Olympic stock watch: Temperatures rise at figure skating nationals

Jesse Campigotto · CBC Sports

· Posted: Jan 10, 2022 4:51 PM EST | Last Updated: January 10, 2022

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Olympic banal watch: Kingsbury backmost connected top, contention astatine fig skating nationals

Less than a period from the commencement of the Winter Olympics successful Beijing, respective of Canada's apical medal contenders deed the slopes, crystal oregon way implicit the weekend. Here's who (or what) saw their banal spell up oregon down based connected what happened:

Up: Mikaël Kingsbury

Japan's Ikuma Horishima injected immoderate play into Kingsbury's inevitable-seeming march to his 10th consecutive World Cup men's moguls rubric and 2nd consecutive Olympic golden medal by winning 2 events successful a enactment past period to bargain the World Cup lead. But the GOAT returned to his rightful perch with back-to-back victories on his location turf astatine Mont-Tremblant, Que., connected Friday and Saturday. Horishima finished 3rd successful some competitions to gaffe to 2nd successful the standings.

The rivals are slated to quadrate disconnected for the last clip earlier the Olympics this week astatine Utah's Deer Valley. World Cup moguls events are scheduled determination for some Thursday and Friday.

Down: Figure skating fairness (according to some)

The Canadian championships successful Ottawa were the final — but not only — audition for the Olympic team. While performances astatine nationals are taken into account, myriad different factors specified arsenic results this play and imaginable to medal successful Beijing spell into the decisions connected who gets to capable Canada's spots.

For astir of the events, determination wasn't overmuch difference. Canadian officials awarded the country's 3 crystal creation berths to Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier, Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Sorensen, and Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha aft they finished successful that bid successful Ottawa. The 2 men's spots went to victor Keegan Messing and runner-up Roman Sadovsky. Canada's lone women's introduction was fixed to 18-year-old Madeline Schizas aft she claimed her archetypal nationalist title. Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro landed 1 of the 2 pairs spots aft winning that event.

The different pairs selection, though, generated controversy. It went to Vanessa James and Eric Radford, contempt their withdrawal from the contention aft placing 4th successful the abbreviated program. That didn't beryllium good with those who felt runners-up Evelyn Walsh and Trennt Michaud earned the spot. But if the extremity is winning an Olympic medal, the determination makes sense. James and Radford were the champion Canadian pairs duo connected the Grand Prix circuit, earning 2 fourth-place finishes (no Canadians reached the podium successful pairs this season). Radford is besides a proven Olympic performer, having won bronze successful 2018 with erstwhile spouse Meagan Duhamel earlier joining up with James anterior to this season. Also see that James and Radford were not astatine their champion successful Ottawa, having conscionable returned to the crystal aft contracting COVID-19 astir Christmas.

In the end, we mightiness beryllium splitting hairs here. Canada's chances of winning an Olympic pairs medal don't look great, nary substance who goes to Beijing. The country's champion anticipation for a fig skating medal is Gilles and Poirier, who took bronze astatine the satellite championships past twelvemonth and were the lone Canadians to suffice for this season's (cancelled) Grand Prix Final. Read much astir Canada's Olympic fig skating selections and immoderate of the blowback here.

Down: Bobsleigh certainty

Canada lacks a ascendant pilot, but it has respective susceptible of winning an Olympic medal. Heading into the weekend's World Cup races successful Germany, Christine de Bruin looked similar a bully bet. She ranked No. 1 successful the women's monobob, which is making its Olympic debut successful Beijing, and 2nd successful the two-woman lawsuit with brakewoman Kristen Bujnowski.

De Bruin stumbled a bit, though, finishing eighth successful the monobob and 5th successful the two-woman. That dropped her to 3rd successful the two-woman standings and mode down to 4th successful the monobob. That lawsuit is going to beryllium wide-open astatine the Olympics: a tiny fig of points separates the No. 2-ranked aviator from No. 6, which happens to beryllium Canada's Cynthia Appiah (she finished 5th connected Saturday). Even the caller No. 1, American Elana Meyers Tayor, holds a comparatively slim pb aft her triumph Saturday.

Canada's lone bobsleigh medal of the play came from aviator Justin Kripps. The reigning Olympic two-man co-champion took bronze in that lawsuit connected Saturday to stay 3rd successful the World Cup standings. He's inactive 2nd successful the four-man after placing fifth in that lawsuit connected Sunday.

Up: Éliot Grondin

Canada's champion contender for an Olympic snowboard transverse medal took bronze and placed 5th successful the brace of World Cup events held successful Russia implicit the weekend. The 20-year-old, who finished 2nd successful the World Cup pursuit past play and won bronze astatine the satellite championships, ranks 4th with 1 halt near connected the docket earlier the Olympics.

Down: Canada's bigger-name snowboarders

Back-to-back Olympic slopestyle bronze medallist Mark McMorris and 2021 satellite championships metallic medallist Seb Toutant some missed the podium successful Saturday's World Cup lawsuit astatine California's Mammoth Mountain. They placed ninth and fifth, respectively. For Toutant, that was inactive bully capable to maintain his pb successful the men's standings. Darcy Sharpe (fourth) was the apical Canadian. 2018 Olympic metallic medallists Max Parrot and Laurie Blouin some opted not to compete.

There's 1 much World Cup conscionable for these athletes earlier the Olympics — this week successful Switzerland. Canada's champion aren't expected to marque the trip, but we could spot them astatine the Winter X Games starting Jan. 21 successful Aspen.

Quickly...

Novak Djokovic won his ineligible battle. But the warfare isn't over. An Australian justice contiguous reinstated Djokovic's visa, which was cancelled past week by borderline officials who said the world's champion tennis subordinate didn't suffice for an exemption to the regularisation requiring each overseas visitors to beryllium afloat vaccinated. Djokovic's lawyers had argued that helium presented a aesculapian exemption from Tennis Australia and 2 aesculapian panels, and that helium didn't request to beryllium inoculated due to the fact that helium precocious recovered from COVID-19. The justice ordered that Djokovic beryllium released from a quarantine hotel, allowing him to instrumentality to the signifier courts successful mentation for the Jan. 17-30 Australian Open. But Djokovic isn't retired of the woods yet: a lawyer for the Australian authorities said the migration curate "will see whether to workout a idiosyncratic powerfulness of cancellation" for the visa. If that happens, Djokovic could suffer a accidental to interruption a necktie with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal for the astir Grand Slam men's singles titles of each time. Read much astir the latest successful the Djokovic saga here. 

Canada is basking successful its astonishing ATP Cup victory. Singles wins yesterday by Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov implicit their Spanish opponents gave Canada its first-ever rubric successful the yearly men's squad tennis event. The Canadian squad got swept by the United States successful its opening matchup but roared backmost to bushed Germany and Great Britain to triumph the radical earlier upsetting defending-champion Russia successful the semis and past beating Spain successful the final. Auger-Aliassime and Shapovalov teamed up to triumph the deciding doubles lucifer vs. Russia, which featured satellite No. 2 Daniil Medvedev. In the final, the 14th-ranked Shapovalov defeated No. 21 Pablo Carreno Busta earlier ninth-ranked Auger-Aliassime bushed No. 17 Roberto Bautista Agut to clinch the triumph without needing the doubles match. Read much astir Canada's historical triumph here.

And finally...

The NFL play went retired with a bang. At a clip erstwhile different pro sports leagues are struggling to signifier watchable games (or adjacent games astatine all), this 1 conscionable keeps churning retired top-notch amusement and drama. The last time of the regular play saw would-be Super Bowl contender Indianapolis knocked retired of the playoffs with an incomprehensible nonaccomplishment to Jacksonville, the worst squad successful the league. Minutes later, Pittsburgh roseate up from the dormant and into the playoff representation with an overtime triumph implicit Baltimore. That acceptable up an unthinkable script for the Sunday nighttime play finale betwixt the L.A. Chargers and Las Vegas Raiders. The victor would marque the playoffs and the loser would beryllium eliminated — unless they tied, successful which lawsuit they'd some get successful and Pittsburgh would beryllium bounced. Chaos aficionados connected the net wanted the Chargers and Raiders to kneel retired the timepiece for 60 minutes. But, whether owed to a consciousness of honour oregon possibly the pressures of the Prisoner's Dilemma, they played it out. And convey goodness, due to the fact that it turned retired to beryllium 1 of the astir breathtaking games successful memory. After the Chargers rallied to unit OT (and enactment live successful the other frame) with respective do-or-die fourth-down conversions by magical backmost Justin Herbert, the Raiders eschewed the necktie arsenic clip expired and buried L.A. with a last-second tract goal. The playoffs commencement Saturday and you tin spot each the first-round matchups here. Read much astir the chaotic decorativeness to the regular season here.

You're up to speed. Talk to you tomorrow.