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Canada opened competition at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics on Wednesday with a win in mixed doubles curling, while concern grew after snowboarder Mark McMorris crashed during big air training in Livigno.
Officials from Canada’s snowboard team did not immediately provide an update on the three-time Olympic bronze medallist’s condition.
The 32-year-old McMorris is competing in his fourth Olympic Games and had been preparing for Thursday night’s big air qualifying. Big air riders launch off a ramp built on scaffolding that rises more than 50 metres above the course.
McMorris has won all three of his Olympic medals in slopestyle and owns four X Games gold medals in big air. He suffered life-threatening injuries in 2017 after crashing into a tree during a backcountry ride and has since competed with a rod in his leg, a plate in his arm and another in his jaw.
Last month, McMorris said he was feeling healthy heading into the first Olympics of his 30s.
“I’ve been feeling pretty good, staying strong and putting quite a bit of effort in the gym to build a robust frame,” he said. “Because what we do can be a little tricky at times on the body.”
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Earlier on Wednesday, Brett Gallant and Jocelyn Peterman defeated Czechia’s Julie Zelingrova and Vit Chabicovsky 10-5 in their mixed doubles round-robin opener at the Cortina Olympic Curling Stadium, two days ahead of the opening ceremony.
The Canadian mixed doubles team handled a series of unusual interruptions in a game that was comfortable on the scoreboard but far from routine. Play was briefly halted by an arena power outage in the opening end, and a technical timeout was later called after a pre-placed stone was set incorrectly.
“If things are out of our control, it might be easy to get frustrated a little bit,” Gallant said. “But we’ve been around long enough to know that’s not helping too much.”
The husband-and-wife duo from Chestermere, Alta., scored four points in the second end to take a 5-0 lead. The Czechs replied with three in the third before Canada added two more in the fourth. Peterman made a soft tap for three in the sixth, and the teams shook hands after seven ends.
Canada is looking to return to the podium in mixed doubles after missing out on a medal at the 2022 Beijing Games.
Elsewhere, men’s alpine skiing got underway with downhill training on the Stelvio course in Bormio. Jeffrey Read of Canmore, Alta., was the top Canadian, finishing 10th. Cameron Alexander and Brodie Seger of North Vancouver, B.C., placed 20th and 21st, Toronto’s James (Jack) Crawford was 28th, and North Vancouver’s Riley Seger finished 34th.
On Thursday, Canada begins defence of its Olympic women’s hockey gold medal against Finland in Milan.
Gallant and Peterman continue round-robin play in Cortina d’Ampezzo against Norway in the morning and Italy later in the day.
The Milan Cortina Olympics officially get underway Friday with a multi-site opening ceremony.
— With files from The Associated Press
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