Pique 2022 Winter Olympic Blog: February 18
If sharing an Olympic podium isn’t friendship goals, I don’t know what is 🇨🇦
There’s certainly no shortage of excitement (or drama) to kick off this weekend, whether you’re talking downtown Ottawa or the figure skating venue of Beijing.
But for our purposes, let’s focus on the positives.—especially another medal on returning to Sea to Sky!
Last night, the podium in the women’s halfpipe ski event turned into a Canadian sandwich, as described by gold medalist Eileen Gu of China. Squamish’s Cassie Sharpe went massive and had three solid runs—which included a pair of 1080s on each side of the pipe—to follow up his gold medal in 2018 with a silver medal this time around. Less than a year after tearing his ACL at the X Games and undergoing major reconstructive surgery to fix it, NBD. Meanwhile, her teammate and training partner Rachael Karker, of Erin, Ont. stomped on her races to win bronze in her Olympic debut.
.@CassieSharpe fixed it in the women’s halfpipe ski at #Beijing2022 to earn money 🥈
This comes just two months after returning to competition following a major knee operation 🤯
Check it out on @CBCOlympics ⤵️
pic.twitter.com/l3mpAToxmI— Team Canada (@TeamCanada) February 18, 2022
If getting on an Olympic podium together isn’t a goal of friendship, I don’t know what is.
Rachael Karker joins her teammate @CassieSharpe on the podium at #Beijing2022 🥉
Check out their special moment after Karker’s last race 🤗❤️
🎥: @CBCOlympics
pic.twitter.com/t9LKxLifIB— Team Canada (@TeamCanada) February 18, 2022
Fingers crossed, Canada’s luck in the halfpipe continues for tonight’s men’s event, which is scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m. PST. Locals will be cheering on three Canadian skiers who are expected to compete, including Simon d’Artois of Whistler. He is the highest-ranked Canadian heading into the event after finishing qualifying in fifth place. Not far behind him are teammates Noah Bowman in seventh and Brendan Mackay in eighth.
Canada also picked up a few other medals yesterday, including a silver for speed skater Laurent Dubreuil in the men’s 1,000 meters and a bronze for curlers Brad Gushue and his team, who beat the Americans to earn their place on the podium.
In the men’s ski cross event on Thursday night, 2018 Olympic champion Brady Leman was the top-ranked Canadian. He placed sixth overall, having crossed the finish line second in the small final.
The Canadians will also be back in action on the sliding track tonight, as the four-man bobsleigh event kicks off its first two of four runs at 5:30 p.m. PST. The two-woman bobsleds will return to the track for their third and fourth runs starting at 4:00 a.m. PST.
Just one day away from the Olympics, Canada is in 11th place overall with a total of 24 medals: four gold, seven silver and 13 bronze. There have been ups and downs for sure, but watching local athletes do what they do best on the biggest stage in the world is always something special.
