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    Sochi, while you slept: Jennifer Jones wins again, but Marianne St.-Gelais doesn’t

    Jennifer Jones stays undefeated, but Marianne St.-Gelais struggles at the oval

    Aaron Hutchins
    <p>Canada&#8217;s skip Jennifer Jones, center, watches her teammates Jill Officer, left, and Dawn McEwen, right, during the women&#8217;s curling competition against Denmark at the 2014 Winter Olympics, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2014, in Sochi, Russia. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)</p>

    Wong Maye-E/AP

    Wong Maye-E/AP
    Wong Maye-E/AP

    Jennifer Jones just can’t stop winning. With her curling club from Winnipeg, Jones tallied three points in the ninth end, leading to a 8-5 victory over Denmark. With so much pressure on Canadian curlers at international tournaments, Jones and Co. are undefeated after their first four matches and look poised to finish in the top four for the playoffs.

    Canada’s hopes for more extreme sports medals didn’t pan out this morning, however. Alex Beaulieu-Marchand went into Sochi hoping for a podium finish in men’s ski slopestyle. His first run in the finals didn’t go as planned.

    Three Americans had huge scores that Beaulieu-Marchand needed to top in his second run if he wanted a shot at a medal. Things were looking great until he crashed again on his third jump.

     

    The Americans swept the podium in the event.

    At the speed skating oval, Marianne St.-Gelais may be in plenty of photos thanks to her iconic kisses with boyfriend and Canadian Olympic legend Charles Hamelin…

    …but she’s also a very strong skater herself. In the women’s 500-m short track, St.-Gelais was the lone Canadian to advance to the semi-finals.

    But a third place finish in the semi-finals heat ended her hopes at any Olympic medal.


    In his early quarter-finals heat for the 1000-m, Hamelin advanced with ease.

    Dispatches from Sochi: (Be sure to follow: @ChasGillis, @JonGatehouse, @kmqyvr, and @reporterchris)

    Ken MacQueen: Olympian Gilmore Junio and the race he didn’t skate

    Jonathon Gatehouse: Figure skating’s tale of two finishes

    Charlie Gillis: Meghan Agosta-Marciano’s goals blow down Team U.S.A.

    Chris Johnston: Canada surges past U.S. in women’s hockey thriller

    Wake up! Still to come today: Patrick Chan, Christine Nesbitt the luge relay and Team Canada hockey

    Okay, it’s not exactly a gold medal preview, but who can change the channel when Sidney Crosby and Team Canada take the ice? Their opponents, Norway, have exactly one NHL player: Mats Zuccarello of the New York Rangers. Expect a blowout, but be sure to watch. Puck drops at noon EST/9 a.m. PST

    Patrick Chan is back on the ice in Canada’s eternal quest at men’s figure skating gold. If he’s going to beat Russian legend Evgeni Plushenko and Japanese wunderkind Yuzuru Hanyu, Chan will need to go error-free at today’s short program. Expect a lot of quads. Figure skaters take the ice at 10 a.m. EST/ 7 a.m. PST.

    The luge relay?! Yes. A new event at the Sochi Games, team’s have one singles male sledder, one female, and one doubles team go down the track. As each sled comes to the bottom, competitors sit up in their sled to hit a pad above which opens a gate at the top of the hill for their teammates to start. The Germans are heavy favourites for gold (big surprise), but Canada’s Alex Gough, Samuel Edney, Tristan Walker and Justin Snith have a good chance at a medal. The sliding starts at 11:15 a.m. EST/8:15 a.m. PST.

    Christine Nesbitt reached the top in Vancouver four years ago, winning gold in 1000-m speed skating. Since then, she has struggled to stay on top. Being hit by a car while training on her bike (and breaking her arm) the following summer and being diagnosed as celiac in 2012 didn’t help. But Nesbitt has a chance to follow in the footsteps of Canada’s moguls star Alex Bilodeau and defend her gold medal in Sochi. Tune in at 11 a.m. EST/ 8 a.m. PST.

    tags:Sochi 2014