Last week in PyeongChang Canadian Olympians earned a staggering four gold medals. This week, Canada doubled down and earned 6 additional gold medals. These Canadian victories move Canada into the second highest medal count of the games. They hold 27 medals, trailing Norway’s 37 and leading Germany by one. This week Canada saw wins in ski cross, ice dancing, ski half pipe, two man bobsled, and men’s 1000 meter speed skating. Check the profiles below on last week’s Gold Medal winners.
This week’s gold medalists have given Canadians something to cheer about.
Who: Kelsey Serwa
Event: Ladies Ski Cross
Medal: Gold
Age: 28
Home Province: British Colombia
Fun Fact: The 28 year old college graduate has started a scholarship, KSER scholarship fund, that supports graduating student/athletes in their collegiate endeavors.
Notable Quotable: “It is very surreal to be the best in the world at something you put your heart into”
Who: Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir
Event: Ice Dancing
Medal: Gold
Age: 28, 30
Home Province: Ontario
Fun Fact: Virtue and Moir became the youngest ice dancing team to ever win a gold medal at the Olympic Games. At just 20 and 22, they took the gold at the Vancouver games in 2010.
Notable Quotable: After Ryan Reynolds tasked the duo with raising his children on Twitter, Tessa tweeted back, “And here I’ve been wracking my brain to come up with a post-competition career path … Scott, get the mini van!”
Who: Cassie Sharpe
Event: Ski Half Pipe
Medal: Gold
Age: 25
Home Province: British Colombia
Fun Fact: Cassie is a huge book worm and travels with multiple books.
Notable Quotable: Sharpe has attributed her success, in part to the trail blazer of the sport, Sarah Burke. She paid tribute to her icon after her Gold Medal win saying, “From when Sarah Burke was pushing the sport, and pushing amplitude and pushing for equal pay for women, the sport’s just grown exponentially and we all wouldn’t be here without Sarah.”
Who: Brady Leman
Event: Men’s Ski Cross
Medal: Gold
Age: 31
Home Province: Calgary, Alberta
Fun Fact: Leman has been given the nickname, wombat, by his teammates. The reason? They claimed he looked like a dead wombat they saw on the road while at their first training camp in Australia.
Notable Quotable: Exhibiting his positive attitude and laid back spirt, Brady commented, “Really, what’s the worst that can happen in South Korea?” “I’m going to come fourth again or break my leg? I already did both those things. And you move on. The result is going to be what it’s going to be.”
Who: Justin Kripps and Alexander Kopacz
Event: Two-man bobsled
Medal: Gold
Age: 31, 28
Home Province: Ontario
Fun Fact: The German and Canadian teams will share the Gold Medal title after both teams finished their four runs in the exact same time.
Notable Quotable: When asked about how his run felt, Justin Kripps responded, “It was essentially almost perfect. It was my best run I’ve put down. And when I got to the bottom, I was like, ‘Well, whatever the result, I’m happy with that because I did my best.’ And then I saw the No. 1 and I basically blacked out.”
Who: Samuel Girard
Event: Men’s 1000 M speed skating
Medal: Gold
Age: 21
Home Province: Quebec
Fun Fact: It was only days after Samuel graduated from high school at the age of 17 that he moved to Montreal to begin his Olympic training.
Notable Quotable: “This was a strong race, everyone wants to win the race. I was the guy in the front putting in a good pace that put everyone in trouble fighting to pass me. That was the key to the race.”
There are just a few events left before the 2018 Winter Olympics wrap up with the closing ceremony on Sunday, February 25th. Where will Canada fall in the final medal count?
