Josh

Short-track is unpredictable and ridden by bullshit refs who give out weird penalties and home-advantage calls to favour the home athletes. Women’s hockey, we aren’t beating the US this time around, the rivalry series went horribly and I’d be happy if we can hang on to silver. It was that bad. Freestyle skiing team, a lot of them have been getting injured our ski cross contenders (Hoffos, who was in the best form of her career, Sherret), Kingsbury, Oldham... Then you have Blouin, and reigning World Champion Liam Brearley in snowboarding, 2024 world champion in skeleton Hallie Clarke, and 2023 world champion in ski jumping Alexandria Loutitt who are all out injured for the season. I don’t think you have anything to worry about, Italy will have a nice home boost and win 5-6 golds, but yeah that would’ve been pretty bad for us even before our entire team getting injured. I still view it as a disappointment either way.

team is seriously in shambles and I wouldn’t be surprised if we only win a few bronzes or slightly better at Milano-Cortina… Our men are nonexistent, Dubreuil still is awful coming back from injury and nowhere near his 2021-22 form, he’d be lucky to get a top 16 finish. Jan-Bloemen is old and his 5,000m WC podium was a fluke, at best it’ll be a top 8 finish in each event. For the women, Weidemann won’t beat Groenewoud/Wiklund in the 5km/10km and Blondin with Groenewoud (probably, she beats her all the time) or Mangianello in the mass start, and Maltais can only aim for a minor medal at best. We don’t even have our team pursuit anymore, used to be by far the best and now we’re getting beaten by Netherlands/Japan…

Not this year unfortunately, I’m sick with the flu

Actually she's out for the remainder of the season, unfortunately

Here’s my guess at the team size in each event. Women Ski Cross (4), depending on Marielle Thompson and Courtney Hoffos, if one of them will be missing out on the Olympics then maybe -1 Halfpipe (4), Amy Fraser, Dillian Glennie, Cassie Sharpe, and Rachael Karker (depending on injury) Big Air/Slopestyle (3), Naomi Urness, Olivia Asselin, Megan Oldham/Elena Gaskell (we’ll see if Oldham is healthy and ready in time) Moguls (3), Maia Schwinghammer, Berkley Brown, and one of Jessica Linton/Ashley Koehler Aerials (2), Marion Thenault (injury depending), and Charlie Fontaine/Alexandra Montminy Men Slopestyle/Big Air (3), Dylan Deschamps, Alexander Henderson, Max Moffatt Ski Cross (4), Reece Howden, Jared Schmidt, Kris Mahler, Kevin Drury Halfpipe (3), Brendan MacKay, Andrew Longino, Dylan Marineau Aerials (3), Lewis Irving, Alexandre Duchaine, Miha Fontaine Moguls (3), Mikael Kingsbury, Julien Viel, Eliot Vailancourt

Ski Cross WC Innichen Women Gold- Sandra Naeslund Silver- Daniela Maier Bronze- Fanny Smith Same women’s big final as yesterday. Men Gold- Reece Howden Silver- Florian Wilmsmann Bronze- Evan Klufts Full Results

Evan Klufts with his first career WC podium at 28 after not having cracked the top 20 previously, pretty cool stuff

Back to back golds for Reece Howden at the Innichen WC!

Laurie Blouin bruised her shins in practice. She says she’ll be back “soon” which could mean after the Olympics in hindsight, but she should be back before then. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DSfu3xrj6Ry/?igsh=djV4enIzczZsNXJk

Aerials WC Secret Garden Mixed Team Gold- China 1, (315.35 - Xu Mengtao, Li Tianma, Qi Guangpu) Silver- China 2 (308.45 - Chen Meiting, Wang Xindi, Sun Jiaxu) Bronze- United States 2 (272.81 - Kaila Kuhn, Ashton Salwan, Connor Curran) Full Results

Parallel Slalom WC Davos Women Gold- Elisa Caffont Silver- Zuzana Maderova Bronze- Miki Tsubaki Surprising 4th for Annamarri Dancha Men Gold- Arvid Auner Silver- Gabriel Messner Bronze- Aaron March Full Results

Ski Cross WC Innichen Women Gold- Marielle Berger Sabbatel Silver- Fanny Smith Bronze- Sandra Naeslund Naeslund only winning bronze Could very well be a preview of the women's big final at the Olympics. Men Gold- Reece Howden Silver- Alex Fiva Bronze- Tobias Bauer With his win today, Howden is now the all-time leader in men's WC wins with 20! Solid 4th for Jared Schmidt as well Full Results

Sorry, I meant Schmidt

I wasn't even watching sports back then How old do you think I am?

And Hannah Schmidt Marielle Thompson Rachael Karker Hallie Clarke Marion Thenault My enthusiasm for the Olympics is quickly going down, ridiculous stuff Brendan Mackay/Cassie Sharpe are still unsure but haven’t competed at the last two WC stops.

Rachael Karker had a lingering knee injury which led her to pull out of last weeks World Cup. Amy Fraser decided to pull out to rest and recover.

Bronze for Andrew Longino at the Copper Mountain Halfpipe WC!

Only one event so hard to read too much into this, even if I want to, but damn is this disappointing

5th for Luke Hulshof in the junior men’s 10km sprint at the Val Martello Junior IBU World Cup!

Broken nose and tweaked hamstring for Hallie Clarke in Sigulda. https://www.instagram.com/p/DSeuSbLDXEF/?img_index=1&igsh=MXNmZnJnM3pvdWxrbA==

Aerials WC Secret Garden Women Gold- Kong Fangyu (102.17) Silver- Chen Meiting (97.45) Bronze- Xu Mengtao (97.02) Men Gold- Li Tianma (128.01) Silver- Qi Guangpu (120.80) Bronze- Noe Roth (110.67) Full Results

Parallel Giant Slalom WC Carezza Women Gold- Sabine Payer Silver- Aleksandra Krol-Walas Bronze- Miki Tsubaki Men Gold- Rolland Fischnaller Silver- Aaron March Bronze- Mirko Felicetti Full Results

Halfpipe WC Copper Mountain Women Gold- Ryusei Yamada (94.50) Silver- Yuto Totsuka (90.50) Bronze- Valentino Guseli (84.75) Men Gold- Gaon Choi (94.50) Silver- Sena Tomita (88.75) Bronze- Bea Kim (75.25) Full Results

Marion Thenault bumps her head in training and will miss out on the China World Cup stop.

Oh I’m not done yet, unfortunately. From the names that could be back but are still injured Courtney Hoffos Mikael Kingsbury (should be back before the Olympics) Connor Howe (he returned, but nowhere close to his best so his injury is still giving him issues) Connor Bedard Meryeta O’Dine Megan Oldham