What to watch for in the final week of the Beijing Olympic Winter Games
CBC
With one week remaining at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, plenty remains unsettled.
Canada has 14 medals as of Sunday — but only one gold, courtesy of snowboarder Max Parrot in the men's slopestyle event.
By contrast, Canadians won 11 gold medals at the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang.
It seems doubtful that total will be matched in China, but a strong close to these Games could still leave things close.
Here's everything you should watch for in the final seven days of competition:
There are four obvious candidates for Canadian gold medals, each of whom fell short four years ago. That would be both hockey teams, and both curling teams.
Included in that is a 4-2 win over rival U.S. The Americans controlled play in that game, way outshooting Canada, but Desbiens stood tall in net. The two are likely to meet again in the gold-medal game, where Canada will hope to lean less on its goalie and more on its offensive firepower.
WATCH | Canada scores 11 in quarter-final win over Sweden:
The men's team lost to the U.S. by the same score, but took care of business in games against Germany and China. Canada ended group play as the fifth seed and will need to play their way past China again in the qualifying round. The Russians remain favoured, but you can never count out Canada in a hockey tournament – especially if its goaltending improves.
Meanwhile, both Jennifer Jones and Brad Gushue endured shaky starts in their attempts to put Canada back on the curling podium.
But while Gushue sits 3-2 after taking care of the reigning champion Americans, Jones is 1-3 and facing an uphill battle just to make the semifinals. She likely needs to win out in her round robin to turn that possibility into reality, though her toughest matches are now behind her.
Some adversity early, but both Jones and Gushue have won Olympic gold medals before and can beat any team when at their best.
Canada placed fourth in the team figure skating event, thanks in part to a pair of career-best performances by teenager Madeline Schizas.
The event ended way back on Feb. 7. Nearly a week later, no medals have been awarded after it was revealed that Russian skater Kamila Valieva, 15, tested positive for a banned substance in the lead-up to these Olympics.
