SHAKY START FOR JACOBS RINK
SOCHI, Russia
Canada made a stuttering start to the defence of its Olympic men’s curling title on Monday, following up a scrappy win over unheralded Germany with a surprise loss to Switzerland on a sobering day for the big gold-medal favourites.
By the end of opening day, Sweden was the only team 2-0, with wins in tough matches against the Swiss and Britain at the Ice Cube Curling Center at the Sochi Games.
After becoming the first team in Canada’s storied curling history to go through Olympic trials unbeaten, Brad Jacobs’s rink was widely seen as the overwhelming favourites for the games.
But Canada was sloppy in beating Germany — arguably the weakest lineup in the 10-team competition — 11-8 in the morning and then was upset 5-4 by Switzerland in the evening. It has given plenty of hope to their rivals for the gold.
On the women’s side, Sweden defeated Britain 6-4 in a matchup of two favourites for the women’s curling gold.
Meanwhile, the Norwegian men, curling’s fashion kings of cool, made their Sochi debut with another snazzy pattern on their pants — a mixture of red, white, blue and grey squares and rectangles. Norway dazzled the U.S. 7-4.
ALPINE SKIING
Different American, same result for Maria Hoefl-Riesch — another Olympic gold in the super-combined. Just as she did four years ago at the Vancouver Games, Hoefl-Riesch found herself trailing an American after the downhill leg before using her slalom skills to vault into first place and successfully defend her Olympic title in the dual-run event.
The German finished less than a second ahead of both silver medallist Nicole Hosp of Austria and Julia Mancuso of the United States, who won the bronze. Mancuso won silver in the event in Vancouver.
Top Canadian: Women’s Super Combined Downhill: Marie-Michele Gagnon, Lac-Etchemin, Que., 21st (one minute 45.39 seconds)
SPEEDSKATING
Michel Mulder’s 500-metre victory earned him the title of fastest man on skates. Teammate Jan Smeekens was 0.01 seconds behind for silver, and twin Ronald Mulder took bronze in a Dutch sweep.
Top Canadian: Men’s 500m Race 1 of 2: Gilmore Junio, Calgary, 11th (35.15 seconds).
Men’s 500m Race 2 of 2: Gilmore Junio, Calgary, 7th (35.09 seconds).
Men’s 500m Final Ranking: Gilmore Junio, Calgary, 10th (70.25 seconds, +0.94 of a second).
BIATHLON
Martin Fourcade’s win earned France its first medal. Ondrej Moravec of Czech Republic took silver, and Jean Guillaume Beatrix of France earned bronze. Ole Einar Bjoerndalen of Norway finished fourth, missing out on a record 13th Winter Olympic medal.
Top Canadian: Men’s 12.5-km Pursuit: Nathan Smith, Calgary, 11th (34 minutes, 37.7 seconds, +49.1 seconds).