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Three U.S. stars glow Golden Benjamin Alldritt
photo Ric Ernst / Canwest News Service
An Experience to Remember.
Y o u r
Canada’s Marianne St. Gelais celebrates winning the silver medal at the women’s 500-metre shorttrack speed skating final at the Pacific Coliseum Wednesday.
Silver at short track Benjamin Alldritt
balldritt@nsnews.com Marianne St. Gelais kept her focus through a fall and a false start to win silver for Canada in 500-metre short track speedskating, the sixth medal for the hosts. St. Gelais, who also turned 20 on Wednesday, was first in her qualifying heat and quarterfinal race, then second in her semifinal. Teammate Jessica Gregg also made it through to the final, putting Canada in a strong position to win a medal provided at least one skater finished the race. But that was not guaranteed, as both Canadians fell at the start after a collision with
Arianna Fontana of Italy. But short track rules say the race is waved off if the skaters have not cleared the first turn before a fall. Holding on to their composure, the four women restarted, but were called back to the line once more after a false start. When they did finally race, the 500-metre final was always a battle for silver. China’s Meng Wang had been untouchable in the previous heats, setting three back-to-back Olympic records along the way and shaving nearly a second off her qualifying time. While Wang was not quite as fast in the final, she held a commanding lead from early in the race and coasted to the win with arms aloft. Fontana won bronze.
balldritt@nsnews.com American superstars Lindsey Vonn, Shani Davis and Shaun White all lived up to the hype Wednesday, delivering gold-medal performances in ladies’ downhill skiing, men’s 1,000-metre speedskating and men’s halfpipe snowboarding, respectively. Vonn, who had hinted that a shin injury might prevent her from competing in Whistler at all, destroyed the opposition. The 25-year-old completed the physically punishing course more than a half second clear of teammate Julia Mancuso and nearly a second and a half ahead of Austrian bronze medallist Elisabeth Goergl. There might well be more medals in store for the media darling, who will also ski in the super combined, Super G, slalom and giant slalom. West Vancouver native Britt Janyk placed sixth, and will return to the slopes for Super G. Last minute entry Georgia Simmerling, also of West Vancouver, did not race in the downhill event. At the Richmond Olympic Oval, Shani Davis successfully defended his 2006 Olympic title in the 1,000 metres, becoming the first man ever to do so in the event. Davis has been a controversial figure since he declined to
See Shani page 5
medal rankings 1 United States
5
3
6
2 Germany
3
4
3
3 France
2
1
4
4 Canada
2
3
1
Ferries to sell bus Tix Beginning Thursday, TransLink daypasses will be available for purchase on all B.C. Ferries sailings headed for Tsawwassen and Horseshoe Bay. The passes will be available in ferry gift shops until September, and sell for $9 for adults and $7 for seniors, students and children. TransLink has been reporting huge line-ups to buy tickets at all transit stations since the Olympic Games began on Friday, and recommends that travellers purchase tickets before a trip at FareDealer locations.
Best seats in the house North Vancouver mother and son Heather Clarke and Dustin Cower have seen the Closing Ceremony — they both have roles in it. Dustin predicts a serious “Wow” response from the audience. See story page 3.
West Vancouver Community Centre
Spirit Square an official 2010 Celebration site Enjoy Live Music & Performance Explore Sport, Space, & Art we s tva n co uve r 2 0 1 0 . c a