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As we enter Day 10 of the Milano-Cortina Games, could Mikael Kingsbury’s triumph in the dual moguls signal the start of a Canadian gold rush? Canada boasts a strong contender in short track speed skating today, alongside additional medal aspirations in freestyle skiing and figure skating.
We will begin with our viewing recommendations for the day, followed by other significant events, including the semifinal for Canada’s women’s hockey team and two matches featuring prominent curler Rachel Homan, who finds herself in a challenging position once more.
Short track speed skating: Courtney Sarault, Kim Boutin, and Florence Brunelle in the women’s 1,000m (final at 6:47 a.m. ET)
After securing a silver in the mixed relay and a bronze in the women’s 500m, Sarault is poised to clinch her third medal of the Games. With three world championship medals in the 1,000m, including a silver last year, the 25-year-old from Moncton dominated this distance on the World Cup circuit this season, winning three out of four races and taking silver in the other.
Expect Sarault to compete fiercely for gold against the Netherlands’ Xandra Velzeboer, the 500m champion from Thursday and the 2023 world champion in the 1,000m, as well as Belgium’s Hanne Desmet, the reigning world champion in the 1,000m and the only skater to defeat Sarault in the 1K on the World Tour this season.
Boutin and Brunelle are considered longshots for the podium. Boutin earned Olympic silver in this event in 2018 and secured her fifth career Olympic medal on Tuesday in the mixed relay.
Racing kicks off with the quarterfinals at 5 a.m. ET, followed by the semifinals at 5:57 a.m. ET, and the final at 6:47 a.m. ET.
Additionally, Monday’s short track schedule includes the first round of the men’s 500m at 5:17 a.m. ET. This event represents Canadian star Will Dandjinou’s final opportunity to earn an individual medal after falling short in the 1,000m and the 1,500m, where he was favored to win gold. Canada’s Steven Dubois is the current world champion in the 500m and claimed bronze at the 2022 Olympics. The medal rounds are set for Wednesday.
Moreover, the men’s relay competition will commence with the semifinals at 6:06 a.m. ET. Canada, spearheaded by Dandjinou and Dubois, is favored to secure the gold medal. The top two teams in each heat will advance to the finals on Friday.
Canada’s Naomi Urness competes in the big air final on Monday. (Getty Images)
Freestyle skiing: Megan Oldham and Naomi Urness in the women’s big air final at 1:30 p.m. ET
Following her bronze medal in the slopestyle event on Monday, Oldham surprisingly won Saturday’s qualifying round, surpassing defending Olympic champion Eileen Gu of China and slopestyle gold medalist Mathilde Gremaud of Switzerland. Although most of her success has been in slopestyle, she did earn a bronze in the big air at the 2023 world championships.
Urness finished seventh in qualifying. The 21-year-old stands at the top of the World Cup big air rankings after securing three consecutive medals earlier this season, including her first career gold in December in Colorado.
Figure skating: Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud in the pairs final round at 2 p.m. ET
These names weren’t expected in this scenario. Yes, Pereira and Michaud triumphed over Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps at the Canadian championships last month. However, they have never ranked higher than sixth at the world championships or the Grand Prix Final, while the more experienced Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps won the world title in 2024 and were anticipated to compete for an Olympic medal.
Instead, it is the 21-year-old Pereira (literally half the age of Stellato-Dudek) and the 29-year-old Michaud who will skate in the final flight after achieving an impressive third place in the short program today. Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps barely qualified for the 16-team free skate, finishing in 14th place.
They were not the only pair to underperform. Gold medal favorites Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan, who have won two out of the last three world titles, currently sit in fifth place. Germany’s Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin, last year’s world runners-up, are leading by approximately 4½ points over Georgia’s Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava, with Pereira and Michaud trailing by less than a point.