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The Beijing Winter Olympics are officially underway.
Led by flag-bearers Charles Hamelin and Marie-Philip Poulin, Canada’s team filed into the 80,000-seat National Stadium in Beijing as part of the opening ceremonies early Friday.
Bundled up in thick winter gear, the short track speed skater and the women’s hockey star held the flagpole aloft as they led in the contingent of Canadian athletes, team officials and support staff.
Canada was the 27th of 91 countries to enter the stadium.
The ceremony had a more celebratory feel than the rather sombre opening ceremony at the Tokyo Games last summer, the first Olympics to be held during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Competition at the Games in China entered its third day Friday.
In mixed curling, Canada’s John Morris and Rachel Homan improved to 3-1 with a pair of victories.
First, Morris and Homan built up a 6-2 lead through five ends and went on to a 7-5 victory over Switzerland’s Jenny Perret and Martin Rios. Later in the day, the Canadians downed China’s SuYuan Fan and Zhi Ling 8-6.
Morris and Homan are tied for second place in the round-robin standings with Great Britain, one game back of Italy (4-0). Canada is to play Sweden and the United States on Saturday.
In figure skating, Canada was in sixth place after the preliminary rounds of the first three events of the team competition.
Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier were fourth in the ice dance event, Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro were fifth in the pairs short program, and Roman Sadovsky was eighth in the men’s short program.
The women’s short program and the men’s free skate are set for Saturday. The pairs, ice dance and women’s free skates are scheduled for Sunday.
The second training run for the men’s downhill was held Friday, with Canada’s Broderick Thompson finishing third. The third training run is set for Friday night, with the final slated for Saturday night.
Canada’s women’s hockey team is to face Finland late Friday night.
— With files from The Canadian Press