Canadian Speedskaters Girrard and Boutin win Gold and Bronze

Saturday was Canada’s day at the short-track speed skating competition in Pyeongchang, two medals being added to Canada’s total at the Winter Games in South Korea with both Kim Boutin winning bronze in the 1500 metre event and Samuel Girard winning gold in the 1000 metre event.

The men’s 1000 metre started out with five competitors, but as the race entered its final two laps, three of the five crashed leaving only Samuel Girard and John-Henry Krueger from the U.S to battle it out for the final laps.

Girrard had moved into the lead with at the 43-second mark and remained out front going into the final laps when the three South Koreans attempted to make a push for the lead only to see one of the Korean skaters fall and take out his teammate and the Hungarian skater.

Girrard won silver at the world’s two years ago, and with his gold medal win today, it makes him the first Canadian to win gold in the 1500 metre event. Considering this is an event that South Korea is dominant in speed skating having won eight golds in previous Winter Games. Today’s victory is even sweeter for Girrard as it is his first medal in the Olympics and Canada’s second of the day in speed skating.

Kim Boutin wins bronze in the 500 metre and 1500 metre event

Sherbrooke Quebec’s Kim Boutin has had an exciting few days of competition at the Gangneung Ice Arena in Pyeongchang. Competing in the 500-metre race on Tuesday saw Boutin finishing third giving the speed skater her first medal at the 2018 Winter Games.

CBC Sports

Boutin had finished fourth in the race. However, Korea’s Minjeong Choi was disqualified, and this moved Boutin into third and the bronze medal. Italy’s Arianna Fontana won gold in the race, and Yara Van Kerkhof took silver.

The 1500 metre short track final saw Boutin finishing third and winning her second medal of the games. Her win today is the first time a Canadian athlete has won two medals in the individual events during the same Olympic games.

While her first race involved controversy due to Minjeong Choi’s disqualification, today’s race was trouble free, and for Boutin, it is sure to be sweeter. Tuesday’s result saw bitter South Korean fans harassing Boutin with threats via social media and accusing her of cheating.

For Minjeong Choi, who was graceful before the start of today’s race was redeemed as she won gold.

In other Olympic News

The Canadian men’s hockey team lost to the Czech Republic in a 3-2 shootout after Jan Kovar scored in overtime to end the 2-2 tie. Rene Bourque and Mason Raymond both scored one goal each for Canada while Michal Jordan and Dominik Kubalik both scored for the Czech team. While Canada may have lost in shootout action, they are from from out o medal contention, and with Sundays game fast approching, it is the ideal time for sports bettors to get thier bets in with leading Olympic sportsbetting sites and support Canada.

Canada will next face South Korea on Sunday, and the Czech team will face Switzerland. The Czechs are 2-0 so far in the Winter Games, and Canada is sitting with one win and one loss in overtime.