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Turning to Day 12 of the Milano-Cortina Games, all eyes will be on the Canadian men’s hockey team for their quarterfinal game against Czechia. But Canada also has two shots at gold in short track speed skating, while snowboarding star Mark McMorris tries to grab his fourth consecutive Olympic medal.
So, let’s start our daily viewing guide with the medal chances, then preview the men’s hockey quarterfinals, Wednesday’s curling slate, and the last chance for an American star to end her podium drought.
Canadian medal chances on Wednesday
In chronological order:
Snowboarding: Mark McMorris and Cam Spalding in the men’s slopestyle final at 5:20 a.m. ET
McMorris is going for his fourth consecutive Olympic medal and hoping to upgrade from his three bronze. The 32-year-old star recently won the slopestyle competition at the Winter X Games, extending his records for golds (12) and total medals (25) at the snow-sports festival.
McMorris missed the men’s big air event at the start of the Olympics after suffering a concussion during practice. But he looked great in qualifying for the slopestyle on Sunday, posting the third-best score. Fellow Canadian Cam Spalding, the reigning World Cup champion in the slopestyle, placed fifth.
In slopestyle, riders make their way down a course tricked out with various obstacles, including rails and jumps, and are judged on the stunts they perform. For the final, each athlete does three runs, and only the best one counts. The last run goes at 6:16 a.m. ET
Canada also has two competitors in the women’s snowboard slopestyle final, which was postponed from Tuesday to Wednesday due to heavy snowfall and poor visibility in Livigno. Veteran Laurie Blouin, who won gold at the 2017 world championships and silver at the 2018 Olympics, placed ninth in qualifying while Juliette Pelchat was 12th to grab the last spot in the final.
The women’s final begins at 8:30 a.m. ET, with the last run going at 9:26 a.m. ET.
(Getty Images)
Freestyle skiing: Marion Thenault in the women’s aerials (final round at 8 a.m. ET)
In aerials, athletes ski without poles down a hill and launch themselves into the air off a steep vertical kicker. Up there, they execute a series of flips and twists and are judged on the quality of their maneuvers.
Thenault won a bronze in the mixed team event at the 2022 Olympics. She finished seventh in her solo competition in Beijing and was fifth at the world championships last year. The 25-year-old is a 13-time medallist on the World Cup circuit, including a pair of silvers this season.
China’s Xu Mengtao is favoured to win her second straight Olympic gold in her fifth appearance at the Winter Games. But the 35-year-old will have to watch out for American Kaila Kuhn, who topped Xu for the gold at the world championships last year.
Due to today’s weather issues at Livigno Snow Park, the aerialists face a gruelling day that includes qualifying and the final rounds. The top six in the first round of qualifying at 4 a.m. ET advance directly to the final, while the rest get another chance in the second qualifying round immediately after. The top six there join the 12-skier final, which begins at 7 a.m. ET and ends with the top six moving on to compete for the medals at 8 a.m. ET.
Short track: Women’s relay final at 3 p.m. ET, men’s 500m final at 3:32 p.m. ET
You’ll actually want to tune in at 2:15 p.m. ET to catch the men’s 500m quarterfinals with Canada’s Will Dandjinou, Steven Dubois and Maxime Laoun, who all won their opening-round heats on Monday.
Dubois will skate in the first quarterfinal heat, while Dandjinou and Laoun are together in the third of four groupings. The top two in each, plus the next two fastest overall, advance to the semis at 2:44 p.m. ET, where they’ll try to move on to the final about 45 minutes later.
This is Dandjinou’s last shot at an individual medal after the back-to-back World Cup overall champion missed the podium in the 1,000m and 1,500m. The frenetic 500 is the only distance he hasn’t medalled in at the world championships. But, on the World Tour this season, Dandjinou won three of the four races and finished second in the other.
Dubois took bronze in this event at the 2022 Olympics, upgraded to silver at the 2023 world championships, then won the world title last year. The 28-year-old won a pair of 500m bronze on the World Tour this season. Laoun is not expected to contend for a medal.
The favourite is Dutchman Jens van ‘t Wout, who can complete a sweep of the men’s individual golds.
In the women’s relay final, Canada will try to stop the Netherlands from winning its fifth straight short track gold at these Games. The Dutch team includes Xandra Velzeboer, who has won both women’s solo events so far.
But Canada’s Courtney Sarault is having a terrific Olympics too. She can win her fourth medal in four events after taking silvers in the 1,000m and the mixed relay and bronze in the 500m. The Beast from the East (she’s from Moncton) executed a brilliant pass during her anchor leg in the women’s relay semis to send Canada to the four-team final.
Sarault’s three medals so far have earned her a total of $55,000 from Canada’s bonus funds. But, if she were Italian, she’d be nearly $400K richer, writes Chris Jones.
Other stuff to watch on Wednesday
Men’s hockey quarterfinals: Canada vs. Czechia at 10:40 a.m. ET
Czechia beat Denmark 3-2 in the opening round of the playoffs today with a goal and an assist by Colorado Avalanche forward Martin Necas, setting up a rematch with top-seeded Canada. The Canadians blanked the Czechs 5-0 last week en route to winning Group A with a perfect 3-0 record to earn a bye to the quarterfinals.
Star forward Nathan MacKinnon and lower-end option Sam Bennett missed Canada’s practice today, but both are expected to be available for the quarterfinal. MacKinnon took a hit to the chin during Canada’s 10-2 blowout of France on Sunday and was favouring his knee at the end of the game.
A Hockey Canada staffer told reporters that MacKinnon and Bennett were simply taking a “maintenance” day, and general manager Doug Armstrong said on TV that “all indications are they’ll be ready to go.”
Meanwhile, defenceman Josh Morrissey was a full participant in practice after missing the last two games due to an unspecified injury in the opener against Czechia. Veteran forward Brad Marchand is also available after missing the last two games with an undisclosed issue, but it’s unclear whether the 37-year-old will play. “Coming in [to the tournament] I didn’t think I would be in the lineup,” Marchand said. “I thought I would be an extra guy and be a voice, and try to be loud and obnoxious in the room… I’m just so proud and honoured to be part of this group.”
The other three quarterfinals also take place Wednesday. It’s Slovakia vs. Germany at 6:10 a.m. ET, Finland vs. Switzerland at 12:10 p.m. ET and the United States vs. Sweden at 3:10 p.m. ET.
The Swedes could be a tough out for the second-seeded Americans after pounding Latvia 5-1 today with goals by NHL standouts William Nylander, Filip Forsberg, Mika Zibanejad, Adrian Kempe and Gabriel Landeskog. In the other first-round games today, Germany beat France 5-1 (Edmonton Oilers star Leon Draisaitl scored his second goal of the tournament) and Switzerland blanked Italy 3-0.
For the semifinals on Friday, the highest remaining seed will play the lowest remaining seed. As the top two seeds, Canada and the U.S. can not meet until the gold-medal game.
Curling: Canada vs. Italy x 2
After clinching a spot in the medal rounds today, the second-place Canadian men’s team (6-1) faces fourth-place Italy (4-3) at 8:05 a.m. ET. Brad Jacobs’ squad will then close out the preliminary stage on Thursday against third-place Norway (4-3).
Rachel Homan’s resurgent Canadian women’s team (4-3) goes for their fourth straight win against Italy (2-5) at 1:05 p.m. ET. That will set up a potentially huge round-robin finale on Thursday against South Korea, which is currently tied with Canada for the fourth and final playoff spot.
The “double-touching” controversy that dogged Canada last week seems to have subsided. But here’s an explainer on whether Canadian players were really cheating.
Alpine skiing: Last chance for Shiffrin in the women’s slalom
American star Mikaela Shiffrin heads into the final alpine event of these Games with zero medals in her last eight Olympic races. She went 0-6 in 2022 in Beijing, and in Cortina so far she’s finished 11th in the giant slalom and fourth in the team combined. In the latter, Shiffrin’s teammate Breezy Johnson handed her the lead after the downhill, but the all-time leader in World Cup slalom and total wins blew it with a shocking 15th-place showing in her leg.
Still, the slalom is Shiffrin’s specialty – 71 of her 108 World Cup wins have come in this discipline, including seven victories in eight starts this season.
The top Canadian is Laurence St-Germain. She’s currently ranked 19th in the World Cup slalom standings, but in 2023 she upset Shiffrin to win the world championship in France.
The first run starts at 4 a.m. ET, and the final run is at 7:30 a.m. ET. The two runs are added together to determine each skier’s overall time.
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