What to watch in Olympic sports this weekend
CBC
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One of the premier events of the run-up to the Beijing Winter Olympics should be happening right now. Alas, the Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final in Japan was cancelled after the host country closed its doors to foreign travellers in response to the omicron variant. Still, a bunch of interesting competitions are taking place this weekend in the world of winter Olympic and Paralympic sports. Here's what's most worthy of your attention:
Canada's surging speed skaters return home.
According to the latest Olympic forecast from the data company Nielsen Gracenote, Canada is expected to win six medals in long track speed skating in Beijing. That would be a big jump from the two it captured at each of the last two Winter Games, and close to the national record of eight from 2006. It's also close to a quarter of the 26 medals Canada is projected to win in Beijing.
Based on the results so far this season, there's little reason to doubt this prediction. Through the first three World Cup stops — two in Europe, then last week in Salt Lake City — Canadians were atop the season-long standings in three events.
The fourth meet opened today in Calgary, and Laurent Dubreuil padded his lead in the men's 500 metres by winning in Canadian-record time. He's now reached the podium in all seven of his 500m races so far this season, and will try to make it 8-for-8 on Sunday.
Ivanie Blondin tops the women's mass start after winning gold last week, and Canada is No. 1 in the women's team pursuit. Isabelle Weidemann and Ted-Jan Bloemen have also reached multiple individual podiums. Bloemen was Canada's only long track medallist at the 2018 Olympics, winning gold in the 10,000m and silver in the 5,000.
Expect the medals to keep rolling in as the Canadians have home-ice advantage in Calgary. This is the last World Cup meet before the Olympics, though Calgary will also host next week's Four Continents Championships. If you read this in time, CBC Sports is streaming live races until 6 p.m. ET here. Saturday's and Sunday's races run from 2:30-6 p.m. ET.
Mikael Kingsbury goes for more gold.
Death, taxes and this guy winning moguls gold medals. Kingsbury opened the season last week in Finland with (yawn) his 66th World Cup victory. The nearly unbeatable Olympic and world champion continues his quest for a 10th consecutive World Cup season title on Saturday in Sweden. Watch the men's and women's moguls events there live starting at 7 a.m. ET.
Kingsbury is also expected to compete in the first dual moguls competition of the season. The non-Olympic event goes Sunday at 7 a.m. ET.
Look out for other Canadian freestyle skiers too.
Kingsbury isn't the only one capable of winning gold in Beijing. Gracenote's projections have Canada taking a total of six medals in various freestyle skiing disciplines in Beijing. Besides Kingsbury winning gold in men's moguls, the forecast calls for Rachael Karker and Cassie Sharpe to take silver and bronze in the women's halfpipe, Simon d'Artois to get bronze in the men's halfpipe, Edouard Therriault to land silver in the men's big air, Reece Howden to grab silver in the men's ski cross and Marielle Thompson to capture bronze in the women's ski cross.
Gracenote's model does not have Brady Leman reaching the podium in ski cross, but consider him a contender too: he's the reigning Olympic champ and he took silver at last month's season opener held on the Beijing Olympics course. Another blind spot for the model could be 2018 Olympic silver medallist Brittany Phelan, who's back from a knee injury and placed fifth on the Beijing course.
