Every afternoon, Olympic enthusiast Drew Berner tracks the talking points from the the day’s competitions. Here’s our recap of day twelve at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games.
All Downhill for Canada’s Bobsledders
Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse battled their way to bobsledding glory for the second straight time Wednesday, successfully defending the gold medal they earned in Vancouver’s 2010 Games. They sat in second after Tuesday’s first two runs, trailing the American duo of Elana Meyers and Lauryn Williams by two-tenths of a second, but they made up the ground and then some to take a tenth-of-a-second lead on their fourth run. Meyers and Williams will take home the silver medal while Americans Aja Evans and Jamie Greubel won bronze. Canada’s gold breaks a streak of four straight silvers and is the first taste of gold in more than a week.
Canada’s Curlers Cruise to Gold Medal Match
Jennifer Jones is a perfect 10—that is, 10 wins, no losses and a berth in the gold medal game. Jones led her squad to an early lead against a strong British team, stretching out a 3-0 lead in the first two ends and never looking back. Meanwhile, Brad Jacobs’s quartet have put their early struggles behind them, winning their seventh straight match—a dominant 10-6 rout of China—and earning their own place in the gold medal round. Jacobs faces off against Great Britain on Friday while Jones takes a shot at history, hoping to defeat Sweden on Thursday and become the first women’s skip to run the table at the Olympics and finish with a flawless record and a gold medal.
Latvian Wall a Nightmare for Team Canada
Even a trip to the men’s hockey semifinals won’t allow Team Canada to rest easy tonight, their slumber plagued by nightmares of a goaltender named Kristers Gudlevskis. The Latvian keeper defied fate, physics and all logic to stop 55 shots and keep Canada locked in a 1-1 tie until Shea Weber scored with just seven minutes left in the third. Weber’s goal—his third of the tournament—was the seventh from a Canadian defenseman, accounting for more than half the team’s scoring output so far. Hopefully Team Canada’s forwards will find their scoring touch in time for Friday’s semifinal match against the powerhouse American squad, who beat Czech Republic 5-2 in their quarterfinal.
Team Russia had their hopes dashed earlier Wednesday in a 3-1 loss to Finland, a disaster that had the Russian coach daring the press to ‘eat me alive,’ while Sweden shut out a much less melodramatic Slovenian team 5-0 to advance to the semifinals.
The Couple That Wins Together…
It’s a rare sight to see siblings share the podium like Justine and Chloe Dufour-Lapointe did win women’s moguls, but it may be even less common for a husband and wife to each win medals at the same Games, let alone within minutes of each other. Russian Alena Zavarzina took bronze in women’s snowboarding parallel giant slalom just before her husband Vic Wild—who was born in America but competes for Russia—won gold in the same event. Zavarzina was even able to meet her man at the finish line so the two could celebrate together. Nice moments: they aren’t just for Canadian athletes anymore.
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