Canada set new Winter Olympic record

Published on Sunday 28 February 2010 23:01

SIDNEY Crosby scored in overtime to give Canada a 3-2 win over the United States in a heart-stopping Olympic men's ice hockey final on Sunday to add one last glorious gold medal to a record haul.

It was Canada's 14th gold, the most ever by any country at a Winter Games, and fittingly the milestone medal was the one that matters more than any other to hockey-mad Canadians.

Kevin Martin's curlers, snowboarder Jasey Jay Anderson and the speedskating team pursuit trio of Mathieu Giroux, Lucas Makowsky and Denny Morrison had already taken Canada's gold medal haul to 13 on the penultimate day of the Vancouver Games.

In the final event of the Winter Games last night, American Zach Parise sent the Olympics into overtime when he scored with just 24 seconds left in regulation to cap a determined US comeback and drive a spike into Canadian hearts. But Crosby came to Canada's rescue, swiping a wrist shot past American netminder Ryan Miller to give Canada victory and spark wild celebrations.

Last night's ice hockey win broke the record for most golds at a Winter Games, surpassing the tallies of the Soviet Union in 1976 and Norway in 2002.

That provided considerable consolation for not achieving Canadian Olympic officials' pre-Games prediction that the $117 million (73.4m) 'Own The Podium' programme would enable Team Canada to win the most medals, with the USA team certain to take that plaudit.

Canada skip Martin led his side to a 6-3 win over Norway at the Vancouver Olympic Centre. Martin only needed to remove a Norwegian stone out of the way with his hammer on the tenth and final end and when he did so he threw both arms into the air to celebrate.

Earlier Switzerland had claimed the bronze medal, beating Sweden 5-4.

Canada beat the USA in the men's team pursuit final at the Vancouver Olympics. Morrison, Makowsky and Giroux posted a winning time of three minutes 41.37 seconds for the eight-lap race. "It is a weight off the shoulders," said Morrison. "It is representing Canada. It was amazing."

Sven Kramer featured in the Netherlands quartet that took the bronze, beating Norway in the third-place race.

Germany's quartet of Daniela Anschutz Thoms, Stephanie Beckert, Anna Friesinger-Postma and Katrin Mattscherodt won gold in the women's team pursuit final, edging Japan into silver by two-hundredths of a second with Poland claiming the bronze.

Anderson claimed his gold in snowboarding's parallel giant slalom in the last event on Cypress Mountain. Anderson beat top-ranked Benjamin Karl of Austria by 0.35 seconds. Mathieu Bozzetto of France took the bronze.

British competitor Adam McLeish missed out on qualification. McLeish, the last of the 52-strong Great Britain team to compete in Vancouver, finished in 24th place with the top 16 qualifying.

The 30-year-old McLeish, born in Pointe Claire, Canada, posted 40.30 for his first run and 40.79 for his second run for a combined time of one minute 21.09 seconds. "Racing in those weather conditions wasn't easy," said McLeish. "Visibility was pretty limited with the rain and fog, but the snow was pretty decent so the organisers did a good job preparing the hill."

Giuliano Razzoli gave Italy its first gold medal of the Vancouver Games with victory in the men's slalom race. Razzoli, making his Olympics debut, led after the first leg and clinched gold with a combined time of one minute 39.32 seconds to become the first Italian man to win an alpine medal since Alberto Tomba in 1994. Croatia's Ivica Kostelic took the silver – his second of the Games – and the bronze went to Sweden's Andre Myhrer.

Bode Miller straddled the fifth gate in foggy conditions on the Dave Murray course, so failing to become the first man to win four Alpine medals in the same Olympics. Austria's Benjamin Raich, the defending champion, came in fourth.

Dave Ryding and Andy Noble ended their first Winter Games by climbing up the rankings to secure top-30 finishes.

Lancashire's Ryding ended his campaign by climbing from 33rd to 27th on his second run, while Noble, from Edinburgh, rose from 32nd to 29th.

Noble said: "I'm definitely happy with that. I've really enjoyed my time at the Games. Skiing is a very tough sport. It's very competitive and coming from a non-Alpine nation makes it harder. It's a sport that takes a long time to master."

Noble's time of 51.55 for his first slalom run put him 32nd and he followed that up with 54.58 to be 6.81 seconds off the gold medallist.

Meanwhile, Glasgow-born, Milton Keynes-based Ghanaian Kwame 'Snow Leopard' Nkrumah-Acheampong recorded times of 1:09.08 and 1:13.52 for his two runs, leaving him 43.28 seconds adrift of Razzoli.

United States, piloted by Steven Holcomb, took bobsleigh gold to deny Germany's Andre Lange a third successive four-man Olympic title and prevent the two-man champion from a gold double as the final medals were won on the notorious Whistler Sliding Center track.

Holcomb, going last, delivered a clean final run in 51.52 seconds for an overall winning time of three minutes 24.46 seconds, 0.38 seconds faster than Lange's Germans, with Canada finishing third.

GBR1 represented by pilot John Jackson, brakeman Allyn Condon, Henry Nwume and Dan Money finished 17th in what was the quartet's first competition together.

There was a gold medal for Pole Justyna Kowalczyk in cross country skiing's ladies 30km mass start and, in the men's ice hockey tournament,

Finland won the bronze medal beating Slovakia 5-3.

Olli Jokinen struck twice in quick succession in the third period to complete an impressive fightback by the Finns.

Valtteri Filppula's late goal ensured there was no way back for the Slovakians.

HOW SCOTS FARED IN VANCOUVER

MEN'S CURLING TEAM

David Murdoch, Euan Byers, Pete Smith, Ewan MacDonald. Alternate: Graeme Conal. Coach: David Hay

The World Champions blew their chances in the final round-robin game against Norway and then failed to make it to the semi-finals and fell out of medal contention after a 7-6 play-off defeat by European champions Sweden.

WOMEN'S CURLING TEAM

Eve Muirhead, Lorna Vevers, Kelly Wood, Jackie Lockhart. Alternate: Annie Laird. Coach: Nancy Murdoch.

They were ranked seventh but opened strongly beating World Champions China before a dip in form saw them lose their final five games and Muirhead warned for breaking her broom in frustration.

BOBSLEIGH

Gillian Cooke. Age 27

Cooke's hopes of converting her 2009 world title into Olympic gold were ended when the bob, driven by Nicola Minichiello, crashed on the duo's third run at the Whistler Sliding Centre. They were lying tenth at the time.

ICE DANCING

John Kerr, 29 and Sinead Kerr, 31

The siblings set a series of season's bests to finish eighth with a total score of 186.01, and performed a crowd pleaser with their routine to Linkin Park's 'Krwing'.

HALFPIPE SNOWBOARDING

Lesley McKenna, 25

Aviemore's McKenna finished 30th in the women's event after two falls, during what is expected to be her third and final Olympics.

HALFPIPE SNOWBOARDING

Ben Kilner, 21

Banchory teenager Kilner can be satisfied with his first games having reached the men's semi-finals before claiming 18th place.

SPEED SKATING

Elise Christie, 19

The Livingston teenager reached the quarter-finals in the 500 metres and was placed 11th overall but suffered disappointment in her favoured events, the 1000m (19th) and 1500m (20th).

ALPINE SKIING

Andy Noble, 25

The Edinburgh slalom specialist is another who can look back with satisfaction on his debut Olympics. Noble beat his team-mate Dave Ryding in both the slalom and giant slalom, finishing 32nd in the slalom, and 38th in giant slalom.

CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING

Andrew Musgrave, 19

Musgrave and Andrew Young were part of a trio of skiers making up Great Britain's first cross-country ski team, and all made their Olympic debuts. Musgrave, from Huntly, finished the men's 30km pursuit in 51st, the 15km free in 55th and the men's individual sprint classic in 58th.

CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING

Andrew Young 17

Young, also from Huntly, was 60th in the sprint and 74th in the 15km free.