Early elimination in snowboard slalom

Canada had a quiet morning in the mountains at Sochi. Hopes of medals in the snowboard parallel slalom were dashed early on the women’s side when neither Ariane Lavigne, Carloline Calvé or Marianne Leeson had strong enough times in their first heats to qualify for the second round.
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Well the women weren’t favourites to win gold, dropping out of the competition so early was a surprise—especially for Calvé who is ranked sixth in the world in parallel slalom and won a World Championship event last year in Stoneham, Quebec.

The men’s side didn’t have much more luck. While Jasey Jay Anderson and Michael Lambert barely qualified for the second round, finishing in the final two positions from qualification, the two Canadians were eliminated in their next race before even reaching the quarter-finals.

And both men will say goodbye to the Olympics as they are retiring from the sport.

Canadians were also well off the pace in the women’s 30-km cross country mass start. Brittany Webster had Canada’s best result, finishing in a tie for 45th place. And crossing the finish line close behind was her teammate Emily Nishikawa.
[tweet id="437167521150795777" url="https://twitter.com/cccski/statuses/437167521150795777"]Dispatches from Sochi: (Be sure to follow: @ChasGillis, @JonGatehouse, @kmqyvr, @KrRutherford and @reporterchris)

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Wake up! Still to come today: Four-man bobsled (with the power of #beardmode) and Denny Morrison

The time has come for #beardmode. Canada’s four-man bobsled starts their journey for gold today with the first of two heats. Look for Chris Spring and Co. to fight for a medal as the No. 3 ranked team in the world. That being said, we have two other teams in the top 10 who can sneak on the podium. The push for gold starts at 11:30 a.m. EST/ 8:30 p.m. PST.

Canada’s speed skating team hasn’t brought in as many medals as they hoped coming into Sochi. Unlucky crashes from Marianne St.-Gelais and the Hamelin brothers has partially overshadowed their few medals. But Denny Morrison has exceeded expectations, especially winning silver in an event he wasn’t supposed to race in. Now with a silver and bronze medal in pocket from Sochi, Morrison will go for the hat trick in the men’s team pursuit finals today. With his gold-medal winning teammates from Vancouver in 2010—Vincent De Haitre, Mathieu Giroux, and Lucas Makowsky— the "B" final won’t give them a chance to repeat gold, but they will race for a bronze medal against Poland. 8:45 a.m. EST/5:45 pm.m PST