Canada wins second gold medal at Beijing Winter Olympics

Canada ended its gold-medal drought at the Beijing Winter Olympics on Tuesday.

The trio of Valerie Maltais (Saguenay, Que.), Ivanie Blondin (Ottawa) and Isabelle Weidemann (Ottawa) cruised to victory in the women’s long-track speed skating team pursuit after a Japanese skater fell on the final turn.

It was Canada’s second gold medal of the Beijing Games, but the first since Max Parrot won the men’s snowboard slopestyle gold on Feb. 6.

Canada now has 17 medals at the Games — two gold, four silver and 11 bronze.

Weidemann won silver in the women’s 5,000 metres and bronze in the 3,000m earlier in the Games, while Maltais becomes just the third athlete in the world to win an Olympic medal on the short track and long track in her career.

On the men’s side, Canada beat South Korea to finish fifth in the team pursuit.

Hockey: Canada’s men’s team beat China 7-2 in a playoff qualification game, putting the Canadians into a quarterfinal against Sweden on Wednesday night.

In Tuesday’s game, Adam Tambellini (Edmonton) had two goals and three assists for Canada, which got two goals and one assist from former Regina Pats star Jordan Weal (North Vancouver, B.C.).

Eric O’Dell (Ottawa), Eric Staal (Thunder Bay) and Jack McBain (Toronto) also scored for the Canadians.

The gold-medal game in the women’s competition — pitting bitter rivals Canada and United States against each other for the sixth time in seven Olympics — is scheduled for Wednesday at 10 p.m., Saskatchewan time.

Curling: Brad Gushue (St. John’s, N.L.) split his games Tuesday.

First, Gushue beat China 10-8, making a soft tapback with his final rock in the 10th end to score one and wrap up his third straight victory.

That winning streak came to a halt in Canada’s next game, as the Russian team scored one in the extra end to down Canada 7-6.

Gushue, Mark Nichols (St. John’s, N.L.), Brett Gallant (Charlottetown, P.E.I.) and Geoff Walker (Edmonton) had a 5-3 record entering Wednesday’s action. They were alone in third place behind Sweden (7-1) and Great Britain (6-1), which already have qualified for the semifinals.

The Canadians need a win against Great Britain in their final round-robin game Wednesday evening to clinch a playoff spot.

On the women’s side, Jennifer Jones (Winnipeg) is to face the United States on Tuesday evening and China in Wednesday’s morning draw.

Jones, Kaitlyn Lawes (Winnipeg), Jocelyn Peterman (Red Deer) and Dawn McEwen (Winnipeg) have a 3-3 record and are tied for sixth place in the 10-team round-robin.

Alpine skiing: Marie-Michele Gagnon (Lac Etchemin, Que.) finished in a tie for eighth place in the women’s downhill. Roni Remme (Collingwood, Ont.) was 24th.

The men’s slalom, featuring Erik Read (Canmore, Alta.) and Trevor Philp (Calgary), is set for Tuesday night.

Biathlon: Canada’s team — comprising Adam Runnalls (Calgary), Christian Gow (Calgary), Jules Burnotte (Sherbrooke, Que.) and Scott Gow (Calgary) — finished sixth in the men’s 4×7.5-kilometre relay.

Bobsleigh: Chris Spring (Vancouver) piloted his two-man sled to a seventh-place finish, with Justin Kripps (Summerland, B.C.) 10th and Taylor Austin (Calgary) 20th.

Figure skating: Madeline Schizas (Oakville, Ont.) was 20th after the women’s short program. The free skate is set for Thursday morning.

Freestyle skiing: Olivia Asselin (Lac Beauport, Que.) finished 11th in the women’s freeski slopestyle final.

Max Moffatt (Guelph, Ont.) qualified for the men’s freeski slopestyle final, which is set for Tuesday evening.

Snowboarding: Jasmine Baird (Georgetown, Ont.) finished seventh and Laurie Blouin (Quebec City) was eighth in the women’s Big Air.