Canada wins gold in 5,000m short-track relay; men’s hockey team eliminated

Canada reached the top of the Olympic podium in Beijing on Wednesday with a gold medal in short-track speed skating.

Charles Hamelin (Sainte-Julie, Que.), Steven Dubois (Terrebonne, Que.), Pascal Dion (Montreal) and Jordan Pierre-Gilles (Sherbrooke, Que.) skated to a gold medal in the men’s 5,000-metre relay.

South Korea won silver, while Italy claimed bronze.

It’s the sixth career Olympic medal for the 37-year-old Hamelin, who joins long-track speed skater Cindy Klassen as the only other Canadian Winter Olympian with a half-dozen podium finishes.

Dubois, meanwhile, won his third medal of the Beijing Games; he also won silver in the men’s 1,500m and bronze in the men’s 500m.

The gold medal is Canada’s third of the Games and its 18th medal overall.

In other short-track action Wednesday, Kim Boutin (Sherbrooke, Que.) and Courtney Sarault (Moncton, N.B.) lost in the semifinals of the women’s 1,500m and raced in the B Final.

Boutin finished third, with Sarault fourth.

Hockey: Canada lost 2-0 to Sweden in a men’s quarterfinal Wednesday and was eliminated from the tournament.

It’s the first time since 2006 in Turin that Canada won’t win a medal in men’s hockey. The Canadians finished seventh in those Games.

Canada outshot the Swedes 24-22 on Wednesday, but couldn’t beat Lars Johansson.

The United States also was eliminated Wednesday, falling 3-2 to Slovakia in a shootout.

Finland and the Russian team join Slovakia and Sweden in the semifinal round.

Curling: Jennifer Jones (Winnipeg) split her games Wednesday.

After beating the U.S. 7-6, Jones gave up a steal of two in the extra end and lost 11-9 to China.

The loss ended Jones’ three-game winning streak and left her with a 4-4 record.

Jones, Kaitlyn Lawes (Winnipeg), Jocelyn Peterman (Red Deer) and Dawn McEwen (Winnipeg) are tied for fourth with Great Britain and Korea, but Jones beat both of those teams in the round-robin.

Still, a win in its final round-robin game against Denmark (2-6) early Thursday would clinch a playoff spot for Canada.

On the men’s side, Brad Gushue (St. John’s, N.L.) clinched a spot in a semifinal without taking the ice. Great Britain’s victory over the Russian Olympic Committee team on Wednesday put Gushue in the playoffs.

Gushue, Mark Nichols (St. John’s, N.L.), Brett Gallant (Charlottetown, P.EI.) and Geoff Walker (Edmonton) have a 5-3 record entering their game Wednesday night against Great Britain (7-1).

Alpine skiing: Erik Read (Canmore, Alta.) finished 24th in the men’s slalom. Trevor Philp (Calgary) didn’t finish his first run and was eliminated.

Biathlon: Canada’s team of Emma Lunder (Vernon, B.C.), Megan Bankes (Calgary), Emily Dickson (Burns Lake, B.C.) and Sarah Beaudry (Prince George, B.C.) placed 10th in the women’s 4x6km relay.

Cross-country skiing: Canada placed fifth in the men’s team sprint classic. The Canadian women’s team finished sixth in a semifinal and failed to reach the final.

Freestyle skiing: Max Moffatt (Guelph, Ont.) finished ninth in the men’s freeski slopestyle final.