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.
1500m. DONE! pic.twitter.com/0Zv3ASxTEW
— Charles Hamelin (@Speedskater01) February 10, 2014
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.
Gold medal for Charles Hamelin, whose third-to-first move with a few laps to go was just freaking thrilling precision.
— Bruce Arthur (@bruce_arthur) February 10, 2014
Seriously, that Hamelin pass took about two seconds, and I would watch it on a loop for, like, 15 minutes.
— Bruce Arthur (@bruce_arthur) February 10, 2014
Gold number one of four for @Speedskater01, you’re a beast la locomotive de Ste-Julie #TeamCanada #WeAreWinter pic.twitter.com/5Hdvu7L2hD
— Mathieu Giroux (@mathgiroux) February 10, 2014
O Canada!!!!!!!GOLD!!!!!!Charles Hamelin is the champion it was like a cage match AWESOME!!!#CBCOlympics pic.twitter.com/dsfdhHnP5u
— Clara Hughes (@ClaraHughes_) February 10, 2014
Encore une fois. MT @GlobeOlympics: Here’s the kiss: Hamelin embraces Marianne St. Gelais after winning gold in 1500 pic.twitter.com/P4SkMyk0pB
— Arash Madani (@ArashMadani) February 10, 2014
Hamelin now has four career Olympic medals, joining Éric Bedard and Gaétan Boucher as 2nd all-time Canadian male Winter Olympic medallists.
— Arash Madani (@ArashMadani) February 10, 2014
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?
Not our best by any means but we’ll take the W! Today’s sched: Massage, lunch, nap, gym, supper, game 2 vs Swisssssssss! #Sochi2014
— Brad Jacobs (@bradjacobs15) February 10, 2014
Grinded that one out. Proud of the team for sticking in there. Thanks to everyone for the amazing support. @CDNOlympicTeam #WeAreWinter
— Ryan Fry (@ryanfry79) February 10, 2014
A win is a win – got the kinks out, a feel for the ice & happy to start on a winning note – time to kick it up a notch tnt @TeamBradJacobs
— E.J. Harnden (@eharnden83) February 10, 2014
Wasn’t the prettiest first game of the Olympics but we’ll take it. A win is a win. Relaxing and gym before tonight’s game. #WeAreWinter
— Ryan Harnden (@RyanTHarnden) February 10, 2014
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.
Solid first win by @TeamJJonesCurl Congrats from the boys. Keep it up @CDNOlympicTeam #WeAreWinter
— Ryan Fry (@ryanfry79) February 10, 2014
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.