Olympic roundup: What Canada did on Day 7
Last Updated: Friday, February 19, 2010 | 3:22 AM ET
By Chris Iorfida, Tim Wharnsby and John F. Molinaro, CBC Sports
Canada struck gold for the third time Thursday in Vancouver.
Christine Nesbitt captured Canada's first speedskating gold medal of the Winter Olympics at the Richmond Oval, winning the women's 1,000 metres.
The London, Ont., native used a ferocious finish to cross in a time of one minute 16.56 seconds, just 2-100ths of a second ahead of her main World Cup rival, Annette Gerritsen of the Netherlands.
Laurine van Riessen took bronze in 1:16.72, one of four Dutch skaters in the top eight. Kristina Groves of Ottawa, who won bronze in the 3,000 earlier in the Games, was fourth. Groves was just 6-100ths off the podium.
Winnipeg natives Shannon Rempel and Brittany Schussler were 21st and 25th, respectively.
The result gives Canada three gold medals, three silvers and one bronze at the Games.
Nesbitt had won all four World Cup races this season at the distance and holds the Richmond Oval record, but it appeared that Gerritsen may have set the standard.
Has skated better
But the 24-year-old Canadian poured it on in the penultimate pairing with Monique Angermuller of Germany.
"It wasn't pretty, I know it wasn't pretty and I've skated a lot better 1,000s this year, so it's hard for me not to be critical because that's how I've improved," said Nesbitt.
Also on Thursday, the Canadian men's Olympic hockey team gave the country cause for concern after a narrow escape against Switzerland.
The Canadians survived a scare in their second game of the tournament only because Sidney Crosby fired in a wrist shot on his second shootout attempt to push Canada to a 3-2 victory in front of 17,019 relieved fans at Canada Hockey Place.
Even though this was only Canada's second outing at the Vancouver Olympics and it has two wins, there will likely be plenty of disparagement directed at Team Canada.
"To go through that desperation and tight hockey, we're going to have to get better as we move forward," Crosby said. "The gold-medal game isn't tomorrow, and that's the good news."
In men's figure skating, Toronto's Patrick Chan led the free skate before the final flight of strong skaters and finished fifth. The 19-year-old had a better free skate than short program, but some mistakes kept him out of the medals.
"I wish I had one more Olympics under my belt before I came here, this is kind of an overwhelming first Olympics," Chan said. "In the end, that's why I'm looking at Sochi (Russia in 2014) and see how that goes, but it's a long way.
"But I overcame this, this is like Mount Everest. I can overcome this, I can overcome anything else."
Edmonton's Vaughn Chipeur was 23rd.
Other Canadian results from Thursday:
Women's skeleton — Mellisa Hollingsworth of Airdrie, Alta., sits third after two runs with a combined time of one minute 48.35 seconds. Amy Gough of Abbotsford, B.C., is seventh (1:48.92) and Michelle Kelly of Calgary 13th (1:50.22). The final is scheduled for Friday.
Men's skeleton — Jon Montgomery of Russell, Man., sits second after two runs with a combined time of 1:45.17. Michael Douglas of Kleinburg, Ont., is seventh (1:45.87) and Jeff Pain of Calgary is 10th (1:46.21). The final is scheduled for Friday.
Men's curling — Kevin Martin's Canadian rink defeated Sweden 7-3 and beat France 12-5 to improve to 4-0.
Women's curling — Cheryl Bernard's Canadian rink defeated Germany 6-5 to improve to 3-0.
Women's biathlon, 15K individual — Megan Tandy of Prince George, B.C., finished 50th with a time of 46:04.3 and two missed targets. Megan Imrie of Falcon Lake, Man., was 62nd (47:05.8 and three misses), Zina Kocher of Red Deer, Alta., was 72nd (48:19.3 and one miss), and Rosanna Crawford of Canmore, Alta., was 76th (49:22.1 and three misses).
Men's biathlon, 20K individual — Quebec City's Jean Philippe Leguellec was 13th with a time of 50:47.1 and two missed targets.
Alpine skiing, women's super-combined — Shona Rubens of Canmore, Alta., finished 12th with a combined time of 2:12.58. Emily Brydon of Fernie, B.C., was 14th at 2:12.76.
Snowboarding, women's halfpipe — Mercedes Nicoll of Whistler, B.C., finished sixth after posting a 34.3-point run in the final. Sarah Conrad of Dartmouth, N.S., was 12th in the semifinals (21.4) and did not advance. Palmer Taylor of Collingwood, Ont., did not advance after finishing 26th in qualifying (13.7).
