Olympic roundup: What Canada did on Day 4
Last Updated: Tuesday, February 16, 2010 | 2:20 AM ET
By John Molinaro, CBC Sports
Another day, another medal for Canada at the Vancouver Olympics.
Mike Robertson of Canmore, Alta., claimed silver in the men's snowboard cross event Monday to bring Canada's overall tally to four medals at the Winter Games.
Robertson, 24, spent much of Monday afternoon staring down an empty mountain as the lead racer, until American Seth Wescott overtook him late in the final to edge him out for Olympic gold.
Robertson had jumped out ahead in each of his first three heats, never relinquishing first place.
In the final at Cypress Mountain, Robertson again took the early lead, with 2006 gold-medallist Wescott, 33, close behind.
The two boarders were centimetres apart through the middle portion of the race, with Robertson jumping ahead in the late going. But Wescott caught up on the final turn, passing the Canadian to finish first.
"I definitely made a mistake at the bottom, and he capitalized. And he's the winner now, and I'm second," Robertson said. "But I can't complain. Second's amazing."
Fagan places 5th
Robert Fagan of Cranbrook, B.C., finished fifth overall after winning the consolation race. François Boivin of Jonquière, Que., and Drew Neilson of North Vancouver finished fourth in their quarter-final races and did not advance.
Also on Monday, the men's downhill ski race finally took place after being postponed on the weekend due to weather conditions.
On a disappointing day for Canadian skiers, unheralded Swiss veteran Didier Defago shook off the delay to win gold, edging out more recognizable foes Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway and Bode Miller of the U.S. on the medal stand.
The Canadian team, which harboured medal aspirations on home snow, couldn't crack the podium. Erik Guay of Mont-Tremblant, Que., finished fifth, 33-100ths of a second behind Defago.
Canada's top contender, Manuel Osborne-Paradis of North Vancouver, finished a distant 17th.
The world's third-ranked downhiller matched Defago's pace at the top of the hill, but was one of several skiers to lose significant time in the bottom sections and wound up 1.13 seconds behind.
Jan Hudec of Calgary finished 25th, 1.88 seconds slower than Defago.
Robbie Dixon of Whistler, B.C., crashed out early in his run. Dixon didn't appear injured, getting to his feet and leaving the course under his own power.
It was also a disappointing day for Canadian speedskater Jeremy Wotherspoon, who fell short of the podium in his final attempt to win Olympic gold in the 500 metres.
After his first skate of 35.09 seconds, he was in fifth position heading into the second race Monday night. He finally took to the ice after competition was delayed 1½ hours because of problems with the ice surface.
In his second run, Wotherspoon finished in 35.18, putting him ninth overall with a combined time of 70.28.
Most decorated
Wotherspoon, from Red Deer, Alta., is the most decorated 500-metre speedskater in World Cup history, but has never won Olympic gold.
Edmonton's Jamie Gregg finished eighth, at 70.26. Racing in his final Olympic race, 36-year-old Mike Ireland finished 16th in a combined time of 70.63 seconds.
Kyle Parrott, a 24-year-old rising speedskating star from Minnedosa, Man., rounded out the Canadian men in 21st position, with a final time of 71.34.
In the figure-skating pairs competition, Canadians Bryce Davison and Jessica Dubé, skating to Marvin Hamlisch's The Way We Were, finished sixth after scoring 121.75 in the free skate, for a total of 187.11.
Canada's other team of Cody Hay and Annabelle Langlois, who train in Barrie, Ont., were also shaky.
Langlois fell hard on a side-by-side triple Salchow early in the program, and the pair never really got into a groove. They dropped to ninth place, scoring 115.77 in the free skate for a personal-best total of 179.97.
Other Canadian results from Monday:
- Cross-country skiing, men's 15-kilometre freestyle — Ivan Babikov of Canmore, Alta., finished eighth overall (34:30.0); Alex Harvey of St-Ferreol-les-Neiges, Que., was 21st (34:55.6); George Grey of Rossland, B.C., was 29th (35:13.0); and Gordon Jewett of Canmore, Alta., was 52nd (36:17.9).
- Cross-country skiing, women's 10K freestyle — Madeleine Williams of Canmore, Alta., finished 51st in 27:43.6.
- Women's hockey — Meghan Agosta scored two goals and Hayley Wickenheiser added a goal and two assists as Canada cruised to a 10-1 win over Switzerland.
- Luge, women's singles — Regan Lauscher of Red Deer, Alta., placed 20th overall with a combined time of 1:24.65. Calgarians Alex Gough (1:24.686) and Meaghan Simister (1:25.021) finished 22nd and 25th, respectively.
