官网网址�
CanadaB次元官网网址檚 Marion Th茅nault was seventh in womenB次元官网网址檚 aerials. Th茅nault, from Sherbrooke, Que., just missed out on the superfinal with a 91.29 on her second run of the final. Th茅nault was part of the team that won the bronze medal in the mixed team aerials event.
ChinaB次元官网网址檚 Xu Mengtao won gold with 108.61 points in the superfinal.
B次元官网网址擳he Canadian Press
