Five things to watch at Beijing Winter Olympics on Thursday

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This article was published 01/02/2022 (1338 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

They may not officially begin until the day after, but the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics will be well underway Thursday with six different events in action, including the kick-off to the Canadian women’s hockey team’s tournament. Here are five things to watch at the Beijing Olympics on Thursday, Feb. 3:

Canada’s women’s hockey team begins its quest for gold

The Canadian women’s hockey team will open its Olympic tournament, facing off against Switzerland. Canada enters the tournament as the No. 1-ranked team in the world and features a 23-player Olympic roster with 13 players returning from the team that fell 3-2 to the United States in the gold-medal game in 2018. Canada has won four gold and two silver medals in women’s hockey since the sport was added for the 1998 Nagano Games.

Canadian men’s hockey team hits the ice for first Olympic practice

As the women’s hockey team hits the ice for its first preliminary contest, the men will also start to get their feet wet with their first official Olympic practice. The 25-man roster with no current NHL talent does have some players with considerable top-level experience, including 37-year-old Eric Staal. Canada won’t begin its tournament until Feb. 10 against Germany but will play a pre-tournament contest against the rival United States on Feb. 7. A non-NHL contingent of Canadian men won bronze in 2018.

Kingsbury begins pursuit for second-straight golden moguls run

Defending men’s moguls champion Mikael Kingsbury will begin his Olympic campaign Thursday as he tries to become just the second Olympian to defend his gold medal in a freestyle skiing event. Fellow Canadian Alexandre Bilodeau was the first to do so, capturing moguls gold in both 2010 and 2014. Kingsbury is widely considered to be the best moguls skier in the world and, perhaps, of all time. He’s captured 11 different World Championship medals, including six gold, has won nine World Cup moguls and overall freestyle skiing titles and has two Olympic medals. He won gold in 2018 and captured silver in 2014.

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Canada opens its mixed doubles curling tournament

Canada’s mixed doubles team of Rachel Homan and John Morris will get its Olympic tournament going with a pair of matches against Britain and Norway. Morris helped Canada capture the inaugural mixed doubles gold in 2018 with partner Kaitlyn Lawes. Homan was the skip of Canada’s women’s Olympic curling team in Pyeongchang, when the country failed to make it out of the round robin.

Other training events running before opening ceremony

Pre-competition training will take place for men’s downhill skiing, men’s and women’s luge and men’s and women’s normal hill ski jumping. Toronto’s Jack Crawford is one to watch in men’s alpine with three top-10 finishes on the World Cup circuit this season.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb.1, 2022.