BEIJING — The Canadian women’s hockey team will be looking to punch its ticket to the gold-medal game Monday at the Beijing Winter Olympics. Additionally, Canadians could make a podium push in a couple of freestyle skiing events, and the ice dance competition will crown a champion.
Here are five things to watch at the Beijing Olympics on Monday, Feb. 14.
Canada’s women’s hockey team playing for a spot in the gold-medal game
The Canadian women’s hockey team can reach its seventh straight gold-medal game if the team beats Switzerland in the semifinals on Monday. Canada has been in every gold-medal game — winning four of them — since women's hockey was introduced as an official Olympic event in 1998. The United States will meet Finland in the other semifinal contest Monday. The U.S. will be looking to make its sixth gold-medal game.
Oldham looking to land on podium after just missing
Twenty-year-old Megan Oldham barely missed out on a podium finish on Day 4 of the Beijing Games when she finished fourth in the women’s freestyle skiing big air event. On Monday, she’ll get a second shot at an Olympic medal competing in the slopestyle finals. Oldham won slopestyle bronze at the Winter X Games in Aspen earlier this year. She also won bronze in the event at the 2021 freestyle world ski championships.
Canadian medal hopeful in women’s aerials
Marion Thénault of Sherbrooke, Que., who won bronze with her teammates Miha Fontaine and Lewis Irving in the mixed aerials event, will be looking for another podium finish on Monday in the women’s individual aerials finals. Thénault, 21, is a converted gymnast who, just four years ago, wasn't even skiing.
Ice dance concludes with free dance
The Olympic ice dance competition will conclude on Monday with the free dance. The Canadian pair of Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier, currently the No. 4 ranked team in the world, are expected to make a strong podium push. Canada has won an Olympic ice dance medal in three straight Games coming into Beijing. The now-retired pair of Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir won two golds and a silver between 2010 and 2018.
Historic first-ever monobob medals to be handed out
The first-ever medals in the all-new women’s-only Olympic monobob event will be handed out Monday. Canada is anticipated to push toward the podium with both Cynthia Appiah and Christine de Bruin, the Nos. 3 and 4 ranked monobobbers this season, competing in the event.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 12, 2022.
The Canadian Press
