Olympics Overnight: Canada reclaims gold in women’s hockey, Thompson wins silver in ski cross, and Kamila Valieva struggles in women’s free skate

Rise and shine, Olympics fans. Here’s what you missed overnight and need to know about the 2022 Beijing Olympics this morning.For all the Star-related Winter Games content, visit our Olympics page here.Four long years in the making, Canada finally has its revenge. With a 3-2 victory over the United States, Team Canada reclaimed Olympic women’s hockey gold — the team’s fifth since the event was added to the Winter Games in 1998. And they did it with style, scoring a record 57 goals over the course of the tournament. Moments after the final buzzer, the team — which includes 13 players who experienced heartbreak after losing to the U.S. in Pyeongchang — exploded into ecstatic celebration.A couple hours later, Marielle Thompson — who tore her ACL just eleven months ago —nabbed a silver medal in women’s ski cross to push Canada’s medal count to 20. Elsewhere, Brad Gushue lost to Sweden in the men’s curling semifinal, while Jennifer Jones and the women’s Canadian curling team were eliminated from the tournament after round-robin play.Plus, Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva justed misses the podium in an event that was overshadowed by a doping scandal.Here’s your daily roundup of everything you missed overnight, including exclusive footage of Beijing mascot Bing Dwen Dwen attempting a quadruple Axel.‘Captain Clutch’ powers Canada back to the topWhat can you even say about Marie-Philip Poulin? The Canadian captain and flag-bearer had another spectacular tournament, scoring two goals and an assist on Thursday en route to her third Olympic gold. The 30-year-old from Beauceville, Que., who scored the winning goal in all three of those gold medal matches, is now also the only hockey player – female or male – to score in four different Olympic gold medal games.She finished the tournament with 17 points, one point behind her teammate Sarah Nurse, who now holds the record for the most points in a single Olympic tournament.And yet, like a true captain, she remains humble:Indeed, it was a superb all-around performance. Nurse contributed a goal and an assist, and goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens had a stellar game, making 38 saves.Brianne Jenner, who had an incredible nine goals over the course of the tournament, was named MVP. “Every medal is a different story. They’re unique. This is a special one,” Poulin said. “The veterans who have been here since 2018, they felt that loss in the shootout. It was a hard one for all of us.”“Canada is a hockey nation and hopefully we’ve given everyone a reason to celebrate back home,” Nurse told The Canadian Press after the game.“It’s a pretty great time to be a woman in Canada,” Desbiens said.Read more from the Star’s Bruce Arthur, reporting from Beijing.And click here to see how athletes and hockey fans reacted Poulin’s dominant performance and Canada’s victory.Marielle Thompson steals silver in dramatic ski cross finalFirst of all, ski cross is a wild event. Do yourself a favour and watch the final, which looks more like a battle than a race:Though it’s the first time Canada hasn’t won gold in women’s ski cross since the sport was introduced to the Olympic in 2010, it was an impressive second-place finish for Marielle Thompson, who has struggled with injuries since she won gold in 2014 at Sochi.In 2017, she ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament — I had trouble even typing that out — while training for the Pyeongchang Games. Last March, she tore her same ACL. (As someone who tore their ACL over two years ago, the fact that she is competing at an elite level less than a year later is astonishing. I only just worked up the courage to hit bunny slopes at Blue Mountain this month.)“I kind of found my form in December and then have really been building each and every race,” Thompson told The Canadian Press after the race. “I think I brought my best skiing I possibly could here to the Olympics and I couldn’t ask for more than that.”Switzerland’s Fanny Smith appeared to win the bronze medal, but she was penalized after a lengthy post-race review found she purposely impeded Germany’s Daniela Maier. The German was awarded the bronze following Smith’s yellow card.Cameras showed Smith having an animated conversation with an official at the bottom of the ski cross course as Maier leaned against an Olympic backdrop nearby, the CP reports. Smith didn’t speak to media afterwards.Read more on Thompson’s silver from the Star’s Dave Feschuk, reporting from Beijing.Gushue and the boys will play for bronzeBrad Gushue and the Canadian men’s curling team fell to Niklas Edin and Sweden in a nail-biting semifinal against Sweden, losing by a final score of 5-3. The team will get a chance to compete for bronze against the U.S. End of the road for Jennifer JonesIt was a disappointing end for the Canadian women’s curling team, who were eliminated from the tournament despite handily beating Denmark 10-4 in the final game of the round robin on Thursday.Jones and co. finished the tour

Feb 17, 2022 - 22:55

Olympics Overnight: Canada reclaims gold in women’s hockey, Thompson wins silver in ski cross, and Kamila Valieva struggles in women’s free skate

Rise and shine, Olympics fans. Here’s what you missed overnight and need to know about the 2022 Beijing Olympics this morning.

For all the Star-related Winter Games content, visit our Olympics page here.

Four long years in the making, Canada finally has its revenge.

With a 3-2 victory over the United States, Team Canada reclaimed Olympic women’s hockey gold — the team’s fifth since the event was added to the Winter Games in 1998. And they did it with style, scoring a record 57 goals over the course of the tournament.

Moments after the final buzzer, the team — which includes 13 players who experienced heartbreak after losing to the U.S. in Pyeongchang — exploded into ecstatic celebration.

A couple hours later, Marielle Thompson — who tore her ACL just eleven months ago —nabbed a silver medal in women’s ski cross to push Canada’s medal count to 20.

Elsewhere, Brad Gushue lost to Sweden in the men’s curling semifinal, while Jennifer Jones and the women’s Canadian curling team were eliminated from the tournament after round-robin play.

Plus, Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva justed misses the podium in an event that was overshadowed by a doping scandal.

Here’s your daily roundup of everything you missed overnight, including exclusive footage of Beijing mascot Bing Dwen Dwen attempting a quadruple Axel.

‘Captain Clutch’ powers Canada back to the top

What can you even say about Marie-Philip Poulin? The Canadian captain and flag-bearer had another spectacular tournament, scoring two goals and an assist on Thursday en route to her third Olympic gold.

The 30-year-old from Beauceville, Que., who scored the winning goal in all three of those gold medal matches, is now also the only hockey player – female or male – to score in four different Olympic gold medal games.

She finished the tournament with 17 points, one point behind her teammate Sarah Nurse, who now holds the record for the most points in a single Olympic tournament.

And yet, like a true captain, she remains humble:

Indeed, it was a superb all-around performance. Nurse contributed a goal and an assist, and goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens had a stellar game, making 38 saves.

Brianne Jenner, who had an incredible nine goals over the course of the tournament, was named MVP.

“Every medal is a different story. They’re unique. This is a special one,” Poulin said. “The veterans who have been here since 2018, they felt that loss in the shootout. It was a hard one for all of us.”

“Canada is a hockey nation and hopefully we’ve given everyone a reason to celebrate back home,” Nurse told The Canadian Press after the game.

“It’s a pretty great time to be a woman in Canada,” Desbiens said.

Read more from the Star’s Bruce Arthur, reporting from Beijing.

And click here to see how athletes and hockey fans reacted Poulin’s dominant performance and Canada’s victory.

Marielle Thompson steals silver in dramatic ski cross final

First of all, ski cross is a wild event. Do yourself a favour and watch the final, which looks more like a battle than a race:

Though it’s the first time Canada hasn’t won gold in women’s ski cross since the sport was introduced to the Olympic in 2010, it was an impressive second-place finish for Marielle Thompson, who has struggled with injuries since she won gold in 2014 at Sochi.

In 2017, she ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament — I had trouble even typing that out — while training for the Pyeongchang Games. Last March, she tore her same ACL.

(As someone who tore their ACL over two years ago, the fact that she is competing at an elite level less than a year later is astonishing. I only just worked up the courage to hit bunny slopes at Blue Mountain this month.)

“I kind of found my form in December and then have really been building each and every race,” Thompson told The Canadian Press after the race. “I think I brought my best skiing I possibly could here to the Olympics and I couldn’t ask for more than that.”

Switzerland’s Fanny Smith appeared to win the bronze medal, but she was penalized after a lengthy post-race review found she purposely impeded Germany’s Daniela Maier. The German was awarded the bronze following Smith’s yellow card.

Cameras showed Smith having an animated conversation with an official at the bottom of the ski cross course as Maier leaned against an Olympic backdrop nearby, the CP reports. Smith didn’t speak to media afterwards.

Gushue and the boys will play for bronze

Brad Gushue and the Canadian men’s curling team fell to Niklas Edin and Sweden in a nail-biting semifinal against Sweden, losing by a final score of 5-3.

The team will get a chance to compete for bronze against the U.S.

End of the road for Jennifer Jones

It was a disappointing end for the Canadian women’s curling team, who were eliminated from the tournament despite handily beating Denmark 10-4 in the final game of the round robin on Thursday.

Jones and co. finished the tourney with a 5-4 record, which tied them with Britain and Japan, but they missed the cut due to poor draw shot challenge numbers.

It was a bumpy road for Winnipeg’s Jones, who won gold back in Sochi. But credit to the team for bouncing back after a three-game losing streak to finish with a respectable five wins.

“We tried our very best. There are six shots I’d like to have back. We’re really sorry we don’t get to play again,” she told reporters.

Switzerland will face off in one semifinal on Friday, while Sweden will play Britain in the other.

More Canadian results

Skiers Rachael Karker, Cassie Sharpe and Amy Fraser all qualified for the final in women’s halfpipe, which takes place on Friday.

Kamila Valieva just misses the podium amid doping scandal

The Russian figure skater finished fourth in what was a dramatic finish to the women’s figure skating competition — a competition overshadowed by a doping scandal.

Earlier this week, the 15-year-old Valieva tested positive for a banned heart drug, but the Olympics’ Court of Arbitration ruled that she had protected status as a minor and would suffer "irreparable harm" if she wasn't permitted to perform.

Valieva entered the free skate portion of the competition with a huge lead, but faltered in her final performance, falling twice and just missing the podium.

Russian skater Anna Shcherbakova scored 255.95 to capture gold, while her teammate Alexandra Trusova — who made history as the first woman to land four quads in a program, — scored 251.73 for silver. Japan's Kaori Sakamoto took the bronze with a score of 233.13.

Canada’s Madeline Schizas finished 19th in the women's singles field of 25.

More trouble for Shiffrin

American skier Mikaela Shiffrin was disqualified in her last solo event after tripping on a gate and toppling over. It’s the third time the highly decorated athlete has failed to finish a race in Beijing.

Shiffrin has previously spoken about the immense pressure she faces as an elite performer, and has received plenty of support from fans and peers in the sporting world. Still, it’s tough to imagine what she’s going through in Beijing.

“There’s going to be a whole chaotic mess of crap that people are saying about how I just fantastically failed these last couple of weeks in the moments that actually counted,” Shiffrin told reporters.

“It’s really strange, but I’m not even afraid of that right now, and maybe it’s because I don’t have any emotional energy to give any more.”

Shiffrin still has a few opportunities to win a medal in team events.

Japan’s Miho Takagi makes history

Tagaki set a new world record in speedskating in the women’s 1,000-metre race.

Korean skater busts a move on the podium

South Korean speedskater Kwak Yoon-gy paid tribute to the Kpop band BTS on the podium, busting out some “dynamite” dance moves.

Bing Dwen Dwen attempts the 4A

Perhaps inspired by Japanese skater Yuzuru Hanyu’s remarkable attempt at landing the first ever quadruple Axel, the official mascot of the Olympics has been spotted training around Beijing.

Poulin's game-winner, as called in Inuktitut

Looking forward