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BEIJING — FRIENDLY FOES

sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½'s Eliot Grondin was making it look easy. He cruised through seeding and his next three races without ever trailing to book his spot in the men's snowboard cross final. His only true challenge came in the form of a dear friend who pushes him to be better. The 20-year-old product of Ste-Marie, Que., and Austria's Alessandro Hammerle – eight years his elder – certainly pushed themselves in the final. The Canadian trailed but gave chase and almost caught up to his friend and mentor at the finish line. In a photo finish, Grondin won silver by 0.02 seconds. "He's just a good friend of mine and to be able to battle a few rounds with him and be super tight and super clean racing is so fun."

THE WAITING GAME

The last thing Jack Crawford wanted to do was wait and watch as other skiers tried to beat his time. He had gone through it once before, and it didn't end well for him. The Toronto native was third in the men's alpine combined with 20 skiers left. He waited, watched, then celebrated when his bronze medal was confirmed – sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½'s first-ever medal in alpine combined. Three days before, he was bumped into fourth in the men's downhill by an agonizing 0.07 seconds. "Horrible," said Crawford to describe the waiting games. "It's two times now I have had to do it. The downhill I ended up getting pushed (out) and feeling the sting of coming fourth, and today it was the opposite. I didn't get that same sting."

TEAM CANADA SOARS TO BRONZE

sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ won its first aerials medal since 2002 as the team of Marion Thenault of Sherbrooke, Que.; Miha Fontaine of Lac-Beauport, Que.; and Quebec City's Lewis Irving soared to bronze in the mixed aerials team event at the Zhangjiakou Genting Snow Park. The mixed event was making its Olympic debut at the Beijing Games. Irving, who has competed individually for 13 years, says there is a special feeling when you win as a team. "This has been amazing to do it with these two guys, too, is just the best feeling and I don't think I can ask for much more right now," Irving said.

WEIDEMANN HAD SCHOUTEN NERVOUS

Canadian speedskating star Isabelle Weidemann added a silver medal to the bronze she already had at the Games. The 26-year-old from Ottawa's time of six minutes 48.18 seconds in the second-to-final pairing in the women's 5,000 metres was worthy of a silver medal at the Ice Ribbon oval in Beijing. Dutchwoman Irene Schouten, who topped Weidemann's time for gold in an Olympic-record 6:43.51, said the Canadian's time had her worried going into her race. Ìý"When I saw the time of Isabelle Weidemann, I thought 'Oh s---, this is really fast,' but then I skated and felt really good. I could go faster every lap," Schouten said.

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KEEPING HIS COOL

The game was in Brad Gushue's steady hands – and his teammates never doubted him. The Canadian skip make a game-winning draw with hammer in the 10th end to defeat Norway 6-5 in men's round-robin curling play. Gushue, who won Olympic gold in 2006 in Turin, found a piece of the button with his last throw to give sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ a 2-0 record. "If I can't draw the eight-foot, I shouldn't be here," Gushue said. "That's my attitude. That's my forte. That's what I'm best at." Canadian skip Jennifer Jones opened the women's curling round-robin schedule Thursday night with a 12-7 victory over South Korea's EunJung Kim at the Ice Cube. Ìý

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 10, 2022.

The Canadian Press