What to watch in Olympic sports this weekend
Canadian moguls star Kingsbury eyes double gold in Quebec
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Olympic sports viewing guide: The countdown to Beijing is on
The opening ceremony for the Winter Olympics is exactly four weeks from today. Several Canadian medal contenders are competing this weekend — while at the same time trying desperately to dodge COVID-19 so they don't jeopardize their eligibility to compete in China. Here's your guide to who and what to watch:
Canadian figure skating championships
This year's event, which is being held without spectators in Ottawa, doubles as the final audition for the Olympic team. Canada has earned three entries in the ice dance event in Beijing, two in both pairs and men's singles, and one in women's singles. Canada will also compete in the team event. The senior nationals, which take place today and tomorrow, will help decide who gets to fill those spots.
Unfortunately, Canada's Olympic medal chances don't look great. Several medal winners from 2018 hung up their blades — including ice dance gods Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir — and the program is still trying to rebuild. Canada's best hope for the podium in Beijing is the dance duo of Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier. They took bronze at the world championships last March and were the only Canadians to qualify for this season's Grand Prix Final, which ended up getting cancelled.
Competition in Ottawa opened this afternoon with Madeline Schizas placing first in the women's short skate. The ice dance began at 2:45 p.m. ET and will be followed by the pairs short at 5:30 p.m. ET and the men's short at 6:50 p.m. ET. Watch them all live here. The free skates begin Saturday at 10:30 a.m. ET.
Freestyle skiing — moguls
Canadian star Mikaël Kingsbury seemed like a slam dunk for his 10th consecutive World Cup title after winning the season opener in Finland. But Japan's Ikuma Horishima stunned everyone by winning the next two events to seize top spot in the men's standings. This puts Kingsbury in the unusual position of having to actually fight for his World Cup crown, and adds a much-needed dash of drama to the moguls GOAT's quest to repeat as Olympic champion.
Kingsbury came out swinging today on his home turf at Mont-Tremblant, Que., winning the gold medal. Horishima took bronze. They'll tangle again Saturday at 2 p.m. ET.
Freestyle skiing — halfpipe
A tantalizing showdown was brewing for the final World Cup event of the season, taking place tonight at 10 p.m. ET at Mammoth Mountain in California. Reigning world champion Eileen Gu of China is looking to complete a perfect World Cup season with her fourth consecutive victory, and a pair of Canadians had a chance to knock her off. Rachael Karker, who has reached the podium in eight consecutive World Cup starts dating back to 2019 and took silver at last year's world championships, ranks second in the women's standings. Reigning Olympic champ Cassie Sharpe is fifth after returning from a brutal leg/knee injury suffered in a crash a year ago.
However, Canada's top Olympic contenders have been put on ice in an effort to avoid contracting COVID-19, which could jeopardize their eligibility for Beijing. So we won't see Karker, Sharpe or men's World Cup co-leader Brendan Mackay. Same for Noah Bowman (third in the men's standings) and 2021 world championship silver medallist Simon d'Artois (fourth).
Snowboarding
Mammoth is also hosting World Cup snowboard halfpipe and slopestyle competitions on Saturday. The Canadian slopestyle contingent includes back-to-back Olympic bronze medallist Mark McMorris and 2021 world championships silver medallist Seb Toutant, who won last weekend in Calgary. Assuming they qualify for the final, they'll go for medals Saturday at 12:30 p.m. ET.
On the women's side, former slopestyle world champ and 2018 Olympic silver medallist Laurie Blouin is not competing at Mammoth after taking bronze last weekend in Calgary. Halfpiper Elizabeth Hosking (No. 4 in the World Cup chase) qualified for her final, which goes Saturday at 9:30 p.m. ET.
Meanwhile, back-to-back snowboard cross World Cup events are happening in Russia. Canada's best Olympic contender is Éliot Grondin, a 20-year-old who placed second in the World Cup chase last season and won bronze at the world championships. He currently ranks fourth in the World Cup standings and is coming off his first podium of the season, a silver last month in Italy. Men's and women's competitions begin at midnight both tonight and Saturday night.
Bobsleigh
The hottest Canadian pilot right now is Christine de Bruin. She shot to the top of the women's monobob standings by winning the last two races, boosting her hopes for a medal in the Olympic debut of this version of the sport. Right behind her in the rankings is Cynthia Appiah, who reached the podium in three straight races before missing last week's event in Latvia, where 14 athletes and staff members from the Canadian team tested positive for COVID-19. De Bruin and Appiah are both slated to compete Saturday at 3:45 a.m. ET in Germany, along with former Canadian team star Kaillie Humphries, who's with the U.S. now.
De Bruin is also an Olympic medal contender in the two-woman event with brakewoman Kristen Bujnowski. They rank second in the World Cup standings after taking bronze last week. The two-woman event goes Sunday at 3 a.m. ET.
On the men's side, Canadian pilot Justin Kripps ranks third in the two-man and second in the four-man. Those races go, respectively, Saturday at 7:30 a.m. ET and Sunday at the same time. The pilot with whom Kripps shared the Olympic two-man gold in 2018, Germany's Francesco Friedrich, is the man to beat in both. He's won an incredible 11 out of 12 races this season.
How to watch
Everything mentioned above is live-streaming on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem. Those platforms are also showing live alpine skiing, luge and curling events this weekend. See the full schedule here for details.
You can also watch a variety of winter Olympic sports action on this weekend's Road to the Olympic Games shows on the CBC TV network. They're Saturday from 1-4 p.m. ET and Sunday from 1-2 p.m. in your local time. The Canadian figure skating championships are also on CBC TV on Saturday from 4-6 p.m. ET and Sunday from 2-5 p.m. in your local time.
Quickly...
The Winnipeg Jets are staying put. Bleeding money with only 250 total capacity allowed in their arena due to COVID-19 restrictions in Manitoba, the NHL team flirted with moving its home games to Saskatoon, which has no such limit. But the Jets nixed the idea today after surveying season-ticket holders for their feelings about it.
Denis Shapovalov and Felix Auger-Aliassime put Canada on the brink of the ATP Cup final. The country's two highest-ranked tennis players won yesterday's matchup vs. Germany at the men's team tournament in Australia by winning their respective singles matches. Auger-Aliassime, who's ranked 11th, upset No. 3 Alexander Zherev, while the 14th-ranked Shapovalov beat No. 51 Jan-Lennard Struff. That moved Canada into tonight's semifinal matchup with defending-champion Russia. Felix is slated to face world No. 2 Daniil Medvedev, while Shapovalov squares off with 167-ranked Roman Safiullin. If necessary, a doubles match will decide it. The winner advances to the final to face Spain, which is led by No. 19 Roberto Bautista Agut and No. 20 Pablo Carreno Busta.
Something else to check out
The 4% Rising newsletter: A study done a few years back found that only four per cent of traditional media coverage was devoted to women's sports. Hence the name of this newsletter focused on helping you find live women's sports on TV and online. Sample the latest edition and subscribe here.
You're up to speed. Have a good weekend.
