Canada, who were mired in a cheating controversy earlier in the tournament, on Saturday beat the UK 9-6 in a tense final to win Olympic men’s curling gold for the fourth time.
Brad Jacobs’ team secured their country’s first title in the event since defeating Britain in the 2014 gold-medal match in Sochi.
The UK had to settle for a third silver medal in the past four Olympic men’s curling competitions after slipping up in the last two ends in Cortina d’Ampezzo.
Photo: Reuter
They are still waiting for a first men’s title since 1924, after which curling was absent from the Olympic program for 74 years.
The tournament was marred by controversy at the Milan-Cortina Games after Canadian Marc Kennedy insulted a Swedish opponent who had accused him of cheating.
The spat led to fears that curling was losing its once genteel image, while the Canadians faced criticism in their own national media.
Photo: Reuters
“For anyone who called us cheaters, for anyone who said negative things about Marc Kennedy, about us, about Canada, about our families, I hope that the image of us standing on top of the podium, embracing one another, smiling ear to ear with our gold medals is burned into your brain forever,” Jacobs said.
With its women’s team having won bronze earlier, it was Canada’s seventh gold and 14th medal overall in Olympic curling — tops in both categories.
Norwegian cross-country skier Johannes Klaebo won a groundbreaking sixth gold at the Games, while heavy snow forced China’s freestyle skiing superstar Eileen Gu to wait for her elusive first title in Italy.
Photo: AFP
Klaebo’s victory in the men’s 50km mass start event saw him clinch his 11th Winter Olympics gold medal, extending the record he set earlier in these Games.
The 29-year-old also became the first athlete to win all six cross-country skiing races in one Olympics.
The only athlete in Winter or Summer Games history with more Olympic golds is American swimmer Michael Phelps, who won 23.
Emily Harrop and Thibault Anselmet combined to win gold for France in the mixed relay event of ski mountaineering in Bormio.
Ski mountaineering made its Olympic debut at this year’s Games, and while the “skimo” sprints offered a condensed version of the sport, the mixed relay proved to be a true lung-busting race.
Harrop and Anselmet clocked a winning time of 26 minutes, 57.44 seconds in the relay, consisting of ascents on skis and sections on foot with skis attached to the backpack.
An hour later, France won their sixth gold medal in biathlon of this Games when Oceane Michelon took the glory in the women’s mass start event.
Biathlon accounts for six of France’s eight gold medals overall so far.
Meanwhile, Germany’s Laura Nolte was faultless in two women bobsled, taking gold with Deborah Levi for the second successive Olympics a week after losing out on the monobob title by four hundredths of a second with a final-run stumble.
Compatriot Lisa Buckwitz, a former champion as a brakewoman, took silver, ahead of Kaillie Humphries, who won the 2010 and 2014 golds for Canada, but now represents the US.
Nolte started the day 0.18 seconds ahead and virtually doubled that gap with a 57.26 opening run.
Taiwan’s Lin Sin-rong and Lin Song-en failed to qualify for the final heat after finishing 25th in the third heat, 5.58 seconds behind the leaders, Germany.
In a blockbuster end to the Olympics, tournament favorites Canada and the US were to face off for ice hockey gold last night after press time.
The US were targeting their first Olympic title since the 1980 “Miracle on Ice.”
Finland, the champions from Beijing in 2022, on Saturday thrashed Slovakia 6-1 to take the bronze medal.
Norway lead the medals table with 18 golds, while the US are second with 11.
Additional reporting by staff writer, with AP and Reuters
Wilyer Abreu watched the ball leave the park and tossed his bat high in the air. His Venezuela teammates streamed out of the dugout in celebration. The comeback was on and the win over the reigning World Baseball Classic (WBC) champion Japan was within reach. Japan, their 11-game WBC winning streak on the line, held a 5-4 lead in the sixth inning of Saturday’s thrilling quarter-final matchup when Abreu put his team ahead with the biggest swing of the game: a three-run shot off Hiromi Itoh that sent the loanDepot Park crowd into a passionate roar and helped seize Venezuela’s 8-5
A BREATHLESS BATTLE: France clinched the championship in a vicious back-and-forth match with England, denying Ireland the title by just a few points France won back-to-back Six Nations titles after beating England 48-46 on a last-second penalty-kick by Thomas Ramos in a thriller for the ages on Saturday. England scored their seventh try in the 77th minute and converted for 46-45. If the score held for a few more minutes, Ireland would have been crowned the champion. But France pressed yet again with 14 men, lost possession, regained it, and earned two simultaneous penalties after the fulltime siren. Captain Antoine Dupont debated with referee Nika Amashukeli where the penalty spots were. Ramos, who did not miss a goal-kick all night, finally lined up his seventh
Home runs are greeted with a celebratory shot of espresso and the donning of an Armani jacket. Victories are marked with bottles of red wine while the soaring voice of opera singer Andrea Bocelli echoes through the locker room. Welcome to baseball, Italian-style. Written off as 80-1 underdogs before the World Baseball Classic started, Italy’s fairytale tournament has carried them all the way to today’s (Taipei time) semi-finals in Miami against Venezuela. On Saturday, Italy — who scored a stunning upset of a star-studded US lineup during the pool phase — kept their unbeaten campaign alive with a nail-biting 8-6
Kimi Antonelli became Formula 1’s second-youngest race winner with a composed drive to victory for Mercedes in an eventful Chinese Grand Prix yesterday. The 19-year-old Italian was the youngest pole position starter and briefly lost the lead to Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari at the start, but retook it soon after and was in control after that. “We did it! We did it!” Antonelli shouted to his team on the radio amid laughs and whoops. It was another 1-2 finish for Mercedes to start the season as Antonelli’s teammate George Russell came through a battle with both Ferraris to finish second. Lewis Hamilton was
RSS