'Looking over our shoulders': A killing looms large in a little B.C. town
Something shifted in the pretty little village of Lumby, B.C., after Tatjana Stefanski vanished.
For more than half of the women's ski cross final it looked like Canada wasn't going to reach the podium for the first time since the sport was introduced to the Olympics in 2010.
But Marielle Thompson's lengthy career has taught her how to persevere.
The Whistler, B.C., native didn't pass any of her competitors until the race's fifth turn, trailing by as much as a second in the course's early segments. But Thompson bore down to earn silver in a drama-filled big final on Thursday at the Beijing Olympics.
Thompson even closed some distance on gold medallist Sandra Naeslund of Sweden despite the Canadian's slow start.
"In the final I really just stuck with it because a ski cross race isn't over until you're across the finish line," said Thompson. "So happy I stuck with it and really just focused on what I needed to do to do well."
Switzerland's Fanny Smith appeared to win the bronze medal, but she was penalized after a lengthy post-race review found she purposely impeded Germany's Daniela Maier. The German was awarded the bronze following Smith's yellow card.
Thompson was pretty sure she wasn't going to be affected by the review, even though there appeared to be some contact as she passed Maier.
"I didn't really know what was going on," said Thompson of the review. "I just hoped that they weren't reviewing me because I thought my pass was pretty clean."
Smith was visibly upset after her bronze medal was overturned. She's the most successful skier in the sport's history with 56 podiums on the World Cup circuit and 29 victories.
Cameras showed Smith having an animated conversation with an official at the bottom of the ski cross course at Zhangjiakou Genting Snow Park as Maier leaned against an Olympic backdrop nearby. Smith didn't speak to media afterwards but Maier addressed the controversy.
"It was weird because I was like, 'OK, I'm fourth, damn, (expletive).' I was a bit disappointed, I have to say, and for me in that moment I don't really know what happened," said Maier, who won Germany's first-ever Olympic medal in ski cross.
"The jury decided this way, so I need some more moments to realize that that result is like that and that I won a medal."
Swiss ski cross coach Rolf Pfaeffli took questions in German, French and English after the race and agreed that Thompson's passes were clean. Pfaeffli said the judges found that Smith intentionally kicked Maier to slow the German down or prevent her from passing.
Pfaeffli said that 90 per cent of the spectators watching the race would think Smith's penalty was unfair. He said in English that Swiss Olympic officials were looking into the possibility of an appeal.
"My bosses are on that but this rule was created that you can't really appeal this," said Pfaeffli. "We have to see how it's exactly written because normally there's no protest about yellow cards, there's just acceptance that this yellow card happened, like in football. The result will never change.
"The only thing they can do is a review board and then this review board looks at the case and if they say there was no yellow card then the yellow card will be taken back but the result will stay the same."
However, in French, Pfaeffli said the Swiss would not appeal because it would be unfair to Maier to potentially take her medal away.
It was a personal triumph for Thompson, who earned her second Olympic medal after winning gold at the 2014 Sochi Games. She had struggled with injuries since becoming an Olympic champion, rupturing her anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament in October 2017 while training for the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.
Thompson tore the same ACL in March, disrupting her 2021-22 training plan. She earned four World Cup podiums since her latest injury, all in the leadup to Beijing. Thompson won a bronze at Val Thorens on Dec. 12, gold in Arosa, Switzerland on Dec. 14, bronze in Innichen on Dec. 20 and silver in Nakiska on Jan. 15.
"I kind of found my form in December and then have really been building each and every race," she said. "I think I brought my best skiing I possibly could here to the Olympics and I couldn't ask for more than that."
Canada had won every Olympic women's ski cross championship since the sport's introduction at the Vancouver Games. Ashleigh McIvor (2010), Thompson (2014), and Kelsey Serwa (2018) had won three straight golds for Canada.
Despite not winning a fourth-straight Olympic gold for Canada, it was still a dominant performance for the national ski cross team.
Pyeongchang silver medallist Brittany Phelan of Mont-Tremblant, Que., won the small final to finish fifth. Courtney Hoffos of Windermere, B.C., was sixth and Ottawa's Hannah Schmidt was seventh.
"I get to train with the best in the world," said Schmidt, whose brother Jared will compete on Friday in the men's event. "Four ladies in the top eight? I think that's the strongest team out there."
Phelan, Schmidt and Hoffos all spoke about how Canada's deep roster actually helps them because it makes their training camps like miniature World Cups.
"If someone can't pull through then someone else will," said Hoffos. "I think we all push each other so much in training every day and it definitely shows on the world stage."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 17, 2022
Something shifted in the pretty little village of Lumby, B.C., after Tatjana Stefanski vanished.
The Kentucky police officer who arrested top-ranked golfer Scottie Scheffler outside the PGA Championship is receiving “corrective action” for failing to have his body-worn camera activated.
Coined as Banff's 'ultimate summer job,' the Moraine Lake Bus Company says hundreds of people from across the world have applied for its adventurer position.
Get ready for what nearly all the experts think will be one of the busiest Atlantic hurricane seasons on record, thanks to unprecedented ocean heat and a brewing La Nina.
WestJet is asking the federal government to put measures in place to lower ticket costs for travellers, but questions remain on who would foot the bill.
Witnessing a potential tornado was 'surreal' for residents who caught a glimpse of the damaging storm in southern Ontario on Wednesday night.
Students at Curé-Antoine-Labelle High School near Montreal are protesting after they say their school's administration started pushing what they call a 'sexist' dress code.
Plenty of people are wondering if Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck are having problems in their marriage, but one person had the nerve to ask in a public forum.
As temperatures rise out of a mild El Nino winter, Canada's buggy season is already upon us again, and this year, the bugs are looking especially big.
When Jujhar Mann said he wanted to be a pastry chef on a grade school career project, he didn't imagine that pursuing his dream would land him on a popular Netflix baking competition.
A city known for its history, ties to outer space and southern barbecue, is also home to a Winnipeg chef dishing out dozens of perogies.
A Montreal photographer captured the moment a Canada goose defended itself from a fox at the Botanical Garden.
Public libraries in Atlantic Canada are now lending a broader range of items.
Flashes of purple darting across the sky mixed with the serenading sound of songs will be noticed more with spring in full force in Manitoba.
Catching 'em all with impressive speed, a 7-year-old boy from Windsor, Ont. who only started his competitive Pokémon journey seven months ago has already levelled up to compete at a world championship level.
A sanctuary dedicated to animals with disabilities is celebrating the third birthday of one of its most popular residents.
2b Theatre recently moved into the old Video Difference building, seeking to transform it into an artistic hub, meeting space, and temporary housing unit for visiting performers in Halifax.
A B.C. woman says her service dog pulled her from a lake moments before she had a seizure, saving her life.