After being shut out on Sunday, Canadian athletes bounced back with panache on Monday at the Beijing Winter Games. They won their first gold medal thanks to a performance that rewarded the tenacity and courage of a Quebec athlete and wrote a page in the history of Canadian Olympism in a discipline that has never flown very high in country.
Canada concluded Day 3 with four medals, including three bronze. The other, in gold, ended up around the neck of Bromontois Maxence Parrot, author of a score of 90.96 points during his second run in slopestyle.
Parrot’s triumph is that of an athlete who, exactly three years ago, had to fight against Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The fight was tough for the snowboarder, but he came out of it stronger, he said.
“I’m much stronger mentally, especially after my battle with cancer. Going through 12 chemotherapy treatments in six months makes you stronger,” said Parrot, who won the silver in Pyeongchang.
Parrot had company on the podium as Mark McMorris claimed bronze with a score of 88.53 points.
For his part, Quebecer Sébastien Toutant could not do better than ninth place, with a score of 54.00 points.
The other feat of the day was the work of the ski jumping quartet who won the bronze medal in the mixed team event. Before the Beijing Games, Canada had never reached the podium in any event in ski jumping.
On Monday, a spectacular leap by Mackenzie Boyd-Clowes, from a distance of 101.5 meters, earned him a score of 128.1 points. As a result, the 30-year-old Torontonian and his compatriots Alexandria Loutitt, Matthew Soukup and Abigail Strate completed the competition with 844.6 points, behind Slovenia (1001.5) and the Russian Olympic Committee (890.3).
“I’ve been in the sport for 23 years and I’ve yet to see ski jumping gain momentum in Canada. Hopefully it will spark something,” Boyd-Clowes said.
“It gives us a chance to save our sport,” added Loutitt, about the possible repercussions of this achievement.
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Canada also earned a bronze medal in short track speed skating thanks to Kim Boutin, who clocked 42.724 seconds in the 500-metre sprint grand final.
The 27-year-old Sherbrookoise reached a fourth Olympic podium after her three medals in Pyeongchang. In South Korea, she also won bronze in the 500 meters.
Boutin’s performance probably consoled many in the Canadian delegation, especially after Quebec’s Pascal Dion, the leader in the World Cup event, suffered a fall in the quarter-finals of the 1000 meter race.
Before him, Jordan Pierre-Gilles, the only other Canadian entered in the event, had been disqualified for causing contact.
In addition, Quebecer Florence Brunelle was penalized in the quarter-finals for causing contact that led to the fall of her compatriot Alyson Charles. The latter was able to participate in the semi-finals, but she eventually had to settle for a third place in the B final.
In addition, Ontario’s Megan Oldham distinguished herself during the qualifications for the women’s freestyle ski jump event. The 20-year-old posted a qualifying-best combined score of 171.25 to earn his ticket to the event final on Tuesday.
She will be accompanied there by 17-year-old Quebecer Olivia Asselin, who finished qualifying in 11th place.
In women’s hockey, Canada earned a third straight preliminary round win, defeating Russia 6-1 in a game that started more than an hour late and in which players from both teams had to wear a mask. On Tuesday, Canada (3-0) and USA (3-0) will face off for top spot in Group A.
Fallen Canada (repeat)
The day got off to a bad start for Canada, which failed to defend two titles won in Pyeongchang in 2018.
This was particularly the case in mixed curling, where Canadians Rachel Homan and John Morris squandered a 7-5 lead after seven sets against Italy to eventually lose 8-7 in extra sets.
This loss left Canada (5-4) with an identical record to that of Sweden, but which was favored by the tiebreaker.
As a result, the two Canadians finished in fifth place at the end of the preliminary round while the first four tandems qualified for the elimination round.
Canada also failed to defend its Olympic title in the team event in figure skating. Despite Ontarian Madeline Schizas’ third-place finish in the free program, Canada finished the competition in fourth place with a total of 53 points, 10 behind Japan, who won the bronze medal.
Canada also had a tough day in the women’s giant slalom.
Quebecer Valérie Grenier snatched one of the last gates of the track during her first run and she was disqualified from the competition.
The other Canadian in the running, Cassidy Gray, was also disqualified in the first run.
In the women’s 15 km individual biathlon, the best Canadian was Megan Bankes, 33rd. Sarah Beaudry finished 80th.
In long track speed skating, Ivanie Blondin took 13th place and Maddison Pearman was 24th in the women’s 1,500 metres.