Beijing Winter Olympics: Canadian speed skater Ivanie Blondin sets sight on second medal of Winter Games in women’s mass start

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Beijing Olympics: Latest updates

Olympic events for Feb. 18, 2022

• What’s happening while you’re sleeping: Canada’s Ivanie Blondin is expected to reach the podium in Saturday’s mass start final, starting at 4 a.m. ET. The speed skater is currently one of the world’s top-ranked women in the mass start event. Earlier this week, she celebrated a gold in the team pursuit event with Valérie Maltais and Isabelle Weidemann. The Globe’s Rachel Brady writes that Blondin gets second chance to shine since her crash in Pyeongchang. Plus, the men’s mass start final starts at 3:30 a.m. ET and the men’s cross-country skiing 50km freestyle starts at 1 a.m. ET.
• Freestyle skiing: Canada’s Noah Bowman finished fourth in men’s freeski halfpipe, finishing two points off the podium. Meanwhile, Brendan Mackay of Calgary finished ninth and Simon d’Artois of Whistler, B.C. finished in tenth place. The gold went to New Zealand’s Nico Porteous and silver to United States’ David Wise. Earlier today, Canada’s Cassie Sharpe captured silver, while Rachael Karker won bronze, in women’s freeski halfpipe. China’s Eileen Gu took the gold, with a score of 95.25 in her second run at Zhangjiakou Genting Snow Park.
• Alpine skiing: The last alpine skiing race of the Beijing Olympics has been moved to Sunday because of too-strong wind. Gusts at up to about 65 kilometres per hour led to the announcement of two one-hour delays, before the International Ski Federation eventually said it would not be possible to hold the competition at all. Canada was set to race against Slovenia, and U.S. alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin was scheduled to compete in her sixth race of the Winter Games.
• Bobsleigh: Canada’s Justin Kripps was in third place midway through the four-man bobsled competition at the Olympic Games: “It was pretty good execution,” Kripps said. “(We’re) going to look to come out and do the same thing tomorrow (Sunday).” German sleds were in the top two positions. Meanwhile, Germany also holds top two spots at the midway point of the women’s bobsled competition. The U.S. is third, with four-time medalist Elana Meyers Taylor and brakewoman Sylvia Hoffman finishing their first two runs in 2:02.79 — well ahead of Canada’s Christine de Bruin, who posted a two-run time with brakewoman Kristen Bujnowski of 2:03.21.
• Speed skate: Canadian speed skater Laurent Dubreuil has won a silver medal in the men’s 1,000 metres at the Beijing Olympics on Friday. Skating in the final pairing with Dutch world champion Kai Verbij, the Canadian posted a time of one minute 8.32 seconds. He finished 0.40 seconds behind gold-medallist Thomas Krol of the Netherlands, who crossed the finish line in 1:07.92. Haavard Holmefjord Lorentzen of Norway took the bronze in 1:08.48.
• Curling: Canada has won a bronze medal in men’s curling at the Beijing Olympics. Brad Gushue defeated American John Shuster 8-5 in the third-place game at the Ice Cube. The St. John’s skip lost to Sweden’s Niklas Edin in the semifinal a day earlier. Gushue and third Mark Nichols won gold at the Turin Games in 2006. The Globe’s Rachel Brady reports that the medal comes 16 years after Gushue took gold as part of the Olympic gold medal-winning team in men’s curling at the 2006 Turin Olympics. Meanwhile, Britain advanced to the women’s curling final after beating reigning Olympic champions Sweden 12-11 and will take on Japan, who stunned world champions Switzerland 8-6 at the National Aquatics Centre on Friday.
• Figure skating: Vanessa James and Eric Radford are in 12th after the pairs short program, while fellow Canadians Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro are 13th after a frightening stumble. Sui Wenjing and Han Cong of China are the leaders with a score of 84.41, breaking their own world record for a short program. James and Radford, who came out of retirement to team up last April, scored 63.03 points for their skate, losing marks when James doubled their side-by-side triple toe loops. Forest Blakk, Moore-Towers and Marinaro scored 62.51. They both took a hard fall on their throw triple loop. The pairs free skate is Saturday.
• Ice hockey: Finland advanced to the men’s hockey gold medal game by beating surprise semifinalist Slovakia 2-0 Friday. Tournament MVP candidate Sakari Manninen scored his fourth goal of the Olympics. Former Florida Panthers goaltender Harri Sateri made 28 saves for the shutout, and Harri Pesonen sealed it with an empty-netter in the final minute. Meanwhile, the Finns will take on Russia for gold after Arseni Gritsyuk scored the winner to cap off an eight-round shootout and put the Russians into the men’s hockey final by beating Sweden 2-1 Friday.
• Biathlon: Johannes Thingnes Boe of Norway won the men’s biathlon 15km mass start gold medal at the Beijing Winter Olympics on Friday. Martin Ponsiluoma of Sweden took silver and Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen of Norway the bronze. Canada’s Christian Gow finished in 13th place, while Scott Gow ranked 25th.

Off the field

• IOC president disturbed by Valieva’s meltdown: Olympic chief Thomas Bach said on Friday it had been “chilling” to witness Russian teenage skater Kamila Valieva crumble under pressure at the Beijing Olympics as a doping scandal continued to swirl, hitting out at the 15-year-old’s entourage. The saga has opened a debate on the suitability of the Olympic environment for minors, but International Olympic Committee president Bach said the IOC had limited means of action. Valieva, who had been leading the women’s figure skating event after the short program, cracked in her free skate on Thursday night, and stumbled down to fourth place.

The day in pictures

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Coming up at the Beijing Olympics

All dates and times (ET)

What to watch later today, Feb. 18

• Freestyle skiing, men’s halfpipe, final 🥇 8:30 p.m. ET
• Alpine skiing, Mixed team, finals 🥇 11:37 p.m. ET

What to watch tomorrow, Feb. 19

• Cross-country skiing: Men’s 50km freestyle 🥇1 a.m. ET
• Curling: Men’s gold medal game, Sweden vs Great Britain 🥇 1:05 a.m. ET
• Speed skating: Men’s mass start, semifinal 2 a.m. ET
• Speed skating: Women’s mass start semifinal 2:45 a.m. ET
• Speed skating: Men’s mass start final 🥇 3:30 a.m. ET
• Speed skating: Women’s Mass start final 🥇 4 a.m. ET
• Figure skating: Mixed pairs, free program 🥇 6 a.m. ET
• Curling: Women, bronze medal game 🥇 7:05 a.m. ET
• Ice hockey: Men, bronze medal game 🥇 8:10 a.m. ET
• Bobsleigh: 2-woman, Run 4 🥇 8:30 a.m. ET
• Curling: Women, gold medal game 🥇 8:05 p.m. ET
• Bobsleigh: 4-man, Run 4 🥇 10:20 p.m. ET
• Ice hockey: Men, gold medal game 🥇 11:10 p.m. ET

What time is it in Beijing right now?

Olympic highlights and medal count for Feb. 18

Latest Olympic medal count

Canadian Olympic gold medallist Kevin Light returns to Beijing, this time behind the camera: Kevin Light is back in Beijing for the first time since he won gold as a rower at the 2008 Summer Olympics. This time though, the Canadian is on the other side of the camera. Light was part of the Canadian men’s eight rowing team that was favoured for the gold medal at the 2008 Games, and they delivered. His first trip back to Beijing 14 years later is very different. Working as a professional photographer at these Winter Olympics, he’s capturing the action and emotion of other athletes – many in the frigid cold of the mountains.

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A bus ride to nowhere sums up the Beijing Games: Cathal Kelly writes that his miserable cross-country odyssey sadly summed up this dreadful Olympics. “We already knew the Olympics is a business machine. But this was the first time you could really see the gears grinding. Even watching at home, you must have noticed how the jubilation was less jubilant, and the dejection more dejected. This environment flattened and warped emotions. After a while, all you wanted to do was go for a walk. To anywhere.”

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Pairs skater Timothy LeDuc becomes United States’ first openly nonbinary Winter Olympian: U.S. pairs skater Timothy LeDuc became America’s first openly nonbinary Winter Olympian when they took the ice on Friday. “It was such a joyous moment for us out there today,” LeDuc said. The 31-year-old LeDuc and pairs partner Ashley Gain-Gribble placed seventh in their Olympic debut.

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Vladimir Putin endorsed Xi Jinping’s Olympics, and then completely overshadowed them: The crowd at the halfpipe roared as Eileen Gu secured her second gold medal on Friday, capping a stellar week for China in which the country outstripped its previous best performance at a Winter Olympics. Chinese success at Beijing 2022 has come both on and off the field. Ms. Gu and a crop of other new stars delivered a host of medals, in sports China has rarely been competitive in, while around them the “closed-loop” COVID-19 precautions have proven stunningly successful, preventing outbreaks inside the Olympic bubble and China proper. Athlete protests have not panned out, and any effects of a diplomatic boycott by Washington, Ottawa and a handful of allies were hard to spot, The Globe’s James Griffiths reports from Beijing.

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Winter sports powerhouse Norway sets golden record at Beijing Olympics: Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Boe won the men’s biathlon 15km mass start to claim their 15th gold medal at the Beijing Games on Friday, a Winter Olympics record achieved due to the country’s high level of professionalism across the board. With two cross-country skiing races left, Norway already has victories in the biathlon, ski jumping, Nordic combined, speed skating, cross-country and freestyle skiing, so no-one could accuse them of being one-trick ponies.

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Milan and Cortina hope to send message of ‘joy’ with minimal Olympics handover ceremony: There will be nothing equivalent to a London double-decker bus or Japan’s then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe dressed as Super Mario when the hosts of the 2026 Winter Games receive the Olympic flag during the Beijing Games closing ceremony on Sunday. While past handover ceremonies at the end of the Games have been glitzy and spectacular affairs, as was the case for the London 2012 Olympics in 2008 or the Tokyo 2020 Games in 2016, the Milan & Cortina Winter Olympics will put on a minimal show.

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Some of Canada’s Olympic stars are showing us how to lose with dignity: The Globe’s Cathal Kelly writes: Jennifer Jones went to China considered a good bet for gold and a mortal lock for a medal. The former Olympic champion is the Chris Carter of curling – all she does is catch touchdowns. But things went sideways for her almost immediately. Jones and her rink lost three of their first four and were almost out before it had started. The next week was a frantic rearguard action. On the final day of round robin, all they needed to do was win. They couldn’t. Three teams – Japan, Britain and Canada – were tied for two playoff spots. Canada was knocked out on a statistical technicality.

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Essential reads on the Beijing Olympics

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Sports columnist Cathal Kelly

A bus ride to nowhere sums up the Beijing Games

Some of Canada’s Olympic stars are showing us how to lose with dignity

As our world views splinter, the Canada-U.S. sports rivalry is something that can still bond us together

Olympic men’s hockey doesn’t matter if the NHL isn’t there

Kamila Valieva scandal shows the minimum age to compete in the Olympics needs to be raised

More on Team Canada

For Canadian women’s hockey team, 3-2 victory over U.S. shows how ‘creating a culture’ pays off

Olympic speed skaters Weidemann, Blondin and Maltais take gold for Canada with record finish in Beijing

Now cancer-free, Canada’s Max Parrot takes Olympic gold with run of a lifetime in snowboard slopestyle

Gallery: All of Canada’s medal moments so far