Canada Olympic House went crazy when walked out at . 馃嚚馃嚘馃嚚馃嚘馃嚚馃嚘
B次元官网网址� Team Canada (@TeamCanada)
This is just a preview of whatB次元官网网址檚 to come during . Come say hi 馃憢.
Ice dance stars Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir took turns carrying the Canadian flag at the opening ceremony of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics on Friday, hours after their teammates got Canada off to a solid start in the team figure skating competition.
The pair lead Team CanadaB次元官网网址檚 largest ever Winter Olympics team into PyeongChang stadium, with 122 men and 103 women who will compete in 14 sports.
Canada overcame some early stumbles from star Patrick Chan in the menB次元官网网址檚 skate and led the standings after the first day of competition of the team event. It marked the start of a solid day for Canadian athletes, as freestyle skiers Mikael Kingsbury and Andi Naude impressed in moguls qualifying and the mixed curling team of John Morris and Kaitlyn Lawes improved to 3-1 with a pair of wins.
The figure skating meet kicked off several hours before the opening ceremony, and the early morning start had Chan a bit rattled.
The three-time world champion rose at 5 a.m., grabbed a coffee on the way to the bus for a 7 a.m. practice. Then it was back to the athletes village for some oatmeal, and a short rest before hopping on the bus back to the Gangneung Ice Arena for a 10 a.m. competition.
was a success.馃檶
B次元官网网址� Team Canada (@TeamCanada)
Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir add awesome flag bearers to their list of amazing performances.
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The bleary-eyed Chan had a shaky skate to open CanadaB次元官网网址檚 gold-medal quest in the team event. But he wasnB次元官网网址檛 the only one.
B次元官网网址淚 donB次元官网网址檛 think any of us in our entire careers, even mine, have ever skated this early, or with this type of schedule. I definitely think that played a role,B次元官网网址� Chan said. B次元官网网址滲ut weB次元官网网址檙e not in control of that.B次元官网网址�
Skating to B次元官网网址淒ust in the WindB次元官网网址� by Kansas, the three-time world champion from Toronto fell on both his quadruple toe loop and triple Axel to score 81.66, putting him in third in the menB次元官网网址檚 short program.
Shoma Uno was the only skater to lay down anything resembling a clean program, scoring 103.25 to put Japan in the lead. Alexei Bychenko of Israel sat second with 88.49. American phenom Nathan Chen, considered a favourite for gold in the individual event, fell once and popped a quad jump to score 80.61.
Two-time world pairs champs Meagan Duhamel of Lively, Ont., and Eric Radford of Balmertown, Ont., had a better day than Chan, finishing second with a score of 76.57, behind Russians Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov, who recorded 80.92. Germans Aljona Savchenko and Bruno Massot were third with 75.36.
After the first two events of the team competition, Canada was atop the standings with 17 points, three ahead of the Americans. Japan was third with 13.
Figure skating traditionally runs well into the night at the Olympics, but North American prime time television demands has it finished by the early afternoon in South Korea, throwing skatersB次元官网网址� schedules topsy-turvy.
Virtue and Moir, who skate the ice dance portion of the team event Sunday, were all smiles as they led CanadaB次元官网网址檚 red-clad contingent into Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium, one of 92 nations to enter the chilly 35,000-seat facility on a blustery night where temperatures dipped to -8 C with the wind chill.
Virtue, of London, Ont., took the first turn with the Maple Leaf before passing it to Moir, of Ilderton, Ont., halfway through their tour of the venue.
The pair won ice dance gold at the 2010 Games before capturing silver in 2014, and are a good bet to reach the podium again in South Korea.
馃敟 Lighting of the Olympic cauldron
B次元官网网址� Olympics (@Olympics)
The Canadians waved to the crowd, snapped selfies and danced to the music, but like the rest of the countries in the parade nations, they moved a little faster than usual to get to their seats B次元官网网址� probably because of the cold.
The 225-member team is the CanadaB次元官网网址檚 largest for a Winter Olympics, but some of the athletes skipped the festivities, while others indicated beforehand they would leave soon after their march around the pentagon-shaped stadium with the official start of competition looming Saturday.
Meanwhile, Kingsbury is off to a promising start in menB次元官网网址檚 moguls. The skier from Deux-Montagnes. Que., took top spot in menB次元官网网址檚 qualifying with 86.07 points on the Phoenix Park course. Naude of Penticton, B.C., was second on the womenB次元官网网址檚 side with 79.60 points.
MontrealB次元官网网址檚 Justine Dufour-Lapointe, a gold medallist in 2014, was fourth. Her sister Chloe, who won silver four years ago, was 13th in qualifying. With only the top 10 advancing to the final from FridayB次元官网网址檚 qualifying, Chloe Dufour-Lapointe will need to deliver in another qualifying run Sunday to move on.
Elsewhere at Phoenix Park, Canadian snowboarder Laurie Blouin was carried off the course on a stretcher after a nasty training fall.
The reigning world champion in slopestyle fell heavily when her board got stuck in a crack after she landed a double jump. Blouin was taken to hospital for further evaluation as a precaution. The Canadian Olympic Committee said in a statement that she is conscious, alert and going back to the athletesB次元官网网址� village with a team doctor.
Morris and Lawes improved to 3-1 in mixed curling with a 10-4 win over ChinaB次元官网网址檚 Rui Wang and Dexin Ba and an 8-2 rout over Tomi Rantamaeki and Oona Kauste of Finland.
On Thursday, Morris and Lawes earned a hard-fought 6-4 win over Matt and Becca Hamilton of the United States in the evening draw after dropping their opener 9-6 to NorwayB次元官网网址檚 Kristin Skaslien and Magnus Nedregotten.
Canadian coach Jeff Stoughton said Morris and Lawes are improving as they adjust to the intricacies of the mixed doubles format, which is making its Olympic debut.
B次元官网网址淚 think youB次元官网网址檙e going to see more and more teams playing better because theyB次元官网网址檙e getting more comfortable with the ice and where to put the broom, so itB次元官网网址檚 good to see that our team is catching on to that as well,B次元官网网址� he said.
The Canadians take on Switzerland and the B次元官网网址淥lympic Athletes from RussiaB次元官网网址� on Saturday.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wished CanadaB次元官网网址檚 athletes good luck in a statement released Friday and said the teamB次元官网网址檚 diverse makeup is a reflection of the country.
B次元官网网址淲hen Team Canada marches into the Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium, young Canadians can look at our team and see themselves,B次元官网网址� Trudeau said. B次元官网网址漁ur Olympians hail from across the country and from all kinds of different backgrounds.
B次元官网网址淭ogether, they represent the diversity that Canada so proudly stands for, and remind us all that no matter where we are from, we can succeed with drive and discipline.B次元官网网址�
The Canadian Press
