Canada can still hope to defend its Olympic gold medal in mixed doubles curling, but the task promises to be almost impossible in team figure skating.
After splitting the honors in their first two mixed doubles matches on Thursday, the Canadian duo of John Morris and Rachel Homan scored two wins on Friday to tie with Great Britain for second place in the tournament standings. in the round with a 3-1 record.
Morris of Canmore, Alta., and Homan of Ottawa started the day with a 7-5 win over Switzerland. The Canadians scored three runs in the first set and had the right answer every time the Swiss duo of Jenny Perret and Martin Rios looked to close the gap.
They followed that up with an 8-6 win over hosts China. Homan and Morris held a 4-1 lead after a two-run steal in the third inning and held an 8-4 lead going into the eighth and final inning.
In team figure skating, Canada sits sixth after the first three events and faces early elimination from a competition it won at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.
A team already lacking in depth due to the absence of Keegan Messing, held back in Canada pending two more negative COVID-19 tests.
Roman Sadovsky, a 22-year-old Torontonian, replaced Messing in the men’s short program but had a shaky performance and finished eighth out of nine skaters.
Sadovsky landed his quadruple Salchow poorly to finish with 71.06 points.
“Honestly, it’s a little disappointing,” Sadovsky said. Only because those are mistakes I don’t usually make. The quad Salchow is a routine jump for me. I did very well this season. There was just a slight problem on takeoff which did not allow me to complete it well. »
First medals to watch on Saturday
On this day of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Games, some preliminary training and competitions were on the program. The first medals will be awarded on Saturday, notably in the men’s moguls event, where defending champion Mikaël Kingsbury, from Deux-Montagnes, is the favorite.
Practice for the Canadian men’s hockey team has been cancelled. Hockey Canada said the late afternoon session would have made it difficult for players to attend the opening ceremony. The team is scheduled to hold its first practice on Saturday as it prepares for Thursday’s game against Germany.
Morris chose not to join his fellow Olympians at the ceremony.
“To be honest with you, I’d much rather watch TV, drink a beer and play cards,” he said. So that’s what I’m doing today. »
On Saturday, Morris and Homan will look to build on their momentum in games against Sweden and the United States.
In alpine skiing, Broderick Thompson of Whistler, BC put in a solid performance on the second men’s training run. He finished third, 0.20 seconds behind Norwegian leader Aleksander Aamodt Kilde.
Thompson’s teammate Brodie Seger crashed while negotiating a turn. Seger slid down the track, brushing the safety nets, but he avoided serious injury.
“I consider myself lucky. I have a little sore thumb, but that’s all. I can ski with it,” said Seger.
A third training run is scheduled for Saturday, with the event taking place on Sunday.
In luge, Reid Watts of Whistler was 18th in the fifth and sixth practice runs. The first two rounds of the competition will take place on Saturday.