Canadians pick up three medals on Day 6 of 2018 Winter Olympics

It was a great day for Canadians on day 6 of the Winter Olympics, as the red and white athletes added three medals to the total count.

With one of each colour, Canada has increased their total medal count to 13 with 4 gold, 5 silver, and 4 bronze, putting them in third place behind Norway and Germany.

Here’s what you may have missed!

Speed Skating

Canada’s gold medal came from a magnificent Olympic Record performance on the 10,000m speed skating event by Ted-Jan Bloemen. Bloemen is a long distance specialist who ditched the Dutch program after feeling there wasn’t enough support. He’s been skating under the maple leaf since 2015, and has brought Canada’s first medal in the event since 1932.

He also brought home a silver medal in the 5,000km event in South Korea.

Canadian Jordan Belchos of Toronto finished fifth in the competition with a personal best of 12:59.51.

Figure Skating

In a nail biting competition, Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford took the bronze in the pairs figure skating event. Their combined score was 230.15. It came down to the end with the Russian team going last. Duhamel and Radford had to watch and wait to see if they would be edged off the podium.

To their (and our) relief, the Russians missed some technical points, giving the Canadian pair enough ammo to finished in third place. This is their second medal of the 2018 Games, winning Canada’s first ever team skating gold. Radford is also the first openly gay man to win an Olympic gold medal.

Luge

Today’s silver medal came from a great redemption story by Canada’s team in the luge relay. The team heart breakingly finished 4th in the 2014 Sochi Olympics, were awarded bronze once the Russian doping scandal broke out, but had that medal rescinded as the Court of Arbitration for Sport made a decision to overturn some of the punishment dished out.

Alex Gough, Sam Edney, Tristan Walker, and Justin Snith made no mistake this time, earning second with a combined time of 2 minutes, 24.872 seconds – keeping sporting politics at bay. The Germans captured gold, while Austria finished third.

Canada sees sound results in men’s and women’s hockey

The women’s hockey team faced their arch-rival United States on day 6 of the Olympics, and it was a game that delivered on every front. A fast-paced, high octane hockey game saw the only two teams to have ever captured gold live up to the bill.

Canada scored twice in the second period to edge out a 2-1 win, with a heroic 44-save performance from goaltender Geneviève Lacasse. The United States threw everything they had in the third period, cutting Canada’s 2-0 lead in half, but it wasn’t enough – despite getting a penalty shot.

Meanwhile the men’s hockey team played their first game of the tournament, dispatching Switzerland in a 5-1 game. Former NHLers Wojtek Wolski and Rene Bourque scored two goals apiece, and ex-Oiler Ben Scrivens made 28 saves for the victory.

Canada’s win follows surprising results from other top hockey nations, as the Olympic Athletes from Russia somehow lost 3-2 to Slovakia, despite icing (on paper, anyways) the most star-laden roster.

The United States, meanwhile, lost 3-2 in overtime to Slovenia, who have produced one NHL player ever.

The men’s hockey tournament is completely wide open.

 PyeongChang Day 6 Medal standings