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For the first time in history Canada leads the total Olympic medal count. There’s no other way of putting it, Canada is off to a great start. They’re also leading the pack in terms of gold medals, so no matter how you rank it at the moment they are #1.
The Netherlands continued to rake in the medals in the speed skating events, something the Dutch are notorious for excelling at; They’ve taken home 7 of the 9 medals awarded in speed skating so far. One of the most interesting stories of the day was the 1-3 finish in the 500m event by Dutch brothers Michel and Ronald Mulder. If it’s wearing orange, odds are it’s going to medal in speed skating.
Canadian athletes kept the momentum train going as well, by taking home 3 medals, including two of the gold variety. Once again we saw a Canadian take home gold on the moguls, and a familiar face took the top spot on the short track.
In hockey news Canada faced off versus Finland. Early struggles led to a relatively easy 3-0 win, on the back of a 42-14 shot advantage, and goals from Rebecca Johnston, Jayna Hefford and Meghan Agosta. The other game yesterday featured a 9-0 thrashing of the Swiss at the hands of the Americans.
Photo credit: Loic Venance AFP Charles Hamelin struck gold in the men’s 1500M short-track speed skating event, notching his third gold medal in his Olympic history. His 2:14.985 was good enough to hold off China’s Tianyu Han (2:15.055) and Russia’s Victor An (2:15.062). Hamelin has three more events to go, and he’s expected to threaten for more medals, as short distances are his specialty. As it stands Hamelin’s three gold medals are a Canadian record at the Olympic Games,. The best news is that the 1500M isn’t even Hamelin’s strongest event. He’ll also looked to challenge for a medal in the team 5000M relay event.
The next crop of medals came from the men’s moguls, where several Canadians were in contention going into the finals, and Canada threatened to sweep the podium. 4 of the top 6 qualifying runs came from Canadians. The men would be looking to match the women’s fantastic performance from the day before.
Photo credit: Richard Lautens – Toronto Star 2010 gold medal winner Alexandre Bilodeau repeated his first place finish from Vancouver and earned Canada a second gold medal on the day. Fellow Canadian Mikael Kingsbury took home the silver medal, and Marc-Antoine Gagnon finished fourth.
Bilodeau immediately shared the moment with his brother Frederick, and re-created one of the greatest Canadian moments in Winter Olympics history. There’s a special bond between Alexandre and his brother; NBC covered their uplifting story in a segment.
You can check out Bilodeau’s gold medal winning run here.
In other news the Canadian men’s hockey team participated in their first practice yesterday, ahead of their opening match versus Norway on Thursday.
Here is the schedule for today’s action, including curling, women’s hockey, luge, speed skating, and more.
