After 3 Silver and 1 Bronze,Canada is close to figure skating gold
With three Silver and one bronze in their kitty Canadians have been moving up in the medals tally gradually hoping for their first gold in figure skating through veteran pair of Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir.
Pre-tournament favourites Canada also started on an impressive note by blanking Olympic Athlete Russia 5-0 in women's hockey opener.
After Silver medals by Max Parrot (men's slope style), Tad-Jan Bloemen(men's 5000 m) and Justine Dufour-Lapointe (women's Mogul) and a bronze by Morris McMorris (men's slope style), Canada's most experienced pair in figure skating has at the end of short programs, as well as the pairs free skate, have accumulated 45 points to sit six points ahead of the Olympic Athletes from Russia. The United States is currently in third place with 36 points, just one ahead of Italy.
On Sunday, Team Canada took control of the events.
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PYEONGCHANG-GUN, SOUTH KOREA - FEBRUARY 11: Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford skate during the Team Event - Pair Skating Free Skating at the PyeongChang 2018[/caption]
Team Canada Tessa Virtue Scott Moir PyeongChang 2018 team event
Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir perform during the team event ice dance short dance at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games at Gangneung Ice Arena.
True to expectations, Tressa Virtue and Scott Moir placed first in the short dance, finishing five points clear of Americans Maia and Alex Shibutani. Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev of the OAR were third ahead of Italians Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte.
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Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir perform during the team event ice dance[/caption]
Virtue and Moir scored 80. 51 for their Latin-themed short dance, which is two points under their season’s best. But they received a level two for their required rhumba pattern and a level three on their midline step sequence instead of the level four they’ve become accustomed to. However, the technical panel was tough across the board for all of the couples.
Team Canada Tessa Virtue Scott Moir PyeongChang 2018 team event
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PYEONGCHANG-GUN, SOUTH KOREA - FEBRUARY 11: Kaetlyn Osmond performance during the Team Event[/caption]
Team Canada's Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir skate in the Team Event at PyeongChang 2018.
“This is the Olympic Games. We need to be looking for the harshest panel, especially when you’re going to have the best field that we’ve had in four years. I think that it’s a good sign,” said Moir, as he and Virtue noted that doing the team event allows them a chance to learn what the technical panel is looking for ahead of their individual event next week.
“Any reaction to scores this early in the competition is just us being perfectionists, wanting to figure out how we maximize points and evaluating the performance,” Virtue said of their reactions upon seeing their scores. “We still have a big job to do tomorrowand then again next week. We’re trying not to get too ahead of ourselves, but we’re really please with that performance.”
Team Canada Kaetlyn Osmond PyeongChang 2018 team event
Kaetlyn Osmond performs during the team event women's short program at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games at Gangneung Ice Arena.
Kaetlyn Osmond was placed at third place in the women’s short program, behind two-time reigning world champion Evgenia Medvedeva from the OAR and reigning Olympic bronze medallist Carolina Kostner of Italy.
While the world silver medallist is known for her big jumps, the excitement of skating on Olympic ice again led to them getting a little too big. Somewhat out of control in the air, she managed to reign them in enough to land her triple flip-triple toe combo, although with a turn in between the two jumps which led to a drop in her execution score.
Osmond was a member of the silver medal-winning team in Sochi, but she acknowledges that she is at a much different stage of her career now.
“I was only 18 at the last Olympics. I was young and new to the international world and new to the rest of the team,” she said. “So when I was out on the ice in Sochi it was really me because I didn’t know many other people but being on a team that medalled in Sochi and knowing them ever since and being at competitions with them makes it feel more like a team this time and I think this time it will be more memorable.”
Team Canada Meagan Duhamel Eric Radford PyeongChang 2018 team event
Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford skate during the team event - pairs free skate at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games at Gangneung Ice Arena.
After the short programs were completed, the field was cut to the five countries that would compete in the free skates for the medals – Canada, OAR, United States, Italy, Japan.
First up were the pairs, including Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford. They got just the performance they were looking for: their best free skate of the season but still with something to improve upon and strive for when they compete in the pairs event in a few days. The most noticeable flaw was when Duhamel put her hand on the ice while landing the extremely difficult throw quad Salchow. They still finished first by 10 points.
Team Canada Meagan Duhamel Eric Radford PyeongChang 2018 team event
Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford skate during the Team Event - Pairs Free Skate at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games at Gangneung Ice Arena.
Duhamel and Radford were the only top contenders for the pairs podium who competed in both programs during the team event. They have to skate again on February 14 and 15, but before coming to PyeongChang they had mentally and physically prepared themselves for the workload.
“I don’t think it’s going to be a mistake if we’re standing on top of the podium tomorrow. If we go into the pairs competition and something happens if we don’t deliver our best performances, it will not be because of this team event,” said Duhamel. “We knew we had a very good chance to win gold with Team Canada in this team event and our entire team is taking it very seriously.”
The team event medals will be awarded on Monday afternoon in PyeongChang after the men, women and ice dancers compete in their free skates.
