Canadian Trail: How Canada did today at the Olympics

By Doug Harrison, CBC Sports

Winning Canada's first-ever men's Olympic ski cross medal is special enough, but it probably had some extra meaning for gold medallist Brady Leman on Wednesday.

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That's because the Calgary freestyle skier, who ranked 13th worldwide entering the Winter Games in South Korea, made up for his fourth-place finish in the big final at the Sochi Olympics four years ago in Russia, where he crashed out on his final jump. At the 2014 Games in Vancouver, Leman broke a leg the day before competition.

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His teammate, Kevin Drury, placed fourth Wednesday after crashing out early in the race. Fellow Canadian Chris Del Bosco suffered a serious crash in the 1/8 final and was taken from the hill at Phoenix Snow Park on a stretcher. In the small final, Canada's David Duncan finished eighth.

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Elsewhere, Kaillie Humphries's quest for a third consecutive Olympic gold medal ended in disappointment, however, the Calgarian did reach the podium with a bronze-medal performance in women's bobsleigh. Humphries and rookie brakeman Phylicia George's four-run time of three minutes 22.89 seconds was 44-100ths of a second off the gold-medal clocking of Germany's Mariama Jamanka and Lisa Buckwitz.

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Through 12 days of competition in Pyeongchang, Canada has 21 medals, including nine gold. Norway leads with 33 medals, followed by Germany's 24.

Here's how other Canadians fared on Wednesday:

Men's hockey

Canada eked out a bittersweet 1-0 quarter-final victory over Finland, losing starting goalie Ben Scrivens to an upper-body injury in the second period at Gangneung Hockey Centre. Kevin Poulin stopped all 15 shots he faced and Maxim Noreau scored the lone goal for the Canadians, who have three wins and an overtime loss in the tournament.

Canada will face Germany in Friday's semifinal at 7:10 a.m. ET after the Germans shocked Sweden 4-3 in OT in other quarter-final action at the Kwandong Hockey Centre.

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Men's curling

Kevin Koe and his Calgary-based rink will be playing for a sixth straight Olympic medal following an 8-3 drubbing of Denmark in the final round robin match for both teams.

The 43-year-old took a 4-0 lead in the first end on a routine takeout and never looked back, booking a date in Thursday's semifinal at 6 a.m. ET with John Shuster of the arch-rival United States, who defeated Koe 9-7 earlier in the tournament.

Figure skating

Katelyn Osmond sits third after scoring 78.87 points in the women's short program. The 22-year-old from Marystown, N.L., trails leader Alina Zagitova of the Olympic Athletes from Russia team by 4.05 points. The free program is scheduled for Thursday at 8 p.m. ET.

Gabrielle Daleman is seventh and fellow Canadian Larkyn Austman 25th.

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Women's curling

Skip Rachel Homan has the dubious distinction of being part of the first Canadian rink, male or female, to miss out on a medal since the sport returned to the Winter Olympics in 1998.

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A 6-5 loss to Great Britain's Eve Muirhead eliminated Homan and company from medal contention. The Canadians needed a win over the Brits and Olympic Athletes from Russia in their round-robin finale to squeeze into the semifinals. Homan improved to 5-4 with a 9-8 win over Russia, leaving South Korea (8-1), Sweden (7-2), Great Britain (6-3) and Japan (5-4) in the gold-medal hunt.

Speed skating

Canada lost out on a bronze medal in women's team pursuit after a furious final lap against the United States wasn't enough to win. Ivanie Blondin, Josie Morrison and Isabelle Weidemann crossed the finish line in two minutes, 59.72 seconds, losing the six-lap, 2,400-metre 'B' final by 44-100ths of a second. 

On the men's side, Ted-Jan Bloemen, Ben Donnelly and Denny Morrison defeated the U.S. in the D final at the Gangneung Oval, posting a time of three minutes 42.16 seconds.

Snowboarding

A potential Canadian podium sweep exists after gold favourite Mark McMorris, Max Parrot and Sebastien Toutant qualified for the men's big air final on Friday at 8 p.m. ET.

McMorris was third in his heat after scoring 95.75 on his second run, while Parrot was the top qualifier in his heat with a 92.50 run. Toutant advanced with his 91.00 effort.

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Alpine skiing

Sofia Goggia of Italy won the women's downhill at Jeongseon Alpine Centre, with American star Lindsey Vonn earning bronze.

Top Canadian was Valerie Grenier in 21st. Roni Remme placed 23rd while Candace Crawford did not finish the race.