Olympics Overnight: Canada nabs three medals in successful day on slopes, U.S. figure skater Nathan Chen finally gets his gold

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/02/2022 (1332 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Rise and shine, Olympics fans. Here’s what you missed overnight and need to know about the 2022 Beijing Olympics this morning.

For all the Star-related Winter Games content, visit our Olympics page here.

He may have missed out on a gold by 0.2 seconds, but that didn’t matter to Canadian snowboard cross athlete Eliot Grondin. In the end, he was an Olympic silver medallist.

It was a successful day on the slopes for Canada on Thursday as it added three more medals to its tally — a silver in snowboard cross, a bronze by Toronto’s Jack Crawford in alpine combined and another bronze in mixed team aerials.

Canada would later add a silver in speedskating after Isabelle Weidemann’s performance in the 5,000-metre event. It was her second medal of the Games after winning bronze earlier on.

Elsewhere, attention was fixated on the dramatic close to men’s figure skating where American Nathan Chen finally secured his long-sought-after gold. Two-time defending champion Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan failed at attempting a never-before-seen move at the Olympics and finished fourth, whereas Canada’s Keegan Messing finished a respectable 11th after arriving in Beijing late due to COVID-19.

(My condolences to my Olympics Overnight writing partner and Team Yuzu stan … I mean, fan . . . Richie Assaly.)

Here’s all the action you missed overnight and early this morning on Day 6:

Photo finish

Québec native Eliot Grondin was leading in the snowboard cross all day, but when it came to the final run, it only took less than a second to slip to second place for silver. After a photo review at the line, Austria’s Alessandro Hämmerle took the gold.

But, hey, Grondin won a silver medal. He wasn’t fazed by the result.

“I had so much fun racing (Hämmerle) and I’m so happy,” Grondin told The Canadian Press.

Italy’s Omar Visintin won bronze, while fellow Canadians Kevin Hill — participating in what would be his last Olympics — and Liam Moffatt were both eliminated in the 1/8 final.

Third time’s the charm

Toronto’s Jack Crawford, 24, missed the podium by seven hundredths of a second in the men’s downhill on Monday to finish fourth, then placed sixth in the men’s super-G on Tuesday.

On Thursday, it finally all came together.

In a Team Canada first, Crawford won bronze in men’s alpine combined, with a total time of 2:32.11. Austria’s Johannes Strolz — son of Calgary 1988 gold medallist Hubert Strolz — took the gold and Norway’s Aleksander Aamodt Kilde finished second.

Canadians Broderick Thompson and Brodie Seger finished eighth and ninth overall respectively.

Big air for bronze

Canada flew to the podium in the Olympic debut of the mixed team aerials skiing event. Lewis Irving’s final jump pushed Canada to first place before the U.S. and China did their final runs, securing the team at least a bronze.

The U.S. would eventually take gold and China silver, but the young Canadian trio of Irving, Marion Thénault and Miha Fontaine should still be immensely proud of their third-place finish.

Chen gets his gold

American figure skating phenom Nathan Chen left the 2018 Winter Games in disappointment. Four years later, he’s finally atop the podium.

Skating to Elton John’s “Rocketman,” the 22-year-old Chen landed all five quads to dominate the final day of men’s figure skating with a score of 332.60 points, just three shy of his own world record. Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama and Shoma Uno took the silver and bronze respectively.

But the drama and rivalry with two-time Japanese Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu — who finished fourth in what may be his final Games — was well documented before this moment. Hanyu tried to do an Olympic-first quad axel, but failed to land his attempt.

The disappointing finish didn’t deter the many Yuzu fans — many of whom actually come from China — in showing their support. Just look at this photo of the hundreds, maybe thousands, of letters from fans:

Messing finished 11th — and stays positive

It was an uphill battle for Canadian Keegan Messing as soon as he arrived in Beijing. Sidelined by a postive COVID-19 test, the 30-year-old figure skater arrived a week late and missed the team event.

Skating to “Home” by Phillip Phillips, Messing finished 11th with a final score of 265.61. But he kept his head held up high.

“This is the Olympic dream, I never thought I was going to come twice. And here I am,” he told The Canadian Press.

Chloe Kim soars to gold; Canada’s Hosking finishes sixth

It’s back-to-back Olympic snowboard halfpipe golds for American snowboarder Chloe Kim.

The 21-year-old Southern California native scored so highly —94 — on her first run with impressive front and backside 1080s that it didn’t even matter she failed to land a big trick on her final one. American snowboarding legend Shaun White is competing for a medal spot later Thursdsay in his fifth and final Olympics.

Elizabeth Hosking, from Longueuil, Que., placed sixth, improving greatly from her finish in 2018. Sixteen-year-old Brooke D’Hondt placed 10th in her Olympic debut.

Figure skaters await decision

Canada’s mixed team figure skating team is still waiting a decison on whether or not they’ll be getting bronze.

Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva, who had reportedly tested positive for a banned heart medication, practised earlier in the morning, fueling more speculation of how Russia is handling the drama. If the Russian gold medal winners are stripped of their first place finish that could move fourth-place Canada up to the podium.

Other Canadian results:

• In speedskating, Isabelle Weidemann captured her second medal, a silver in the women’s 5,000-metre event. Her first medal came days before on Feb. 5 in the 3,000-metre event.

• In men’s curling, Brad Gushue and Canada defeated Norway’s Steffen Walstad 6-5 in men’s round robin play.

Medal report

Canada now has 12 medals at the Beijing Olympics, including one gold, four silver and seven bronze.

The Star in Beijing:

Bruce Arthur: Russia doping at the Olympics? History may be repeating itself at the Beijing Games

Dave Feschuk: Fourth no more — Toronto’s Jack Crawford wins bronze for Canada’s first ever alpine combined Olympic medal

Rosie DiManno: Nathan Chen’s emphatic gold medal at Beijing Olympics utterly redeems himself from 2018 fiasco

Bing Dwen Dwen in hot demand

The cute and cuddly Games mascot is selling like crazy in China and abroad, with many braving long lines to grab a plush version of the panda. Unfortunately many had to go home empty-handed.

Would you wait in line? I mean, just look at this thing:

Tik Tok insight

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Snowboarding legend Shaun White is continuing his fun — and educational! — inside look at the Beijing Games by answering fans’ questions. Here he talks about the language barriers that exist:

Hold on

Check out this first-person view of the men’s snowboard cross final. Scary — and impressive — stuff:

PHOTO OF THE DAY

With files from the Canadian Press and Associated Press