Sochi, while you slept: History is made in alpine skiing

‘A tie on the ski hill. Time for a shootout?’

<p>Tina Maze of Slovenia reacts after learning that her competitor Lindsey Vonn of the U.S. did not complete the race, during the women&#8217;s Super G race at the World Alpine Skiing Championships in Schladming February 5, 2013.  REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger (AUSTRIA  &#8211; Tags: SPORT SKIING TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)   &#8211; RTR3DDK9</p>

Leonhard Foeger/Reuters

Leonhard Foeger/Reuters
Leonhard Foeger/Reuters

For the first time ever in alpine skiing at the Winter Games, two women stood atop the podium together. Switzerland’s Dominique Gisin and Slovenia’s Tina Maze will both go home with gold medals after finishing the downhill course with an exact same time of 1:41.57. Not even a millisecond could separate these two.

Some even joked that they should ski again to settle the tie.

Canada’s Larisa Yurkiw went through a lot of adversity just to make it to the top of the hill for the race. A knee injury prevented her from competing in Vancouver and kept her out of the sport for two years. When she was dropped by the Canadian alpine team last year, Yurkiw started fundraising on her own to pay for her journey to Sochi. Then on the day before the opening ceremony, she injured her ankle in training. The 20th place finish today may be disappointing, but her story is what makes the Olympics great.

Yurkiw will be back on the hill in Sochi again for the Super G and combined events.

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

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Wake up! Still to come today: curling, women’s ski jump Olympic debut, and Canada vs. USA hockey

It’s the ultimate gold-medal preview. Canada’s women’s hockey team faces off against their rival Americans. Both teams are undefeated thus far at Sochi. Canada hasn’t let in a single goal, while the U.S. can’t stop scoring (12 goals in two games). When the two faced off in December four times in exhibition matches, Team Canada has lost all four. But this is the game that matters. Puck drops at 7:30 a.m. EST/4:30 p.m. PST.

The ‘buff boys’ of curling are back on the ice. Brad Jacobs and his team were gold-medal favourites, but have yet to find their groove in Sochi. With a record of 1-2 after the games, beating the host Russians will be key if they plan to finish in the top and make the playoffs. The sweeping starts at 10 a.m. EST/7a.m. PST. Hurry hard to the TV now to watch Jennifer Jones and Team Canada head-to-head with Eve Muirhead and Team Great Britain.

Canada’s best hope to bring more medals today back to Olympic Village will come from pairs figure skating. After the short program yesterday, Meagan Duhamel and Scott Radford currently sit in fifth place, while Kirsten Moore-Towers and Dylan Moscovitch are not far behind in sixth. With only the free skate to go, the podium is within reach. 10:45 a.m. EST/7:45 a.m. PST