Speed skater Ted-Jan Bloemen captured Canada's third medal of the 2018 Winter Olympics, taking silver in the men's 5,000-metre on Sunday in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

The 31-year-old from Calgary skated a time of six minutes 11.61 seconds, in a photo finish alongside Sverre Lunde Pedersen, edging the Norwegian by 2-100ths of a second.

The medal marked Canada's first in the men's 5,000 since Willy Logan won bronze at the Lake Placid Games in 1932.

Dutch skater Sven Kramer won his third consecutive Olympic gold medal in the event — becoming the first man to three-peat the 5,000 — skating an Olympic record time of 6:09.76. Pedersen's close finish behind Bloemen was good for bronze.

I was a strong skier from the age of five on until quite recently when a serious injury curtailed it

Freestyle skiing was being invented when I was in High School by Wayne Wong down in the States, John Eaves in Quebec and I remember some guy named Mclaughlan (?) It was pretty hot stuff at the time but the jumps were really simple by modern standards (the "Daffy" the "Helicopter"). Bit by bit, over the years, the bar has been raised and the aerials that I watched today are mind boggling in complexity. Bump skiing has gone from being a fringe sport to center ring, too. There was a time when my knees could do that ...

Canada's figure skating team won the country's first gold of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, following a commanding collective performance in the team event.

Gabrielle Daleman's third-place free skate to Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin gave Canada an insurmountable lead before ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir even hit the ice for the free skate.

The gold completes a four-year journey for Canada following a silver in the event at the 2014 Games. Ultimately, it was Daleman — the lone team member who wasn't in Sochi — that guaranteed gold for her country.

"I'm proud I could lay out such a great program for not only myself, but my team and my country," the 20-year-old from Newmarket, Ont., told CBC Sports.

Canadian Laurie Blouin won a silver medal in the women's snowboard slopestyle final in extremely windy conditions on Monday in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

American Jamie Anderson made it back-to-back titles with her best score of 83 in the two-run final, followed by Blouin at 76.33 and Finland's Enni Rukajarvi at 75.38.

Blouin was able to adjust to conditions that bedeviled other competitors, going from the eighth-best first run with a score of 49.16 to the podium on her second try. The determined snowboarder and first-time Olympian put down a backside 720, a frontside 540, and then stomped the landing with a cab underflip to earn the top score of the second run.

Blouin, of Stoneham, Que., landed on the podium despite her uncertain status for the final.

"Now I'm here in second place, I just don't believe it," said Blouin. "It's a dream come true."

The 21-year-old took a hard fall during Friday's training run and was transported to hospital as a precaution, but the reigning world champion soon returned to the Athletes' Village and proclaimed on Instagram that she had been cleared by doctors to compete.

"We will show energetic and strong cheering", says a gal from the North Korean cheering squad.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-08/n ... th/9410192

http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1158532163619

Just as Mikaël Kingsbury settled in to make his third and final run of the men's moguls final at Bokwang Phoenix Park ski hill Monday night, the snow started to swirl. It created a dreamlike, wintry wonderland.

It had been Kingsbury's lifelong dream to become an Olympic champion. Along the way, the 25-year-old from Deux-Montagnes, Que., had collected an all-time record 48 World Cup moguls wins, along with a pair of world titles and an Olympic silver in 2014. But he still needed that gold medal.

Pushing out of the start area, Kingsbury carved through the moguls masterfully, like he has so many times in his career. He cut through the snow and wind to execute his dazzling jumps. When he crossed the finish line, he let out a triumphant scream. He knew.

The scoreboard confirmed it: 86.63 — good enough for first place with one skier to go.