• subscribe
    • Society

    Sochi, while you slept: Dara Howell wins skiing slopestyle gold

    Canada adds another two medals in skiing slopestyle

    Aaron Hutchins
    <p>Canada&#8217;s Dara Howell takes a jump during the women&#8217;s freestyle skiing slopestyle qualifying at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park, at the 2014 Winter Olympics, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2014, in Krasnaya Polyana, Russia.(AP Photo/Sergei Grits)</p>

    Sergei Grits/AP

    Sergei Grits/AP
    Sergei Grits/AP

    Gold and bronze for Canada in skiing slopestyle

    Dara Howell didn’t hold back. With an amazing score of 94.20 on her first finals run in skiing slopestyle, the Huntsville, Ont. native won gold in the sport’s Olympic debut. To boost Canada up the medal standings even further, Quebec City’s Kim Lamarre won the bronze with a score of 85.00 on her second run.

    It wasn’t all good news for Canadians on the course. Canada’s four-time X-Games slopestyle skiing champion Kaya Turski, the gold medal favourite for Sochi, crashed on both her qualifying runs and failed to advance to the finals.

    Yuki Tsubota also had a bad crash in her second run in the finals.

    But Canada will go home with another gold and bronze in an event that gained Olympic status thanks in large part to the late Sarah Burke.

    Perfect start for Jennifer Jones

    Brad Jacobs and the men’s team may be showing some early jitters, but Jennifer Jones is in Olympic form already. Not only has her team defeated China and Sweden handily, but the skip can’t seem to miss a shot.

    The men’s team, skipped by Brad Jacobs, has struggled over the first two days of competition with one win and two losses so far. This morning against the reigning world champions from Sweden, Team Canada lost by a single point. With the hammer in the final end, Swedish skip Niklas Edin just barely got his draw.

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

    Ken McQueen: Alex Bilodeau on his gold-medal mogul run: ‘That was all I could give’

    Charlie Gillis: Charles Hamelin, legend in the making

    Jonathon Gatehouse: Women’s hockey too close for comfort

    Ken McQueen: Will Sochi Games be good for Russia (VIDEO)

    Wake up! Still to come today: curling, women’s ski jump Olympic debut, and snowboarder Shaun White

    Atsuko Tanaka and Taylor Henrich are ready to fly for Canada. Regardless of how well they place, it will be a historic day marking ski jump’s Olympic debut for women. The women take flight at 12:30 p.m. EST/9:30 a.m. PST

    It could be a gold medal preview on the curling rink when Canada’s Brad Jacobs goes up against Sweden’s Niklas Edin today. The two are very familiar with each other as Edin plays on the Canadian pro circuit. The two also faced off in last year’s world championships, with the Swedes winning gold. Will Jacobs avenge that loss? Updated: Sweden won 7-6, scoring a single point in the 10th end.

    Shaun White said the slopestyle course was too dangerous and some of his competitors were angry at him pulling out last minute. That could just prove to be extra motivation for U.S. snowboarding legend, who is the heavy favourite in the snowboard halfpipe. If he wins gold again, he will become the first American to threepeat at the Winter Games. Expect to see him in the medal round, which starts at 12:30 p.m. EST/9:30 a.m. PST.

    tags:Sochi 2014