Beijing Olympics Today: Canada adds four medals to tally as Norway crushes record for golds

Good morning! Canada added two silver and two bronze medals to its tally in Beijing, with podium finishes in speed skating, curling, and the freeski halfpipe (Eileen Gu took the gold in the latter, her third medal). Meanwhile, Norway continues its overall dominance in the Winter Games, capturing its 15th gold medal these Olympics and setting a new record.

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Here’s what happened overnight:

• Canadian speed skater Laurent Dubreuil won a silver medal in the men’s 1,000 metres, posting a time of 1 minute 8.32 seconds. He finished 0.40 seconds behind gold medalist Thomas Krol of the Netherlands.
• Canada has won a bronze medal in men’s curling, with Brad Gushue defeating American John Shuster 8-5 in the third-place game at the Ice Cube.
• Cassie Sharpe captured silver, while Canadian teammate Rachael Karker won bronze, in women’s freeski halfpipe. China’s Eileen Gu took the gold, her third medal of the Games.
• Vanessa James and Eric Radford are in 12th spot after the pairs short program in figure skating, while fellow Canadians Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro are 13th after a frightening stumble.
• Despite being heavily favoured to win medals in men’s ski cross, Canada was kept off the podium on Friday as Brady Leman placed sixth. “I’m bummed. I’m tired. I’m relieved that it’s over. I’m proud of how I skied,” said Leman, the 2018 Olympic champion.

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• Norway won its 15th gold medal at the Beijing Games and set an a Winter Olympics record on Friday as Johannes Thingnes Boe captured first place in the men’s biathlon 15-kilometre mass start. Norway tied Germany at the Pyeongchang Games in 2018, winning a then-record 14 gold medals.
• “They had an amazing tournament from start to finish and I was able to watch, I think, maybe half the game and I had to go to bed, but it’s great,” Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid said of Canada’s women’s hockey team. McDavid was one of three players initially chosen for the Team Canada men’s squad, which was ultimately comprised of non-NHL players after the league decided not to send its players to the Games.
• The 500-year-old sport of curling is sliding into the digital age at the Winter Olympics, with modern technology helping teams sift through game stats and performance data to maximize their chances at a medal.
• Finland advanced to the men’s hockey gold medal game by beating surprise semi-finalist Slovakia 2-0 on Friday. They will play the winner of a semi-final between the Swedes and Russians in the final. Earlier, China’s unlikely Olympic men’s hockey journey came to an end with four losses in four matches.
• The gold medalist said she felt empty. The silver medalist pledged never to skate again. The favourite left in tears without saying a word. At the Olympics, teen competitors are emotional after defeat, as some call for a the minimum age for participation to be raised from 15 to 17 or 18. Meanwhile, Olympic chief Thomas Bach said on Friday he had been ”very, very disturbed” watching Russian skater Kamila Valieva crumble under pressure.
• The U.S. figure skating team told the president of the International Olympic Committee they would have liked to leave Beijing with their medals, earned 10 days ago. “The athletes have expressed their view that they would like to go home with the medals, albeit at this point with the silver medals,” United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee chief executive officer Sarah Hirshland said.
• While past handover ceremonies have been glitzy and spectacular affairs, the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics will put on a minimal show during the closing ceremony in Beijing. “The flag handover is made up of only a six-people cast, very small, on the LED floor (inside the Bird’s Nest stadium),” the ceremony’s creative producer Marco Balich said.

Globe on the ground

• Curler Jennifer Jones didn’t win anything at the Olympics, but she did something as or more useful. In her quiet, un-showy way, she showed the rest of us how to lose, writes Cathal Kelly.
• Rachel Brady writes that since Canadian speed skater Ivanie Blondin’s crash in Pyeongchang, the athlete has been honing her skills, working on her mental health and building a new support crew – both human and animal.
• James Griffiths says Russian President Vladimir Putin’s presence at the opening ceremony provided the type of international legitimacy to China that the Western boycott was supposed to take away. But Putin’s actions since leaving Beijing have almost completely overshadowed the Olympics and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s moment in the global spotlight.

Where Canada stands

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What’s on today and tomorrow

Friday Feb. 18

8:30 p.m. ET Freestyle skiing, men’s halfpipe, final 🥇

11:37 p.m. ET Alpine skiing, mixed team, final 🥇

Saturday Feb. 19

1 a.m. ET Cross-country skiing, men’s 50 km freestyle 🥇

1:05 a.m. ET Curling, men, gold medal game Britain vs. Sweden

2:45 a.m. ET Speed skating, women’s mass start, semi-final

3:30 a.m. ET Speed skating, men’s mass start, final 🥇

4 a.m. ET Speed skating, women’s mass start, final 🥇

6 a.m. ET Figure skating, mixed pairs, free program, final 🥇

8:05 p.m. ET Curling, women, gold medal game 🥇

11:10 p.m. ET Ice hockey, men, gold medal game 🥇

As seen at the Games:

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Speed skater Charles Hamelin jumps in the air, surrounded by teammates Pascal Dion, Steven Dubois, Maxime Laoun and Jordan Pierre-Gilles, in a photo taken by Greg Kolz.

Which event have you found the most exciting at the Winter Games? Email us at audience@globeandmail.com and let us know.