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Canada slides to gold Benjamin Alldritt
balldritt@nsnews.com Jon Montgomery, the boisterous redhead from Russell, Man., hurtled his way to victory in men’s skeleton Friday night. Montgomery had placed second in the first of four heats after Latvian Martins Dukurs set a new track record with his first attempt. With each run, the 30-year-old Canadian chipped into Dukurs’ quartersecond lead, setting another track record himself on the third attempt. On the last heat of the night and with 18 hundredths of second still to make up, Montgomery started fast and drove a near-perfect run. Sliding immediately after him, Dukurs made a few minor errors, leaving him seven hundredths of a second behind the Canadian. Russia’s Alexander Tretyakov claimed bronze, more than a second slower than Montgomery after four runs. The red-bearded slider roared and pumped the air with elation when the final times were displayed. Montgomery’s triumph redeemed what was otherwise an anguishing day for Canadians at the Whistler Sliding Centre. In women’s skeleton, Mellisa Hollingsworth was heavily favoured to win a medal, holding second place behind Great Britain’s Amy Williams. Hollingsworth has enjoyed a half-dozen podium finishes and two golds in recent World Cup races. The 29-year-old
O LY M P I C S
two gold medals for Norway Benjamin Alldritt
Canada’s Jon Montgomery launches himself down the track at the Whistler Sliding Centre en route to a gold medal in men’s skeleton.
ran a great start on her last heat, but bounced hard off the track walls in two places. In the razor-thin margins of skeleton racing, that was enough to push her from second to fifth.
“It’s really hard. I feel like I’ve let my entire country down,” a distraught Hollingsworth said to reporters, through tears.
See Bronze page 4
photo Jean Levac / Canwest News Service
Live every moment.
Y o u r
balldritt@nsnews.com The snowy slopes of Whistler continue to be a goldmine for Norwegian athletes. Marit Bjoergen won a gold medal in ladies 15-kilometre cross-country pursuit skiing Friday, her second gold and third medal of the Games. Anna Haag picked up silver for Sweden and Poland’s Justyna Kowalczyk took bronze, her second medal. Sara Renner cracked the top 10 for Canada, with countrywomen Madeleine Williams in 41st, Daria Gaiazova in 47th and Perianne Jones in 57th. Aksel Lund Svindal added to the Norwegian haul with gold in men’s Super G alpine skiing, followed by Americans Bode Miller and Andrew Weibrecht. Eric Guay placed fifth, Canada’s best showing. North Shore products Manuel Osborne-Paradis and Robbie Dixon both crashed out. Amy Williams won Great Britain’s first medal of the Games, a gold in women’s skeleton. Germans Kerstin Szymkowiak and Anja Huber placed silver and bronze. Williams claims Britain’s first individual winter event gold medal since 1980. Back in Vancouver, Canadian ice dance duo Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue tangoed their way into second
See Virtue page 5
medal rankings 1 United States
6
6
8
2 Germany
4
5
5
3 norway
5
3
2
4 Canada
4
3
1
No need to apologize “Vancouver is Manhattan with mountains. “It’s a liquid city, a tomorrow city, equal parts India, China, England, France and the Pacific Northwest. “It’s the cool North American sibling. If only, and this holds true for the rest of Canada, it didn’t feel the need to blush.” Timothy Egan for the New York Times says Vancouverites shouldn’t be so self-conscious about our turn hosting the Olympics
Switzerland 6 Canada 3 OK, relax. It’s not a playoff score in men’s hockey at the Olympics. But the six- to eight-yearolds of the North Shore Minor Hockey Association wearing the world’s colours in the Grouse Mountain pond hockey tournament are contesting their games with just as much dedication and enthusiasm. See story page 3.
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