Olympic wake-up call: Ivanie Blondin gives Steve Armitage one final Canadian medal call | CBC Sports

“I am just really happy at this point to bring a medal back for my country.”

WATCH | Ottawa’s Ivanie Blondin claims Olympic silver in speed skating mass start:

Ottawa’s Ivanie Blondin claims Olympic silver in speed skating mass start

Speed skater Ivanie Blondin from Ottawa wins the silver medal in the women’s mass start event as she reaches the podium for the second time at the Beijing Olympics. 14:03

Fellow Canadian Valérie Maltais placed sixth in the race. The Saguenay, Que., skater sped to a huge lead early in the race to pick up six sprint lap points, before the field caught up later in the race.

On the men’s side, Calgary’s Jordan Belchos finished in 13th place, while Antoine Gelinas-Beaulieu from Sherbrooke, Que., placed 15th.

Blondin’s performance set the stage for a poetic curtain call to one of Canada’s greatest broadcasters, as Steve Armitage called his final sporting event, capping an illustrious career with the CBC spanning more than 50 years.

WATCH | Steve Armitage makes the final call of his illustrious career:

Steve Armitage makes the final call of his illustrious career

CBC Sports’ Steve Armitage, the 78-year-old who worked 18 Olympics over more than 50 years with the public broadcaster, calls the final event of his legendary career. 2:36

To relive anything else you missed overnight, you can watch full replays of all Olympic events here.

Léveillé caps 1st Olympics

Olivier Léveillé wrapped up his first Olympic experience with a 27th-place finish in the cross country 50km mass start. The race only ended up going 30km after organizers shortened the event due to weather.

The 20-year-old from Sherbrooke, Que., was the top Canadian in the race, finishing in one hour, 15 minutes and 54.3 seconds. Rémi Drolet from Rossland, B.C., finished in 35th place, 30.8 seconds behind Léveillé.

International Ski Federation officials shortened the race due to “strong winds and the resulting extreme conditions on the course,” with temperatures around -18 C.

Edin gets his gold

Swedish curling skip Niklas Edin completed his Olympic medal collection with a 5-4 extra-end win over Great Britain’s Bruce Mouat in the men’s gold-medal final.

Mouat extended the game, scoring a single with a draw on his last stone in the 10th end. 

But with Sweden having the hammer in the extra end, Mouat attempted to angle his last rock to take out the Swedish stone at the button, but the shot came over top of the Swedish stone, clinching Sweden’s third consecutive Olympic medal.

WATCH | Edin leads Sweden to men’s curling gold:

Edin, a five-time world champion, won a bronze medal at Sochi 2014, and silver at PyeongChang 2018.

It’s Great Britain’s third Olympic curling medal, having won silver in 2014, and gold at the first ever Olympic curling event in 1924 — in which the competition was a one-off before being brought back to the Olympic programme in 1998.

As for Canada’s curlers, CBC Sports reporter Devin Heroux writes in his latest story that it’s hard to know where to begin when you start dissecting what happened to them at the Olympics.

U.S. figure skaters want their podium moment

The United States has filed an appeal to have their figure skaters be awarded their silver medals from the team event.

“Having a medal ceremony at an Olympic Games is not something that can be replicated anywhere else, and they should be celebrated in front of the world before leaving Beijing,” U.S. Figure Skating executive director Ramsey Baker told the Associated Press.

The Russian Olympic Committee won gold in the team event. But the medal ceremony was quickly put on hold amid revelations 15-year-old skater Kamila Valieva had tested positive for a banned substance before the Olympics, but had her suspension lifted by the Russian anti-doping agency pending a full investigation.

Before the individual event, the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled the teen did not need to be provisionally suspended, and allowed her to compete. But the ruling also came with a stipulation that if she won a medal, there would be no medal ceremony.

Valieva finished in fourth place in the individual event, and the medal ceremony for the event went ahead.