Society

Sochi, while you slept: Charles Hamelin wins gold (again)

Canada’s only double gold winner from Vancouver adds one more in Sochi

Bernat Armangue/AP

Bernat Armangue/AP

Skating circles around the competition

Charles Hamelin is Canada’s speed skating golden boy. After a double-gold performance in Vancouver four years ago, Hamelin is an Olympic champion once again, winning the 1500-m short track gold.

Hamelin was dominant in the finals, leading the race almost entirely from start to finish. He dropped briefly to third place halfway through the race, but made a quick pass between two opponents with what looked like relative ease.

Rocking the house

Brad Jacobs showed zero nerves in his Olympic debut. The curler from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. skipped Canada to an 11-8 opening match victory against Germany. How did team Team Jacobs feel after their early morning win?

Jacobs and his team won the 2013 Brier and are gold-medal favourites heading into Sochi. Look for them to avenge their loss in the 2013 World Championship finals against Sweden’s Niklas Edin.

On the women’s side, Jennifer Jones and Team Canada won their opening match with ease, 9-2 over China.

Dispatches from Sochi: (Be sure to follow: @ChasGillis, @JonGatehouse, @kmqyvr, and @reporterchris)

Charlie Gillis: Slipping downhill, a little, at the Sochi Games

Jonathon Gatehouse: A whole lot of silver for Canadian figure skaters

Chris Johnston: Microscope now on Team Russia hockey

Wake up! Still to come today: curling, women’s hockey and Canada’s moguls champions

Canada’s women’s hockey team had 70 shots on goal against the Swiss in a 5-0 victory. Things will be harder this time around against Finland, arguably the third best team in the tournament after Canada and U.S.A. The Americans only won 3-1 in their match-up against the Finns. The rest of the world may be slowly catching up in women’s hockey, but don’t expect an upset today. Puck drops at 10 a.m. EST/7 a.m. EST.

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better after the Dufour-Lapointe sisters won gold-silver in women’s moguls, Canada has three medal contenders in the men’s competition. Alex Bilodeau will want to defend his gold from Vancouver 2010, but the Montreal-native’s toughest competitor might be another Canadian. Mikael Kingsbury is the reigning World Champion and, at 21, could be a force in moguls for years to come. Lost in the headlines is Marc-Antoine Gagnon, who finished in the top 5 at the World Cup moguls standings in both the 2011-12 and 2012-2013 seasons. They’ll all take flight at 9 a.m. EST/6 a.m. PST.

There’s no such thing as too much curling on TV. Watch Brad Jacobs skip Team Canada against the Swiss at 10 a.m EST/ 7 a.m. PST.

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