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BEIJING — There’s hope for a Canadian medal in the women’s ski cross, sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ and the U.S. face off for gold once again, and the women’s figure skating competition concludes Thursday at the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Here are five things to watch at the Beijing Olympics on Thursday, Feb. 17.

Valieva skating for controversial gold

Despite testing positive for a banned substance prior to the Olympics, teenaged Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva is competing in women’s figure skating competition and is leading the pack heading into Thursday’s free skate. Valieva came into the competition as the favourite to win the contest and skated like it in the short program. Should she win on Thursday, it would be the second gold she’s taking home at the Beijing Olympics, although it will likely come with even more controversy than the gold she helped secure for the Russian Olympic Committee in the team competition at the start of the Games.

Men’s curling semifinals begins

The men’s curling semifinals gets going on Thursday and Brad Gushue and his Canadian rink are expected to be there. Gushue won a gold medal for sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ 16 years ago in Turin and will be hoping to at least get the chance to compete for gold again.

Canadian medal hopefuls in the women’s ski cross

The entire women’s ski cross event will play out Thursday and sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ has a couple of medal contenders in the field. 2014 Sochi gold medallist Marielle Thompson of sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ is among the list competitors who will be skiing Thursday. Brittany Phelan, who won a silver in Pyeonchang, is also in the field.

Canadians competing in women’s speedskating 1,000 metres

While they aren’t anticipated to be major podium threats, three Canadian women will be competing in the 1,000-metre speedskating race: Valérie Maltais of La Baie, Que., Maddison Pearman from Ponoka, Alta., and Clandeboye, Man., native Alexa Scott. There have been surprise Canadian medals peppered throughout these games, so there’s no discounting the possibility of another one in this contest.

sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ vs. USA hockey

The Olympic schedule makers didn't do North American hockey fans any favours with the timeslot they gave to the women's hockey final. The much-anticipated gold-medal game between sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ and the United States is scheduled for Thursday at 12:10 p.m. Beijing time or 11:10 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday. Those unwilling, or unable, to stay up late can catch the replay Thursday. If the match is anything like the 4-2 Canadian victory we witnessed in the group phase then we’ll be in for a real dandy of a game. This will be the sixth time, out of seven opportunities, that sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ and the U.S. have met in the women's gold-medal game.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 15, 2022.

The Canadian Press