Good morning and afternoon! Canada nabbed its first two medals of the Games on Saturday morning: Olympic veteran Mikaël Kingsbury won silver in men’s moguls, while speed skater Isabelle Weidemann won bronze in the 3,000 metre.
Gold medallist Walter Wallberg of Sweden (C), silver medallist Mikael Kingsbury of Canada (L) and bronze medallist Ikuma Horishima of Japan pose during the flowers ceremony after the men's moguls final on Feb. 5, 2022.DYLAN MARTINEZ/Reuters
Here’s what happened this morning and overnight:
- Canadian freestyle skier Mikael Kingsbury, the defending champion, settled for silver in moguls after being upset by Sweden’s Walter Wallberg on Saturday.
- Isabelle Weidemann won Canada its first medal with her bronze finish in the 3000-metre race on Saturday.
- Canada’s women’s hockey team blasted Finland in an 11-1 win. Canada plays Russia on Monday and then caps the preliminary round Tuesday against the United States.
Fan Kexin of China and Martina Valcepina of Italy in action as Florence Brunelle of Canada and Petra Jaszapati of Hungary crash during the short track speedskating mixed team relay event on Feb. 5, 2022.TOBY MELVILLE/Reuters
- A penalty for pushing cost Canada a medal in the mixed short-track speedskating relay final on Saturday at the Winter Olympics.
- Canadian figure skater Keegan Messing is en route to Beijing after being in COVID-19 limbo. Messing had been stuck in Vancouver since testing positive for COVID-19 prior to the team’s flight to the 2022 Winter Olympics.
- The U.S. leads the team figure skating event after Friday, and Nathan Chen stole the spotlight. Meanwhile, U.S. speed skating star Brittany Bowe is having quite an Olympics — before she even hits ice.
- Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei had strong words on Friday for everyone from China to the World Health Organization to Western countries for being “hypocritical” when it comes to defending human rights, in an interview with the Associated Press.
- As many Western nations diplomatically boycott the Winter Games over China’s treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, a Uyghur athlete was one of two final torchbearers at opening ceremony.
Where Canada (and the rest of the world) stands
Globe on the ground
James Griffiths reports from an opening ceremony that was short on world leaders (excluding Putin), relatively quick, but still, somehow, spectacular.
Meanwhile, Cathal Kelly also went to the opening ceremony – and all he got was a wave of nostalgia for the magical way these events used to play out.
The Olympics are about us. How we see ourselves, how we match up against our friends and enemies, how our lives have changed in four-year increments. There was a small window when the people who put on an opening ceremony got that. Their goal was to delight and uplift. When people gave speeches, it felt like they were talking to the inhabitants of the real world, not the other phonies inside the Olympic beltway. That’s over.
— Cathal Kelly
Keegan Messing, one of Canada’s best shots at a medal in figure skating, has finally boarded a plane on his way to Beijing after a positive COVID test delayed his departure and threatened his Olympic trip.
It’s Marie-Philip Poulin’s fourth Olympics, her second as captain of the women’s ice hockey team, and as “Captain Clutch,” she has plenty of experience going up against adversity and coming out on top.
Marty Klinkenberg writes about the Canadian men’s hockey team, which is a very different version than the one fans were hoping for before the NHL pulled its participation last month.
What’s on today and tomorrow
Saturday, Feb. 5
8:30 p.m. ET Figure skating, mixed team, qualification – women’s short program
8:30 p.m. ET Snowboard, women’s slopestyle, final 🥇
10 p.m. ET Alpine skiing, men’s downhill 🥇
10:50 p.m. ET Figure skating, mixed team, final – men’s free program
11:30 p.m. ET Snowboard, men’s slopestyle, qualification
Sunday, Feb. 6
1:05 a.m. ET Curling, mixed doubles, round robin, Canada vs. Czech Republic
2:00 a.m. ET Cross-country skiing, men’s 2x15km skiathlon 🥇
3:30 a.m. ET Speed skating, men’s 5000m 🥇
5:00 a.m. ET Freestyle skiing, women’s moguls, qualification 2
6:00 a.m. ET Ski jumping, men’s individual, normal hill, 1st round
6:30 a.m. ET Freestyle skiing, women’s moguls, final 🥇
6:30 a.m. ET Luge, men’s single, run 3
7:00 a.m. ET Ski jumping, men’s individual, normal hill, final round 🥇
7:05 a.m. ET Curling, mixed doubles, round robin, Canada vs. Australia
8:15 a.m. ET Luge, men’s single, run 4
8:05 p.m. ET Curling, mixed doubles, round robin, Canada vs. Italy
8:15 p.m ET Figure skating, mixed team, final - pairs’ free program
8:30 p.m. ET Freestyle skiing, women’s big air, qualification
9:15 p.m. ET Alpine skiing, women’s giant slalom, run 1
9:30 p.m. ET Figure skating, mixed team, final - free dance
10:35 p.m. ET Figure skating, mixed team, final - women’s free program 🥇
11:00 p.m. ET Snowboard, men’s slopestyle, final 🥇
11:10 p.m. ET Women’s ice hockey, Canada vs. ROC
The Globe has put together an Olympics primer, including the key athletes and teams, important events and when to watch. You can check it out (and keep it bookmarked) here.
COVID-19 and the Games
- The owners of Quebec-based sanitation company Proaxion didn’t set out to be Olympic cleaners, but star athletes and their support staff call for some serious scrubbing. After working the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics (where members of Team Canada were largely spared from an outbreak of norovirus), Proaxion is in Beijing to sanitize and disinfect the spaces used by the athletes and staff according to COVID-19 protocols.
- China has detected 45 new cases of COVID-19 among Olympic Games related personnel on Feb. 4, the organizing committee of the Beijing 2022 Winter Games said.
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As seen at the Games:
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